Mayor Bloomberg proposes $20B storm-protection measures

Sandy damage in Breezy Point
Sandy damage in Breezy Point

In a kick-in-the-butt move to Hurricane Sandy and future storms, Mayor Michael Bloomberg today proposed a $20 billion plan to block the city and its boroughs from future devastation, the New York Observer reported. The items in the proposal include installing bulkheads, levees and even developing a new mini-neighborhood of sorts on Manhattan’s east side.

“This plan is incredibly ambitious — and much of the work will extend far beyond the next 200 days — but we refused to pass the responsibility for creating a plan onto the next administration,” the mayor said in a statement obtained by the Observer. “This is urgent work, and it must begin now.”

Dubbed Seaport City, the new neighborhood would be an area similar to Battery Park City. Starting in Manhattan, it would be built atop a levee that stretches into Brooklyn and would serve to protect the coastal areas south of the Brooklyn Bridge.

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The mayor also proposed installing removable “adaptable floodwalls” in riverfront areas. A new levee and floodwall could also rise along the eastern shore of Staten Island.

In addition, new dune systems are proposed for the storm-battered Staten Island and Rockaways. In Breezy Point, there will be a “double dune.”

All in all, there are 250 suggestions for keeping the city safe during extreme weather. As for the $20 billion price tag, the city is proposing to pay for it with city capital funding and federal aid, the Observer said. [NYO]Zachary Kussin