Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi, Operations: All right. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. My name is Meera Joshi. I'm New York City's deputy mayor for operations. Eleven years and one day ago, Superstorm Sandy made landfall, causing billions of dollars of damage, reshaping the coastline; and most tragically killed, 44 New Yorkers including 24 people here on Staten Island.
In honor of the lives lost and those forever changed by this storm, please join me in a moment of silence.
While Sandy was a coastal storm, our city has also been hit by a different, unpredictable kind of storm: heavy, concentrated, more frequent rainfall like Ida and Ophelia bringing record amounts of rainfall. Today, we're here to highlight continuation of a project that addresses stormwater and protects against flooding in the most beautiful way: lifesaving drainage and absorption that takes the form of natural green space, ponds, grass, trees — like what you see on either side of you — wildlife, as well as pathways for wandering.
To celebrate this milestone I'm excited to introduce our mayor, Eric Adams.
Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you so much, deputy mayor. This is really beautiful, actually. And were the ducks here before?
Deputy Mayor Joshi: Yes, they flew right over us, geese.
Mayor Adams: Oh, geese, is that what it is?
So, really excited to be out here once again on Staten Island. I told my team, you know, the state senator and I, we always talk about it, but I told the team clearly that Staten Island is not the forgotten borough. Under this administration, we are out here repeatedly. I think even from day one, Vito was here. Back in January when I first became the mayor, during a snowstorm, we were out here. And we just constantly come out, because this borough is extremely significant to this administration and we're going to continue to do so and continue to make sure that it is not forgotten in any way.
And as the deputy mayor stated, 11 years ago, 44 New Yorkers and 24 of them — more than half — were from Staten Island. The storm struck us hard, Superstorm Sandy was so impactful that it left an everlasting impact on us and it reminded us how we have to be prepared for the future. And I think that's what Commissioner Aggarwala has been clear on and he has been focused — laser focused — on how we do things that are not only long term, there's no consolation to talk about what we're going to do long term.
But his plan has been a short‑term, mid‑term, long‑term, and we're seeing some results of what Rit and his entire team, what they have been doing. The storm was a major tragedy and a warning to us all how real climate change is. Warmer temperatures are driving extreme weather and making storms more frequent and much more stronger.
We saw in the past month Ophelia dropped intense rainfall across our city, and we're doing all we can to protect New Yorkers. And we understand the obligation that we have of making you that not only do we pick up from what the previous administrations — Mayor Bloomberg and de Blasio, what they have done — but we have to add on that and come up with new ideas as we deal with this threat. We're taking action to safeguard our city and our people with major new flood management projects, especially in neighborhoods that have seen repeated flooding year after year during extreme weather events.
And so today we are proud to announce in Staten Island the completion of a major expansion of the New Creek Bluebelt. This concept… I was speaking with the Commissioner Aggarwala when we were out in East New York, and this is really one of the creative ways we want to deal with heavy rainfall and intense weather patterns.
It transforms how we manage stormwater and heavy rainfall in our city. Bluebelts have proven to be a natural, reliable and cost‑effective way to reduce urban flooding. It is something as you look at is a real beautiful way to do so, and it's a way to just really bring in our natural resources...even the geese agreed, our natural resources to deal with climate change.
Protecting our communities from many of the devastating effects of extreme weather brought about by climate change, especially here in Staten Island which has so often taken the brunt of storms and hurricanes in the past. And these bluebelts are also being built out in Brooklyn and Queens. We believe there's a real opportunity to have this part of our toolbox to fight against climate change.
With these three phases now completed, stormwater that falls on roadways, rooftops and sidewalks in portions of Midland Beach, Grant City, Dongan Hills and Todt Hill will now drain into new catch basins and storm sewers and be discharged into New Creek's Bluebelt. From there, it will slowly make its way to Lower New York Bay while being naturally filtered along the way.
In addition to the many practical advantages of this project, we can see just how beautiful it is. There's a real opportunity to turn this into a landscape and opportunity for people to see the environment of enjoying this beautiful borough of Staten Island. The borough of so many parks, and like one of the parks we announced that transformed the garbage dump into a place of tranquility, and we want to continue to expand on that.
