THE

ADAMS
RESILIENCY
PLAN
FOR NYC

ERIC ADAMS 2021

Climate change is here. Making New York City more resilient and protecting our people from ex-
treme weather is now an urgent public safety issue. As the flooding from Hurricane Ida underlined
with devastating effect, our focus can no longer solely be on climate change prevention; it must
also be on the interventions we need right now to warn, educate and insulate New Yorkers from
damage and death.

We must be bold and ambitious. We need a city government that protects future generations
while taking care of those most in need today. With preparedness and protection, we can create
the New York City we want to live in—and we want our grandchildren to live in—while becoming
an example for the world.

The following plan specifically addresses New York City’s resiliency needs to address immediate
threats while preventing future loss of life and property, building on Adams’s existing plans to pre-
vent further climate change through new environmental and energy policies and initiatives.

New York City faces multiple hazards because of the climate crisis. More intense storms will make
Hurricane Sandy-type damage more likely in the future with rain from the sky and water from the
sea. Sea-levels are also projected to rise as much as six-to-eight feet by the end of the century,
which will create more frequent tidal flooding in some neighborhoods.

Increased rainfall will bring more, larger ‘cloudburst’ events like we experienced with the remnants
of Hurricane Ida, with rain and snow intensities almost double what we are used to. At the same
time, heat waves will be longer and hotter, which will increase the chances of infrastructure fail-
ure, bring health risks—especially to vulnerable populations—and even decrease work productiv-
ity.

Even more troubling is the reality that the people most impacted by the climate crisis are those
communities who are already marginalized—and so our infrastructure investments must center
them. But the silver lining to this climate crisis is that it is also a massive economic opportunity—
and a moment to reverse the inequalities also plaguing our city. This means prioritizing low- and
middle-income New Yorkers in the infrastructure decision-making process and in the green jobs
opportunities we will create.

New York City has done substantial work in all of these areas, but it is not on the scale needed to
adequately address a rapidly moving climate. In order to preserve the city’s diversity, exuberance
and global standing, we must incorporate our climate planning into every action we take. If we do,
adapting to a changing climate will be cheaper and easier, and we can leverage long-term ben-
efits like job creation, industry expansion, ecological restoration, transportation investment, and
better public health and mental health outcomes.

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 OBJECTIVES OF THE ADAMS
RESILIENCY PLAN:
1 Keep NYC and New Yorkers physically and financially safe
from climate events—in the short-term and in the future.

2 Shore-up the city’s ability to thrive and grow long-term

in the face of climate change.

3 Prioritize resiliency solutions that address multiple

challenges with a single solution, including public safety,
the economy, equity, health and the environment.

SHORT-TERM
There are interventions the City must make immediately to protect lives and livelihoods against
the dangerous effects of climate change. The following are measures the Adams Administration
would undertake Day 1 to protect New Yorkers.

1. Create an early warning system for extreme weather that can notify New
Yorkers regardless of primary language, level of education, income status or
disability status.
a. Update the extreme weather warning system to trigger public warnings and preparation
by City agencies using a risk formula and accounts for various adverse climate events such
as flash flooding, coastal flooding, extreme heat, and significant snow accumulation.
b. Coordinate through OEM to rate adverse climate events on a straightforward Level 1
through 3 scale; each rating corresponds specific emergency responses and tasks from
City agencies.
c. Ensure DEP’s Flood Activation and Notification procedure and NYC’s Flash Flood
Emergency Plan are optimally aligned and develop notifications for basement dwellings.
i. Use the flash flood mapping data to update Department of Sanitation maps and
determine roadways that are susceptible to flooding. Incorporate road closings into
the early warning system.
d. Establish geo-targeted, hyper-local reporting of climate emergencies by cell phone,
sirens in extreme emergency and across all useful mediums by utilizing real-time sensors
across the city in order to track risk and reduce the likelihood of sending out false alarm
warnings.

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 i. Partner with tech and social media companies to integrate the early warning
system into their applications.
e. Develop evacuation plans and mitigation strategies for residents and small business
owners who are susceptible to climate change events, working with community
organizations who have frontline experience.
i. Bolster and prepare shelters that serve multiple purposes—community spaces,
cooling centers, storm shelters—in order to reinforce awareness about these
spaces as safe options and ensure early warning notification systems are able to
direct residents to their nearest shelter.
f. Fund community centers in high-risk areas to modernize as cooling centers,emergency
shelters and provide space to deepen community engagement and collaboration.

