A call to Activism
Make some noise before New York City commits an environmental disaster in the name of flood protection.
Mayor deBlasio: Closing and flattening the largest park in Lower Manhattan, a jewel along the waterfront, playground and sanctuary for some 100,000 low-and-middle income New Yorkers, is not a Green New Deal.
It’s a bad, ugly deal. It’s a reckless travesty of environmental injustice.
Like the general in Vietnam, who said, “We have to destroy the village to save it,” Mr. deBlasio, you seem to think we have to destroy our environment to save our environment.
Meanwhile, the Lower East Side and East Village will have no flood protection for years, not even the modicum of absorption that the park gave us during Hurricane Sandy.
Mayor deBlasio, your flood protection plan to raise the entire park up to 10 feet destroys every tree, every bit of biodiversity that cleanses our air and soothes our souls. It creates years construction throwing fill dirt that will clog the lungs of people who already have high asthma rates, who already suffered respiratory illnesses because of 9/11.
Through the scheduled three and a half years of construction (and of course it will be much more because it always is), some 100,000 neighbors will have no access to the river, to a wide expanse with trees, to playing fields. Let’s see you try this crap in a rich neighborhood.
And then, the flood protection program you have dumped on us like a barge full of dirt is not even based on the best practices. Apparently you haven’t contacted the Dutch, who have always lived with encroaching seas and have coastal resiliency plans that are far worthier.
Yes, there are better plans. There was, in fact, a good plan in place until you scrapped it last year for vague reasons. There went $40 million in planning costs. Here’s an even better plan: Cover the FDR Drive with a park. Give us people over cars!
Now we have a $1.45 billion mess of your creation, Mr. deBlasio.
There can be temporary flood protection. There can be a better plan developed or reinstated from previous plans.
This East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) plan is hurtling toward passage by the community boards, the City Council, the Comptroller, the Manhattan Borough President. Those people and organizations will be personally responsible for an environmental disaster if this plan goes through the way it is.
Before they vote, they need to listen to all the people who are furious and grief stricken over completely losing the best park along the river.
East River Park ACTION is making our voices heard through
Protests to make city officials understand how many people oppose closing and killing the park
Investigating legal action over the destruction of environment and threats to health of residents
Developing the plan that is truly best for our neighborhood, city, and to ease climate change.
Folleto en Español: ¡DETENGA LA DESTRUCCIÓN DE TODO EL EAST RIVER PARK!
East River Park ACTION
email: ourpark@eastriverparkaction.org
Facebook: East River Park Action
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