‘Lives at stake’
Comptroller blasts city for
its slow safety spending
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
He wants the city to open the
fl ood gates.
New York’s top money
man blasted city leaders for
failing to spend enough on
storm-proofi ng fl ood-prone
neighborhoods.
A new report released by
Comptroller Scott Stringer
details the sluggish pace that
city offi cials have taken in allocating
funds to protect lowlying
communities from future
storms. Stringer called
the need for swift, extensive
action “a moral obligation” at
a May 9 press conference announcing
the report.
“Lives are at stake, and the
horizon is not 20 or 30 years,”
said Stringer. “Any politician
who talks about 20-, 30-, or 50-
year plans isn’t matching the
urgency of the moment. Time
is running out.”
Most egregiously, Stringer
said the city has failed to appropriate
almost half of the
federal funds earmarked for
protecting shoreline communities
over the last six years.
“After Superstorm Sandy,
New York City received $14.7
billion to spend on recovery
and future resiliency,” he said.
“Six years later, New York
City has only spent 54 percent
of that money.”
The $14.7 billion was allotted
to the city after Superstorm
Sandy, during which 35,000
people lost power in the borough
and seven Brooklynites
died, according to a city study.
Stringer warned storms
like the one that rocked the
northeast in 2012 would become
more frequent.
“Scientists now estimate
that Sandy-like fl ooding could
be a one-in-fi ve-year event by
mid century,” he said.
Large portions of the fl oodproofi
ng money, which was
detailed by the Federal Government
for specifi c uses, has
thus far gone unspent, according
to Stringer.
“We’ve managed to spend
SPEED IT UP: Comptroller Stringer held a press conference on May 9 criticising the city’s slow spending on
storm resiliency. Offi ce of the New York City Comptroller
only 20 percent of the FEMA
dollars earmarked to repair
our local hospitals,” he said.
“We’ve only spent 14 percent
of $417 million allocated for
coastal resilience projects.”
Leaders have also been
slow to spend funds meant for
the city’s housing authority,
which Stringer called “unbelievable.”
“Of the $3 billion allotted
for NYCHA, only 41 percent
has been spent, leaving public
housing residents dangerously
exposed,” he said.
Stringer attributed the
COURIER L 16 IFE, MAY 17–23, 2019 M BR B G
slow pace of spending to the
challenges of federal “red
tape,” and the nature of government
construction projects,
but called on city offi cials
to fundamentally rethink the
processes.
“We are in this line of
work to do what is hard, especially
when it is right,” he
said. “Which means that our
current approach, across the
board, is too slow. We have begun
to accept that projects cannot
or will not move.”
Spending money faster
would be an “economic imperative,”
according to Stringer’s
report, as every dollar spent
on fl ood mitigation would save
$6 in future disaster costs ,
largely due to the fact that $101
billion in property value is located
in the most fl ood-vulnerable
areas in the city.
Offi cials needed to accelerate
the pace of investment,
demanded Stringer, who characterized
the city’s coastline
vulnerability in no uncertain
terms.
“This is an emergency,”
he said. “We’re here today to
sound the alarm.”
Ecologically friendly
Aesthetically pleasing
Get the garden you deserve!
NativeNyGardens.com | NativeNyGardens@gmail.com
link
/NativeNyGardens.com
link