In response to the growing climate crisis, Brooklyn Borough President and Democratic nominee for mayor Eric Adams on Friday unveiled his new Climate Resiliency Plan in Coney Island — a month after the remnants of Hurricane Ida flooded swaths of the city.
“Let’s face it, we screwed up the planet. Folks, climate change is here,” said Adams. “We are facing a series of issues that are impacting the quality of life. It’s impacting our health, it’s impacting our public safety.”
Adams’ plan is meant to prepare the city for the effects of climate change, which are now inevitable, according to an expert who joined Adams at the rally.
“What we are experiencing is actually the early response of the Earth to the current levels of carbon dioxide,” said Cortney Koenig Worrall, president and CEO of the Waterfront Alliance. “What that means is that things are going to get worse. All of us need to understand that what we are seeing right now is the best weather that we’re going to have.”
Details of the plan include an early warning for extreme weather events, as well as a storm severity ranking for the City’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) that defines which agencies are deployed during crises.
Other planks of the platform include a public education campaign about storm and flood risk; bringing basement apartments into compliance with City codes and regulations to ensure the safety of residents; developing a climate resilience retrofit incentive program; developing a climate resilience retrofit.
Other planks include appointing a climate resilience czar; the fast-tracking of developed but unfunded resiliency projects at NYCHA developments; a climate stress test of the city’s infrastructure; and the evaluation of neighborhoods most at risk to flooding.
The choice of Coney Island as the event’s location was made evident by the inclusion of initiatives that look to improve climate infrastructure to protect against flooding and rising sea levels, which include investments in waterfront areas like Coney Island.
“Coming from a community that was hard hit by Sandy, I’m pleased that climate change has become a kitchen table conversation,” said Pamela Pettyjohn, President of Coney Island Beautification Project. “Lessons learned from Superstorm Sandy has taught us that we must be proactive as we face a world that is poised to be affected by the negative effects of climate change.”
