ICYMI: Comptroller Stringer’s Op-ed in the New York Daily News: Our infrastructure emergency is here: It’s all hands on deck to fix New York City

(New York, NY) — The New York Daily News published an op-ed by New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer on the recent spate of infrastructure breakdowns and weather emergencies that have put New York City’s vulnerability to climate change on full display.

Text of the op-ed is available below and can be viewed online here.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could go one day without a catastrophic infrastructure meltdown? After the past couple weeks of blackouts, subway shutdowns, heatwaves and flooding, our city’s vulnerability is on full display — and the famous toughness of New Yorkers is being pushed to the limit.

The truth is this: We simply do not have infrastructure that can respond to climate shocks. And it’s only going to get worse. If scientists’ projections are correct, by 2050, the number of 100-degree days will increase by 10 times, the frequency of extreme rainfall will dramatically increase and we could see storms like Hurricane Sandy arrive as frequently as every 25 years.

It is past time to ensure our infrastructure can keep up with the new normal and prepare for what climate change will bring next. There is no time for finger-pointing. This is the fight of our lives.

First, we need to do everything in our power to slow the impacts of climate change. As the fiduciary to the city’s pension fund, we’re already working toward divesting our pension dollars from fossil fuels but there’s much more that the city must do. We need to transition faster — much faster — away from fossil-fuel dependence, put a moratorium on new fossil fuel infrastructure and instead invest far more in renewable energy.

Relatedly, as thousands of New Yorkers experienced firsthand, our energy grid needs help. Con Ed must be held responsible for failures to prevent and mitigate outages, but we should also overhaul our approach to the grid overall. We need to invest in a hardened grid that can withstand greater strain and critically, one that can accept a lot more renewables and heat pumps. If we keep plugging old energy systems into an old and weary grid, we can only expect more failures.

But as we plan to mitigate the future, we also need to deal with the consequences of our present. In May, I released a report on the imminent threat of rising sea levels. There is more than $100 billion in property value in the floodplain at risk of being wiped out by more frequent and intense storms. That’s New Yorkers’ homes, businesses, the foundation of our economy and the entire livelihood of coastal communities on the line. Even when the sun is out, homeowners will face regular flooding from high tides.

My plan calls for dramatically expediting the pace of spending on resiliency infrastructure by harnessing already allocated federal funding to plan and install coastal defenses in exposed communities, developing a citywide comprehensive coastal resiliency plan for every mile of coastline to mitigate both short- and long-term risk, particularly focusing on low-income communities. At the same time, we must expand neighborhood-based buyout programs designed to help homeowners escape the prospect of frequent flooding in targeted neighborhoods and improve access to low-cost loans and vouchers aimed at allowing homeowners and business to undertake resiliency retrofits, including elevations.

Last month, Gov. Cuomo signed legislation, sponsored by Sen. John Liu and Assemblywoman Nily Rozic, to encourage the expansion of green roofs, an underutilized tool to mitigate storm-water runoff and provide green space. Green roofs currently only cover one in 1,000 buildings in the five boroughs. We need to keep refining and expanding this program to maximize its reach and get more green roofs around the city, especially in the outer boroughs.

Even with climate change a reality, I still want normality within the new normal. I want my kids to have fun New York City summers. I want them to run around at camp without fearing heatstroke in 100-degree weather. I want them to be able to cross the street during a storm without swimming. I want them to be able to play inside and outside all summer without fearing that the lights will shut off during game night or the traffic lights will shut off during bike rides. And I want that for your kids and their kids too.

###