12 SEPTEMBER 9, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Ida and the climate crisis
Severe rainfall from remnants of
Hurricane Ida across New York
City on the night of Wednesday,
Sept. 1, into the morning of Thursday,
Sept. 2, gave us a fatal reminder that
some natural acts are beyond our
control.
But it is also increasingly clear that
the death, fl ooding and destruction
left in the storm’s wake — along with
other natural occurrences such as
forest fi res and droughts in the west
— are due to global warming and an
existential climate crisis.
Government can and must move
now to mitigate this crisis with both
short- and long-term infrastructure
fi xes including the use of 21st-century
resiliency technology.
“What Hurricane Ida and instances
of severe weather before it have made
abundantly clear is that the aged
infrastructure of New York City was
not designed for the impacts of climate
change we are experiencing more and
more frequently these days,” said
Bobby Caravella, senior vice president
at AKRF, one of the leading engineering
and city planning fi rms.
EDITORIAL
THE HOT TOPIC
STORY:
Hochul tells New Yorkers to prepare
for more severe storms
SUMMARY:
New York will have to be prepared for
more frequent heavy weather events
due to climate change, Governor
Kathy Hochul said Thursday, Sept. 2.
Queens Borough President Donovan
Richards called for more investment
in lifesaving infrastructure.
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It is increasingly clear that the death, fl ooding and destruction left in Hurricane Ida’s wake — along with other
natural occurrences such as forest fi res and droughts in the west — are due to global warming and an
existential climate crisis. Photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters
“The city needs to focus its capital
improvements and maintenance
programs on these susceptible areas,
targeting resiliency across the fi ve
boroughs, or millions of New Yorkers
will continue to be aff ected by
catastrophic fl ooding during heavy
rainfalls, storm surges and risks associated
with rising sea levels,” he added.
While confronting the crisis with
taxpayer spending and major capital
improvements is necessary, so is vigilance
against over-politicizing it.
Already, Ida has brought a clarion
call to action from many progressive
and left -leaning organizations of the
need to pass the $3.5 trillion partisan
infrastructure package fi lled with
expanding social programs.
This comes on top of the partisan $1
trillion brick-and-mortar infrastructure
bill before the House. According
to Senator Charles Schumer, this
spending includes a $10 billion bump
to the MTA and tens of billions more
for infrastructure items spread out
across the city and state.
“Whether it’s the needs of the MTA,
projects like Gateway, the Second Avenue
subway, the East River Tunnels,
Penn Access and others, this deal represents
massive investments that will
rebuild and revive the Empire State’s
infrastructure,” Schumer said when
the bipartisan deal passed the Senate.
“From clean drinking water to upgraded
sewers to repairing bridges
and subway tunnels, there is more
work to be done, but billions are on the
way to move on it, create good jobs and
advance critical projects,” he added.
There is an old political saying to
never let a good crisis go to waste. This
may be true, but it shouldn’t be wasteful
either — we need to spend wisely
to protect our city from the eff ects of
climate change.
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