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Adams: Brooklyn’s Sandy recovery map will increase accountability, transparency

November 2, 2015 By Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams presented a new map showing storm resiliency projects across the borough. Adams said the map will make resiliency efforts more transparent and accountable. Photo by Mary Frost
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Three years after Superstorm Sandy, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and other city officials unveiled a map showing exactly what storm recovery and resiliency projects are underway in the borough.

The map – which Adams called an “accountability map” — details where dollars are being spent on hundreds of projects both along Brooklyn’s coastline and in its interior, ranked by budget size.

These projects include neighborhood studies and small business support, New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) upgrades, stormwater management, health care and transportation improvements, and US Army Corps of Engineers projects, among others.

“This map is a way to assure that the public knows, one, what projects are taking place in their district, and two, as often as we can, updates on the projects, to see how progress is going forward,” Adams said at Friday’s announcement. 

The map would empower homeowners and lead to greater transparency, he said. “Homeowners now do not have to live in the dark on the status of their community . . . We want to make sure there’s nothing left on the table in how we can improve our response.”

Friday’s unveiling was part of the Brooklyn Resiliency Task Force, a collaborative effort with the city to further Sandy cleanup and advocate for resources for future resiliency projects.

The effort has been led by Councilmember Mark Treyger, who has been a vocal advocate for homeowners in his Coney Island district, Adams said.

“Councilmember Treyger realized that many people in the area were not receiving their full money after the hurricane, and as reported recently by one study, many people were underpaid by thousands of dollars,” Adams said.

Treyger praised the task force for providing a system-wide vision.

“What you do in one part of Brooklyn affects the other part of Brooklyn,” he said. “So many of our waterfront communities are vulnerable.”

The map would increase transparency when people “look to see what’s the status of Coney Island Hospital getting its money from FEMA, what’s the status of NYCHA buildings in Red Hook getting the money promised for their community centers, senior centers, boilers,” Treyger said.

Brooklyn’s share of the damage from Superstorm Sandy runs into the billions, said Daniel Zarrilli, director of the Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency (ORR), which has partnered with the task force.

As part of a comprehensive $20 billion resiliency program, Brooklyn has seen $1 billion in funds to rebuild and strengthen Coney Island Hospital, investments in flood protection in Red Hook, over $1.2 billion for public housing resiliency and more, Zarrilli said.

Resiliency work in NYCHA projects includes flood protection, raising boilers and electrical systems, improving water management and improving security to first floors, he said.

Zarrilli called the map a “snapshot of all the projects we’re advancing.”

“This is the first step, and we’ll continue to expand capabilities,” he said.

Adams called the recent announcement of feasibility studies for a dune system in Coney Island Beach and the commitment of $100 million from the city and state to study, design and build a flood protection system in Red Hook “laudable and needed.”

“But we all know we must move forward as quickly as possible to protect our shorelines,” he added.

 

The new map is available at http://www.nyc.gov/html/planyc/html/progress/BROOKLYN_10.29.15.pdf

 

 

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