AMNY: Representatives from the Parks Department, the Economic Development Corporation (EDC), and the design firm AECOM addressed Manhattan’s Community Board 3 last week, following a lawsuit filed by several local organizations calling for the annulment of the City Council’s November approval of the East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) Project. 

While the presenters could not comment on that status of the lawsuit, they attempted to reassure the room—populated by residents of Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Two Bridges, and East Village neighborhoods—that their concerns surrounding the impact of the ESCR were being taken into account during the planning process.

The ESCR, a $1.45 billion project developed in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, is jointly funded by the City of New York and the federal government. The proposed project extends from 25th St. to Montgomery Street on Manhattan’s East Side, where it will connect with another initiative, the Montgomery Brooklyn Bridge Coastal Resiliency Project.

The goal of the project is to reduce flood risk due coastal storms and sea level rise, which currently threaten the homes of over 110,000 New Yorkers, by building “one continuous line of flood protection down the entire East River Esplanade,” consisting of retaining walls, flip-up floodgates, and land-fill to raise the elevation. READ MORE>>