2. Launch a public education campaign about storm risk.

a. Integrate the City’s Flood Hazard Mapper and the sea-level rise maps developed by the
Mayor's Office of Climate Resiliency (MOCR) and FEMA, to create a user-friendly online map.
Expedite the work of a cross-functional team working on a flood risk index to further
update.
b. Build awareness about flood risk, what individuals can do, and what the city is doing to
address it—especially for residents of basement apartments.
c. Solicit public input to inform a comprehensive land use and infrastructure strategy
around resilience, and coordinate and integrate into other planning efforts including the
release of the racial equity index.
d. Increase coordination with community and volunteer organizations active in disaster
relief to partner in awareness-building, preparedness, and response.
e. Expand communications to New Yorkers about what to do after a flood, including
insurance help, mold remediation, and related health issues.

3. Bring basement apartments into compliance with City codes and

regulations to ensure the safety of residents.
a. Pass City Council Intro 2261-2021, which is currently laid over in the Committee on
Housing and Buildings.
b. Pass legislation to:
i. Unify the minimum required ceiling height at 7 feet;
ii. Ensure basement ceiling heights are at least 2 feet above grade and otherwise
safe;
iii. Align codes and regulations to ensure safety.
c. Create an amnesty program for work that had previously been done to a subgrade unit
without a permit.

4. Better use existing government programs to incentivize green buildings.

a. Designate community districts for the New York Green Roof Property Tax Abatement by
considering urban flood vulnerability and affordable housing density in order to leverage
State funds.
b. Develop a climate resilience retrofit incentive program that builds off successful
City-funded initiatives such as NYC Accelerator and helps to advance retrofits under the
Zoning for Coastal Flood Resilience, and to help mitigate temporary displacement of
residents as well as support those that do need to move while work is done.

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 5. Speed federal aid already allocated to NYC in the aftermath of Hurricane
Sandy and ensure a more efficient process in anticipation of Federal
Infrastructure bill funds.

6. Appoint a climate resilience czar within the City Planning Commission

to weigh in on all land use actions and make suggestions for addressing
resiliency.

7. Educate and engage with New Yorkers to help the City take action against
future adverse effects of climate change.
a. Reduce the likelihood of rolling blackouts and brownouts during extreme heat through a
white roofs program. Partner with utility providers to fund the program as a Summer Youth
Employment Program initiative.
b. Sign up community groups for citywide Adopt-a-Catch Basin program to supplement
DEP maintenance of storm basins and provide rakes and gloves for volunteer adopters.
c. Loosen stringent regulations around tree pruning by private contractors, and allow more
leeway for homeowners to hire private contractors rather than relying on the Parks
Department for preventative pruning.

8. Fast-track developed but unfunded resiliency projects such as:

a. The NYCHA Recovery and Resilience Project to add new roofs, boilers, plumbing, park
improvements, and other infrastructure to City housing.
b. The Vision Plan for a Resilient East Harlem, which would incentivize decentralized storm
water infrastructure with new investments in green stormwater management in parks and
roads, and a coastal protection system integrated in the FDR drive.
c. Work with the State and federal government to fully fund the missing areas of the Lower
Manhattan resilience plans to protect Downtown Manhattan from flooding.
d. Daylighting Tibbets Brook to prevent sewage from entering waterways,
reduce risk to the surrounding neighborhood, and provide a natural resource that would
reduce urban heat and improve the local ecosystem and human health and wellbeing.
e. The Hunts Point Resiliency plan, which would reduce flood risk to an essential food
market and commercial area for working class New Yorkers, while creating new uses for the
Bronx waterfront.
f. The Flushing Meadows-Corona Park Resiliency plan, which would protect one of the
City’s most important recreational areas, the Park and surrounding area from flooding.
g. The Staten Island Shoreline Park / Army Corps integration project, which would add flood
protection infrastructure and create a robust and ecologically significant linked park
system.
h. The Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, which has been left unfinished, and include
unconstructed sections in Brighton Beach, Coney Island, DUMBO, Gowanus, Gravesend,
Greenpoint, Red Hook, Sheepshead Bay, South Slope, and Sunset Park.

9. Prioritize equity in resilience planning, working from the research and

proposals outlined by the City's Environmental Justice for All Report.

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MEDIUM-TERM
1. Conduct a climate stress test of the city to determine very urgent priority
infrastructure needs and the economic impacts of these simulated events,
including:
a. Soliciting stakeholder buy-in by demonstrating the economic impacts and physical risks.
b. Simulating events that test for extreme heat, rainfall, snow and storms.
c. Aligning possible extreme climate events and the associated danger levels in the early
warning system.