Bluebelts are a key part of the city's action plans to address inland flooding. The Department of Environmental Protection's new bill of coastal resiliency will complement this work by focusing on coastal flooding as part of the comprehensive strategy to protect New Yorkers from the effects of extreme weather going forward. And I made it clear when I took office that this is not going to be a borough that has been forgotten, and this is a promise I made and a promise I'm keeping.
When you look at the Staten Island Action plan and the opening of the North Park section of Freshkills Park, you can see that we have kept the promise. It is only the beginning as we continue to look towards Staten Island to address some of the longstanding issues that this borough of working class people had to deal with so many years.
So, congratulations to the entire team that were here, a combination of our BP, state senator, our assemblyperson, our council persons. And you know, those who are no longer in public life, Diane Savino, I keep saying, is playing a major role in our administration as the former state senator to speak on behalf of the needs of Staten Island. I know our congresswoman is not here, but we want to also thank her for her role in this. Great job.
Deputy Mayor Joshi: Thank you. And as the mayor has highlighted, this is the work of many over many years, so I want to give some thanks. First, as you mentioned, our Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis is not here, but her support has been undying. To Borough President Vito Fossella and also former Borough President Jimmy Oddo who started and carried and have continued to advocate to bring us to today. State Senator Jessica Scarcella‑Spanton, Assemblymember Sam Pirozzolo, Assemblymember Michael Tannousis, Councilmember David Carr. So, thank you very much. Also a huge thanks to the many city agencies and city employees. This much beauty comes with a lot of coordination, so thank you for your leadership and your day to day work. DEP, Department of Design and Construction, DOT and Parks. It took all of them to get across the finish line.
This project was also funded partially, $16 million, by our federal partners, HUD and the Department of Agriculture, so thank you to them, too. But it also demonstrates why it's important for us to continue to focus on getting every federal dollar in New York City. To date, we secured over a billion dollars in federal funding, and much of this has gone to resiliency and energy projects. And we have over a billion and a half in pending applications, so make noise in DC on our behalf.
We're also laser focused on protecting New Yorkers across the city both now and for generations to come. Our forefathers who built our city of concrete and asphalt could never have imagined intervention such as a bluebelt would be called infrastructure, but our children will come to know and accept and expect a New York City built on a solid green infrastructure foundation.
With more and more heavy rain and destructive flooding, we must in our building protection and absorption well beyond our current system. In this administration alone, we've launched innovative cloudburst projects where we turn recreation spaces like playgrounds and basketball courts into emergency holding tanks during downpours. We've installed dozens of miles of new sewers.
We added and designed acres of bluebelts, like the one you are celebrating today. This addition makes a total of 545 acres of bluebelt across the city — that's equivalent to 412 football fields — and they collectively manage 443 million gallons of water a year, that's equivalent to 105 Olympic‑sized swimming pools.
We've built thousands of rain gardens and infiltration basins, small green spaces in depressions in sidewalks that transform into a mighty water absorbers during times of heavy rain: 13,000 in total, 1,400 under this administration, 3,000 in the pipeline. And they together annually absorb roughly the equivalent of 125 Olympic‑sized swimming pools. And we've also poured tens of thousands of feet of porous pavement to allow our roads to turn into sponges during road [inaudible].
This is all critical work. It's memorialized in our 10‑year capital plan, and it's work we need to do without any administrative or process delays. The storms are only getting stronger. That's why we're going to Albany this year — so, thank you, for all our state electeds standing behind us — to advocate for the construction tools that we need to speed up contracting, design and construction so we can get these projects done quickly. That's our capital reform agenda.
And with that, I'd like to turn it over to our chief climate officer, and I'd also like to introduce, for those who haven't already met him, Elijah Hutchinson, our head of our Office of Environmental Justice, who's also been integral to this project and so many more. But I'd like to turn it over to Rit Aggarwala, our chief climate officer and commissioner of Department of Environmental Protection.
Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala, Department of Environmental Protection: Thank you, deputy mayor. And also we should acknowledge the fact that Congresswoman Malliotakis has arrived. It's great to see you. Thank you for being here and for all of your support, as the mayor and deputy mayor already pointed out.
So, for a guy like me focused on climate change and the environment, the fact that the mayor and the deputy mayor have basically used up all of my talking points is really good news. The unfortunate reality is that all of us in leadership roles — and I am sure this is true for all of the electeds here as well — we have no choice but to talk about climate change and resilience over and over and over again. It's the reality of what we live in right now. It's the reality of the work that faces us all both here in New York and around the world. So, I appreciate that.
