Is NYC really prepared for sea-level rise?
capitalnewyork.com
Above: Flooding at the 23rd-Ely subway station.
“Imagine a scenario in which a 100-year-storm flooded all of the parts of the system that are most susceptible—the tunnels that carry trains under the East River to and from Manhattan, and the major connection points in Lower Manhattan. Then Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island would essentially be cut off from the mainland for the millions of commuters who pass through those links every day. And not for a short time.
“Essentially the subway system will be shut down and the restoring time will be at least a month,” Jacob said. “And probably many months.”
In the same way that many people, during Irene, didn’t understand why it took so long to shut the system down and so long to start it back up, if there is that kind of flooding, they will have to pump all the water out of the tunnels, take out the signal systems, wash them off (because they will have been in touch with brackish water), dry them, put them back together, test them, and reinstall them. And since much of the subway system is as old as 100 years, new parts cannot exactly be ordered up immediately; new ones would probably require starting from scratch.”
Read the rest at Capital New York
http://archrecord.construction.com/news/2011/09/planyc.asp
archrecord.construction.comArchitectural Record has published a critical, albeit short, look at the progress of PlaNYC, the ambitious and innovative long-range plan for New York City unveiled by the Bloomberg administration in 2007. It’s interesting to see how they’re proceeding in several of the metrics identified in the plan; and it sounds like they’re making good progress. Only four years into a 23-year plan, the city is already more than a third of the way to reaching the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent below 2005 levels. Ninety-seven percent of the original initiatives have launched.
Even the supposed grist for detractors identified in the article, such as only creating 64,000 of the goal of “building or preserving” 165,000 affordable homes by 2017, seems to be pretty much on track (roughly 40% created in roughly 40% of the projected timeline).
Watch Mayor Bloomberg Live Now
nyc.gov[Press Conference] Mayor Bloomberg opens 200th “Schoolyard to Playground” as part of PlaNYC initiative to ensure all New Yorkers live within a ten Minute walk of a park or playground
NYC Clean Heat's New Tumblr Page
nyccleanheat.tumblr.comCheck out the NYC Clean Heat Tumblr run by NYC Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning & Sustainability.
Finally! A Bright Spot in Mayor Bloomberg's Third Term
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been having some third-term blues. But, at last, a bright spot: solar energy.
Recently, the Mayor announced an update to PlaNYC - his sustainability plan which originally launched in 2007. The update, which contains 132 new intiatives, will, in his words, create “a greener New York that will help guide our city into a better future.”
The three most notable actions would:
- Place solar panels to cover 25 acres of capped landfills, which could generate power for as many as 50,000 homes;
- Phase-out the use of heavy oils from NYC boilers; and
- Use $40 million in Recovery Act dollars to start The New York City Energy Efficiency Corporation, a non-profit that assists building owners in paying for energy-efficiency upgrades.
Savings for New Yorkers. Cleaner air. Reduced energy costs. Important steps that will help keep New York City at the cutting edge of economic development.
New York City's Plan to Double Its Green Jobs
New York City prides itself on its innovation and place at the fore of American culture. So it wasn’t really a surprise when, in 2007, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched PLANYC. This ground-breaking, comprehensive city-wide sustainability plan laid a path to invest in city infrastructure while decreasing carbon dioxide emissions. The 30 initiatives that followed the initial plan document include investing in on-site renewable energy, cleaning up contaminated land, and continuing to retrofit the City’s buildings - the largest building stock in the country.
What’s incredible is the impact this plan will have on City green jobs. In 2008, the City employed 14,000 workers in jobs classified as green. By 2018, that is expected to jump to 28,000 - a 100% increase.
(It’s important to note that these are only City jobs - people whose paychecks come from the city itself. There are far, far more green jobs in New York City beyond these.)
New York is the largest city in America, and has resources and a scale that few others do. But the roadmap laid out for a process that can increase jobs while decreasing harmful pollutants is exactly the sort of innovation of which the city should be proud.
