When Mayor Bill De Blasio assumed office eight years ago, he was elected with a promise to address “the tale of two cities” and narrow the inequality gap. He also inherited the challenging process of rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy, including billions of dollars of federal recovery funds. In the ensuing years, however, climate change has moved to the forefront of the city’s agenda, and in several key pieces of policy and legislation, the de Blasio administration has highlighted the complex challenges facing the people of many coastal cities around the world.
De Blasio has achieved some measure of success working towards the ambitious goal of making New York City carbon neutral by 2050, but his administration has had less success in breaking ground on its storm surge and sea level rise infrastructure projects.
Some of the setbacks were due to matters out of his control, including the challenges of running the most populous city in America with heavy oversight from federal and state officials. The COVID-19 pandemic stalled several climate resilience projects. Pushback has also come from New York City residents who don’t want resiliency projects constructed in their neighborhoods – and developers who want to build in threatened sections of the waterfront.
At a time when dramatic action is needed to address the harsh realities of climate change, another tale of two cities is now being written. It’s a story where some neighborhoods have already had enormous storm surge barriers built, while others have been left unprotected. The City Council has passed a handful of important pieces of climate resilience legislation – while also supporting rezonings that will move thousands of new residents into hazardous waterfront flood zones.
Morning Edition host Michael Hill chats with environmental photojournalist Nathan Kensinger about the legacy de Blasio leaves behind when it comes to curbing carbon emissions and hardening the city against destructive storms.
Click "listen" in the player to hear their conversation, and for the full digital story, visit Gothamist.