I will add just one or two small things that I'm particularly proud of with this, and point out not only is this one example of the bluebelt network that the deputy mayor talked about, but it's going to continue further on, because as we do the work. And in fact, just as recently as I think it was Thursday, the deputy mayor and I were talking to Congresswoman Malliotakis to ensure that with the Army Corps we move forward on the South Shore seawall project that is so important and is such an important collaboration between New York City DEP and the Army Corps of Engineers because it's not only going to keep the ocean at bay from future inundations like we suffered during Hurricane Sandy, but it will also help fulfill and complete this network of bluebelts that will protect all of the mid island here from massive rainstorms.
I'd also like to point out that bluebelts, to me, are a fantastic example of how we need great infrastructure and green infrastructure to work together, because not only has this project included the reconstruction of these beautiful green areas than that I'd like to thank our grounds team that's behind us that does all the maintenance of the Staten Island bluebelts…
And they do a wonderful job ensuring that not only do they look great and add value to the neighborhoods but they also function the way they're supposed to. But in addition to this wonderful natural, green, visible environment, these are also made useful by, this project alone installed more than two miles of storm sewers in these surrounding neighborhoods feeding into this bluebelt. And so this natural area — this waterway here that's New Creek — is actually functioning as an extension of that storm sewer network, so it's a marriage of great technology and green technology.
And I will close by pointing out that this is a fantastic Staten Island invention that is going on now all over the world. We go to places, and my agency has a partnership with the city of Copenhagen. You go there, they are world known for their storm water management strategy. I went there last year. I got the tour. I looked around, they explained to me, we're taking this pond, we're going to connect storm sewers to it. And I'm like, this is a bluebelt. We've had these on Staten Island since the nineties.
So, this is, and so we're exporting this, as the mayor said, from Staten Island to the rest of the city at the same time as others are taking it around the world. This is a great example of Staten Island creativity, and I'm really proud to carry it forward.
Before I leave, of course, I do need to thank, as the deputy mayor pointed out, our agency colleagues at DDC and Parks and DOT. Thanks for your collaboration. I see colleagues from the Trust for Public Land and from the U.S. Department of Agriculture here who are partners in the broader effort towards green infrastructure. And I particularly want to thank Tassos Georgelis who's back here somewhere, deputy commissioner… There he is, thank you, the deputy commissioner of our Bureau of Water and Sewer Operations. So, thank you all.
Deputy Mayor Joshi: So, as Staten Island leads the way in bluebelts, so does the borough president. So, next we'll hear from Staten Island Borough President Fossella, whose advocacy leads us to today.
Staten Island Borough President Fossella: Thank you. Thank you very much, deputy commissioner. And if in fact these were football fields, the New York Giants would figure out a way to lose in every one of them.
First off, I want to thank the mayor for once again coming out, and he brought me back to his first visit when he became mayor was at PS 60, and since then he has been available, accessible and been a great partner to try to figure out how we can make, of course, New York City better, but thanks for helping us make Staten Island better. Appreciate that, mayor.
And this is, again, not to repeat what's been said, it would not have happened but for the people behind us, the people to our side, because they have grabbed this and ran with it, and they've given us what we have today. Just a couple weeks ago, as the mayor mentioned, we opened up North Park. It was a garbage dump that becomes a park.
This was an area that after Sandy was literally hell on earth. It was destroyed. We not only lost life but the property and damage that occurred was just unbelievable. And here we are, in sort of a restoration of sorts that is a win‑win for all people not just who live here but across Staten Island and could be done in almost half the cost of what to do to build a normal sewer.
So, on so many levels this has been great. I grew up in South Beach. My family moved there about 80 years ago. And growing up, I know what it was like when the rains came and the floods came, and it was not pretty. And to know that we are making significant progress to allow these homeowners and residents peace of mind when the storms come, that they don't have to run to the basement or bail themselves out, it's been great, and they don't to worry about the damage that's done to their homes.
So, on so many levels this is a great day, and let's hope that our partnership can continue. This is the way government should work, working together across all agencies, city, state and federal level. Let's do the work of the people. So, mayor, thanks for bringing this out. Appreciate it.
Deputy Mayor Joshi: Thank you. And we also couldn't get here today without advocates who tirelessly lift up the issues that are important to all New Yorkers. And so next we'll hear from Patrick McClellan, Policy Director for the New York League of Conservation Voters.
