Tom Mihalek/Reuters
Tom Mihalek/Reuters
Jeanne Noonan/ For New York Daily News
Jefferson Siegel/For Ny Daily News
Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images
Joe Marino For New York Daily News
Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
Charles Sykes/Ap
Adrees Latif/Reuters
Andrew Burton/Getty Images
Timothy A. Clary/Getty Images
Mario Tama/Getty Images
Ap Photo/Ana Andjelic
Lucas Jackson/Reuters
Ap Photo/Frank Franklin Ii
Mariela Lombard For New York Daily News
Mark Bonifacio/New York Daily News
Reuters/Mike Segar
Anthony Delmundo For New York Daily News
Bryan Smith For New York Daily News
Corey Sipkin/New York Daily News
Mariela Lombard For New York Daily News
Todd Maisel/New York Daily News
Mario Tama/Getty Images
Ron Antonelli/ New York Daily News
Seth Wenig/Ap
Stan Honda/Afp/Getty Images
Brendan Smialowskia/Getty Images
Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
Marcus Santos For New York Daily News
James Keivom/New York Daily News
Louis Lanzano/Ap
John Minchillo/Ap
Brendan Smalowski/Afp Photo/Getty Images
Charles Sykes/Ap
Jim Watson/Getty Images
Reuters/Carlo Allegri
Aaron Showalter For New York Daily News
Jeanne Noonan For New York Daily News
Joe Marino For New York Daily News
Ap Photo/Frank Franklin Ii
Craig Warga/New York Daily News
Anthony Delmundo For New York Daily News
Larry Downing/Reuters
Rex Features Via Ap Images
Mariela Lombard For New York Daily News
Anthony DelMundo/for New York Daily News
Nicholas Fevelo For New York Daily News
Craig Warga / New York Daily News
Andrew Burton/Getty Images
Lucas Jackson/Reuters
Usmc/Reuters
Carlo Allegri/Reuters
Ap Photo/Charles Sykes
Gary Hershorn/Reuters
Richard Harbus For New York Daily News
Ken Murray/New York Daily News
Todd Maisel/New York Daily News
Pearl Gabel For New York Daily News
Ap Photo/Metropolitan Transportation Authority Of The State Of N
Darren Mccollester/Getty Images
Adrees Latif/Reuters
Ron Antonelli/ New York Daily News
Lucas Jackson/Reuters
Joe Marino For New York Daily News
Reuters/Carlo Allegri
Anthony Delmundo For New York Daily News
Craig Warga / New York Daily News
Timothy A. Clary/Getty Images
Keith Bedford/Reuters
Lucas Jackson/Reuters
Bryan Smith/For New York Daily News
Reuters/Larry Downing
Brendan Smialowski/Afp/Getty Images
Lucas Jackson/Reuters
Seth Wenig/Ap
Keith Bedford/Reuters
Joe Marino For New York Daily News
Mark C. Olsen/Reuters
Jeanne Noonan For New York Daily News
Mariela Lombard For New York Daily News
Jeanne Noonan For New York Daily News
Mariela Lombard/For New York Daily News
Andrew Burton/New York Daily News
Todd Maisel/New York Daily News
Frank Franklin Ii/Ap
Pearl Gabel For New York Daily News
Bryan Pace/New York Daily News
Todd Maisel/New York Daily News
Frank Franklin Ii/Ap
Mario Tama/Getty Images
Reuters/Carlo Allegri
Rosanne Salvatore/New York Daily News
Mario Tama/Getty Images
Howard Simmons/New York Daily News
Lucas Jackson/Reuters
Stan Honda/Getty Images
Mark C. Olsen/Reuters
Joe Marino For New York Daily News
Ap Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
Anthony Delmundo For New York Daily News
David Handschuh/New York Daily News
Andrew Burton/Getty Images
Ron Antonelli/ New York Daily News
Jim Greenhill/Army National Guard/Reuters
Mark C. Olsen/Reuters
Adrees Latif/Reuters
City Council members and a top de Blasio official sparred Tuesday over whether the Big Apple is prepared for the next Superstorm Sandy, with pols from the outer boroughs accusing the mayor of bogging down preparation efforts in red tape and excuses.
“Families are still at risk,” said Councilman Costa Constantinides (D-Queens), who chairs the Committee on Environmental Protection. “While we do not anticipate a superstorm tomorrow … we must act as soon as possible.”
Speaking at a hearing on the seventh anniversary of the devastating hurricane, Jainey Bavishi, director of the Mayor’s Office of Resiliency, insisted the administration is ready for the next superstorm.
“New York City is definitively safer and better protected than it was during Hurricane Sandy,” she said.
“We have done a lot of work citywide to harden critical infrastructure, to increase flood insurance enrollment, to improve social cohesion and to improve emergency evacuation and response times so that citywide, we’re prepared for another disaster,” Bavishi asserted in her testimony.
“It sounds great,” shot back Councilman Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn), chair of the Committee on Resiliency and Waterfronts. “I don’t know that anybody in the outer boroughs really believes it.”
Brannan and Constantinides were pushing for a bill that would require de Blasio to develop “a comprehensive five-borough plan to protect the entire shoreline of New York City.” While light on details, the pols said it would force the administration to focus on sea-level rise and “sunny-day flooding” — which occurs during high tides — in addition to catastrophes caused by climate change.
The duo repeatedly suggested the mayor is putting more effort into protecting Lower Manhattan than the outer boroughs. The city is moving ahead with a massive “East Side Coastal Resiliency Project,” in which $1.5 billion will be spent creating a flood barrier to protect the Lower East Side.
Bavishi insisted no nabe is getting preferential treatment.
She pointed to efforts that have called on $15 billion in federal cash plus $5 billion in city funding. They include the restoration of 5.5 miles of the Rockaway boardwalk, 10 miles of new protective dunes across Staten Island and “ecological restorations” in Queens and Staten Island, according to Bavishi.
She also pointed to an ongoing study from the Army Corps of Engineers, which is working on the next round of project proposals.
Constantinides sneered at the effort, saying, “Why should we leave resiliency solely up to Donald Trump’s Army Corps of Engineers to get right?”
He explained he was frustrated by years of stonewalling from the de Blasio administration.
“Instead of coming here with constructive feedback on how we can improve legislation, there is a consistent sort of rejection of every piece of legislation,” Constantinides fumed.
Bavishi rebutted his bill, saying, “We are concerned that advancing a city plan in parallel with the federal plan could create confusion, waste taxpayer resources and result in additional proposed projects that have no clear funding source.”
She also said her office has moved beyond the original goals of the Sandy response, when the Bloomberg administration was focused solely on storm surge. Mayor de Blasio is seeking to fight threats from increased rainfall to rising sea levels, she said.
It was not known when the full Council would vote on the legislation.