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Flooding News You Can Use
Flood-focussed winners, Playground strategy, China, Community events
About last night: Resilience PAC candidates
You probably know we had elections in NYC last night. You may not know that Resilience PAC is a group that interviewed, vetted (those that agreed to submit answers to specific questions) and then endorsed candidates in NYC elections who showed an informed interest in addressing NYC’s ability to address things like flooding.
Here are the Resilience PAC endorsed winners from last nights NYC primary races:
Comptroller: Mark Levine
Brooklyn Borough President: Antonio Reynoso
Manhattan Borough President: Brad Hoylman-Sigal
Citycouncil D2: Harvey Epstein
Citycouncil D3: Erik Bottcher
Citycouncil D4: Vanessa Aronson* (too close to call)
Citycouncil D5: Julie Menin
Citycouncil D6: Gale Brewer
Citycouncil D7: Shaun Abreu
Citycouncil D14: Pierina Sanchez
Citycouncil D16: Althea Stevens
Citycouncil D17: Justin Sanchez
Citycouncil D18: Amanda Farias
Citycouncil D21: Eryka Montoya* (too close to call)
Citycouncil D22: Tiffany Caban
Citycouncil D23: Linda Lee
Citycouncil D27: Nantasha Williams
Citycouncil D28: Ty Hankerson (too close to call)
Citycouncil D35: Crystal Hudson
Citycouncil D37: Sandy Nurse
Citycouncil D39: Alexa Aviles
Citycouncil D39: Shahana Hanif
Citycouncil D40: Rita Joseph
Citycouncil D46: Mercedes Narcisse
Citycouncil D49: Kamillah Hanks
If elected in November, we hope this group will work together to enact many of the solutions being discussed.
Basketball As A Tool To Fight Flooding
NYC loves basketball…and good design to manage more water. Let’s connect them!
The city recently unveiled a new playground in Harlem that will absorb 750,000 gallons of stormwater annually, helping to reduce flooding and polluted overflows into the East River and New York Harbor.
Projects like this are good news, but they are only a small part of what is needed, especially around the Harlem River.
According to a new story in City Limits: there are policy changes being considered at the NY state level regarding loosening the requirements to address runoff into the Harlem River which is estimated to get average of 5 Million Gallons of untreated raw sewage….a day!
That is why the DEP has admitted: they are moving fast but trying to move faster. There is so much to do. Even with more money, they will not be able to do all that is needed on their own. We need to increase what the rest of us do - on our own - to prevent runoff like this.
“Climate change continues to bring more intense rainstorms that can sometimes overwhelm our streets and sewers, so Green Infrastructure playgrounds like this one in Harlem play a crucial role in protecting the city from flooding and improving our local waterways,” said New York City Chief Climate Officer and Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Rohit T. Aggarwala.” More on this specific project here.
To see some of the 16,000 “green infrastructure” installations NYC has done or is working on, click on the map of them here.
Another China Import: Flood Knowledge
News from China, which just experienced some very bad flooding.
They are very active in preparing their various cities in China for more water, and studying what it takes.
To that end, we stumbled upon a report re-published in the National Library of Medicine that looked at China’s efforts to prepare and build “spongier cities.”
They recommend many useful things, including re-thinking urban development, training people, citizen engagement. But a line that really stood out was this:
the first take of government is to change the development concept of “emphasizing the surface and neglecting the underground”
From the recommendations section here:
..the first task of the government is to change the development concept of “emphasizing the surface and neglecting the underground”. As an ecological project, the “sponge city” has laid a solid foundation for the construction of an “environment-friendly and resource-saving” society. It is not only about the support and long-term carrying capacity of green areas and natural landscapes for cities, but also about the sustainability and connectivity of natural resources and drainage systems. Local governments should not only follow the central government conceptually, but also transform the construction of sponge cities into a new public service standard conceptually, in order to promote the harmonious development of the environment and the economy and to achieve harmony between people and nature, instead of blindly engaging in “performance projects”…
Thinking about the underground water table, what the soil is made of, and how water moves through and below us…that is something we often hear when people reference to get serious about flooding in NYC. At home and in the community. We have to consider what is below the surface, not just the surface itself.
There is a lot of detail and academic analysis in this report, but the main point seems to be this:
By implementing “sponge cities”, the workload of existing urban drainage facilities can be significantly reduced, thus reducing the investment in urban infrastructure
You Are Not Alone (Come See): Local Events
A few upcoming NYC area events, in chronological order….
Hoboken: Friday June 27 10am - noon
Hoboken has reduced flooding 88% while creating public spaces. Come see what they did. More on that story and how NYC can learn.
Southeast Queens: Sat June 28 9am - 12:30
Fresh off the recent passage of a new State bill that enables homeowners to work collectively to solve flooding in private but shared spaces (like shared driveway roads), this team is active and focussed. Come meet them.
Register here
Staten Island: Sat June 28 10am - 2pm
“Music, food and real talk about flooding.” Sounds good to me. The Non-Profit Staten Island team and the Staten Island Industrial Alliance is bringing together many experts together from across the city to make this useful and also interactive.
Queens / Rockaways: Sat June 28 1-4pm
The Sea Grant team is working all the time to help people anticipate and translate flooding conditions. They are vigilant. And this is one of their community events.
NYC wide: Sat July 12 different times
Organized by The Waterfront Alliance, the City of Water Day is a collection of activities across NYC (and NJ) that focus on events on or near the water to champion education and activation. It’s a fun way to learn more about NYC’s 520+ miles of coastline: how to understand it, protect it and enjoy it. Many many choices.
If you read down to here…well, you must think this is worthwhile.
Please consider sharing The City Sponge with your neighbors, block associations, or community groups. It’s free. And water connects us.
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