Patrick McClellan, Police Director, New York League of Conservation Voters : Thank you. My name is Patrick McClellan, I'm the policy director at the New York League of Conservation Voters. You know, 11 years ago, Hurricane Sandy devastated New York City and had the greatest impact on Staten Island. And unfortunately, we know that it's a question of if not when and that the city gets another Sandy or, God forbid, even worse storm.
Since then, we've also learned that climate change, the way it's impacting our local sub climate in the New York area, is that we're getting more rainy weather; and when it does rain, there's a higher risk of really extreme rainfall as we've seen over the last month. I don't know about you, but I'm sick of having my weekends rained out and bailing out my basement.
And projects like this — bluebelts, greenbelts, green infrastructure — are a cost‑effective way to address that flooding risk and that extreme rainfall risk, more cost efficient than some of the kind of mega gray infrastructure resiliency projects that have been talked about. And this also protects local habitats, protects local ecosystems; in many cases, restores them that had previously been harmed by being paved over by development.
So, it's really a win‑win‑win for the environment to have green infrastructure projects like this. And when you look at all that we need to do to prepare New York City for climate change, it can feel like an exhausting list that's never ending, but I think that Mayor Adams and his team and all the elected officials, the city and state and federal government who are helping to make this happen, deserve a lot of credit for going down that list and just checking one off one after another, getting stuff done and really never tiring of tackling the projects that we need to tackle to make sure that the next time a storm like Sandy does come — and it will — that we're ready for it. So, thank you very much.
Question: Mayor, if I remember right, you were at the State Senate when Superstorm Sandy hit. Is that… If that's right. I'm just wondering what sticks…
Mayor Adams: Yes.
Question: ...in your mind about that day and whether it occurred to you at all then that more than a decade later we'd not only be worried about future hurricanes, but as some of the folks up here have indicated, about every rain storm.
Mayor Adams: That day I went over to, I believe it was Maimonides Hospital, and they had a command center set up, and I took a ride out to Coney Island in the midst of it. And going down Ocean Parkway, the level of water that you couldn't drive any further. It was really a moment that, hey, this stuff is real. Coney Island, the ocean met the bay; and when I got out there the next day, the devastation was just unbelievable.
You looked at Howard Beach, Coney Island, all of our coastal areas as I drove around the borough. And then when you stood next to the water marks and realizing that, you know, we were talking five, six feet that the water came. It was real. It was surreal. And that was a real eye‑opener for me, and it just helped, as I was in the State Senate, the congresswoman and I were colleagues at that time up in Albany. And it just continued, continued after that. But it was real eye‑opener.
And please get a picture of that deer… Is that a deer or a moose, or what do you call… Yeah, yeah, look at… Look how he paused and says, is that the mayor? Is that Mayor Adams? Wow!
Yes, but that was a surreal moment when I saw water like that. It's amazing.
Question: Commissioner Aggarwala touched on this a bit, but the larger seawall project, what is your administration doing to expedite that project and ensure you're working effectively with the federal government?
Mayor Adams: Commissioner?
Commissioner Aggarwala: So, the South Shore project is of critical importance to us. It is something where I personally, we have a leadership phone call that convenes every three weeks. I talk to the commander of the Army Corps' New York District, senior people including often the commissioner from the State Department of Environmental Conservation. We have a number of agencies that are also involved, the National Park Service and others. So, we manage that project very much.
We are right now nearing, we hope, the phase where it can enter into contracting, that's something that we're expecting kind of over the next several weeks or couple of months. That's where Congressman Malliotakis has been tremendously helpful in making sure that in Washington the Army Corps is focused on it.
It's a project management task. It's made very complex by the fact that there are so many agencies involved, because the Army Corps is building the wall, my agency has to design the bluebelt portion that will protect… You know, if you build a wall, you also keep the water in, right? And so we have to design both halves. Because of the federal rules, we have to design that even though the Army Corps is going to construct it. And so there's a lot of inter agency coordination that has to go on.
But the short answer is, we've got a great team on it and I'm paying very close personal attention to it on a very regular basis.
Question: Thank you.
Mayor Adams: You know, we've broken a number of records as the City Hall, but this is really a record today that many people didn't realize: we got two New York Mets hats here. Good job.
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