The right vision a decade after Superstorm Sandy

NY Daily News Opinion: This week, every newspaper and TV news channel is talking about the 10th anniversary of Superstorm Sandy and asking the same basic question: Are we any better off today than we were 10 years ago? However, it’s not a simple yes or no answer. The answer is that while New Yorkers are different — we understand climate change better than we did 10 years ago — we still lack the vision of what a truly climate-resilient New York City looks like, and how we will get there.

A decade has been spent raising mechanical systems and installing back-up energy in hospitals, hardening our subway infrastructure, and moving critical infrastructure in public housing out of areas that will flood. Over the course of a long, winding decade, the city has learned a lot, made some mistakes, and notched many accomplishments.

Yet despite these efforts, we are still contributing to the problem. Everything we build that does not move towards climate adaptation actually sets us back.

We must stop working piecemeal and set a goal that New York City needs to be truly, genuinely climate resilient 10 years from now. Then, working with all communities, we must flesh out the vision of what a resilient New York City looks like. The plan should have clear actions to get us there that we can all measure and track. Most importantly, we need to make sure that no New Yorker gets left behind. Read more>>

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