Awaiting remediation for the creek, local attention has turned to the more immediate threat of rain-driven flooding. Coney Island flooded badly from the remnants of Hurricane Ida at the beginning of September 2021. The two years since were a missed opportunity for resiliency improvements, local activists say.
Polluted from both its industrial past and the city’s present-day sewer system, community leaders have pushed for years to get Coney Island Creek included on either New York State or the federal government’s Superfund lists. But it hasn’t been easy.
“Mayor Adams plans to force families experiencing their very first winter in the United States to uproot their lives every 60 days, without an idea of where they’ll end up once they hit their shelter limit. Children will face the prospect of changing schools after finally settling into their current ones.”
While the last decade has seen cleanup efforts planned or launched at some of the city’s most polluted waterways, like Gowanus Canal and Newtown Creek, the community has struggled to get traction for a comprehensive cleaning plan for Coney Island Creek, despite its continued recreational use and multiple requests for action by local leaders.
“A free pass for Uber, Lyft, and other big corporations to add thousands more inaccessible vehicles to our streets, with drivers footing the bill, is a step in the wrong direction.”
Local Law 97 is one of the most ambitious—and divisive—climate measures enacted in any U.S. city. While some co-op boards see the mandate as an opportunity to make sustainable upgrades to their buildings, others say it will drain their financial reserves.
“Hundreds of thousands of New York City households depend on government benefits to avoid eviction and homelessness. Yet countless households are experiencing ongoing and systemic delays when attempting to apply or renew their benefits.”
As wind and solar renewable projects across the state hit hurdles, environmental advocates say investing in an underground network of heat pumps is the Big Apple’s best bet at reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.
City officials are reaching out to the private sector to help shift some of the delivery of commercial goods away from New York City’s busy streets and onto its waterways.
“Instead of turning a blind eye to the suffering of basement and cellar apartment dwellers, disproportionately low-income and from immigrant communities, we must find the political courage to face this challenge by legalizing and making them safe.”
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