2. Require a single comprehensive city-wide resiliency plan that includes

neighborhood specific needs assessments and overall city priorities and
goals.
a. Use a collaborative time-bound process to bring together experts who will work directly
with community members and City agency officials in high-flood neighborhoods to design
implementable plans that use natural and engineering solutions to absorb flash floods
before they reach the sewer system, and include a review of the existing stormwater and
sewer system infrastructure.
b. Task each agency to define its responsibilities to support New Yorkers through climate
resilience efforts.
c. Review public assets and incorporate resilience infrastructure.
d. Incorporate climate resilience into comprehensive land use and infrastructure planning
for all neighborhoods and in partnership with local communities by
i. Partnering with local community centers and CBOs to determine the most
appropriate resilient infrastructure.
ii. Working with developers to build in rainwater storage, green spaces, and blue
roofs on their land and in their buildings.
iii. Incentivizing blue roofs and rooftop gardens in new developments to accumulate
more rain.
e. Integrate New York City’s Climate Resiliency Design Guidelines into building codes and
zoning for all buildings and infrastructure, public and private.
f. Evaluate city neighborhoods at extreme risk of flooding and create a voluntary program
for homeowners that are eligibie for a city-funded buyout to move out of harm’s way and
relocate in upland in transit connected communities and connected community,
and restore the buy-out property to a natural area.
g. Commit to 1% of the City Budget for Parks, which includes operational funding in
addition to capital funds that will be used to build smart climate infrastructure such as
recreation spaces that can double as water retention areas in emergencies.

3. Utilize the City capital program and significantly increase investment in

resilience and climate infrastructure to also create a massive Climate Jobs
program that partners with CUNY to help train workers.
a. Identify natural rainwater management infrastructure projects, including
i. Green strips on sidewalks and permeable pavement in parking lots.
ii. Stormwater retention systems and detention tanks.

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 b. Reassess the cost of burying power lines and utilities, taking into account the rising
costs associated with keeping them above ground.
i. Given a feasible cost estimate, explore a public works initiative with a mix of public
and private funding streams to bury these lines
c. Utilize the citywide resiliency plan and develop detailed infrastructure plan for climate
change-created hazards, , including
i. Short-term investments:
1. Increase natural infrasteucure and,stormwater sewers in vulnerable areas
with limited drainage systems.
ii. Medium-term investments:
1. Flood barriers in anticipation of serious rainfall integrated into
our roads that can be raised and lowered.
2. Decentralized stormwater management such as green roofs, trees,
rain gardens, and permeable pavement.
d. Make our riverbanks more absorbent to flooding by investing in wetlands and natural
areas and protecting wetlands from development.
e. Ensure that marginalized communities are at the forefront of the Climate Jobs program
by partnering with CUNY and local CBOs to make climate jobs training accessible.

4. Expand the design standards for all City-funded infrastructure, taking

into account how the climate will shift over the course of the entire
lifecycle of an investment.

5. Build new affordable housing outside of flood-plains and other areas at-
risk from climate change or with adequate protection from environmental
damage in order to ensure safe, stable and long-term housing for low and
middle-income New Yorkers.

6. Increase access to low-cost resiliency loans for homeowners and small

business owners who need help financing resiliency retrofits.

7. Implement a plan to execute and fund Clean Water Act compliance

projects for the City's sewer system in coordination with the federal
government to allow for efficient spending of public dollars.

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LONG-TERM
1. Value our natural resources by developing a natural asset policy that de-
fines the value of ecosystems in NYC and incorporates that valuation when
considering the cost/benefit of building new construction over the ecosys-
tems and their ecologcial benefits and protection against future flooding.

2. Prepare long-term for the significant climate events that will occur
across the country and United States.
a. Plan for supply chain disruptions when delivery routes are closed in other parts of the
country and world.
b. Use tools such as Tax Increment Financing to borrow against the future stream of
additional property tax revenue and infrastructure investments generate to finance the
improvements themselves.

3. Pursue creative funding tools to enhance resilience investments.

a. Work with institutional investors that are looking for ESG opportunities.
b. Use Tax Increment Financing to borrow against the future stream of additional property
tax revenue infrastructure investments generate to finance the improvements themselves.

4. Explore public-private partnerships and incentives to fund infrastructure

improvements, such as co-investments on major infrastructure projects to
expedited permitting for developers who prioritize project resiliency.