New York Resilience Plan to Get Second Opinion

Flooding on the Lower East Side of Manhattan would be very costly for the city of New York, and how much the city should spend to prepare for floods is a matter of debate. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration had revised the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project to speed up construction time and lift East Riverside Park. "The revision raised the estimated price from $760 million to $1.3 billion," according to reporting from Ryan Deffenbaugh.

Pushback from the Manhattan officials led to the decision to have the plan reviewed. "Hans Gehrels of the Dutch environmental group Deltares has already begun a review of the project, which would add a flood barrier up to 13 feet high along a roughly 2.5 mile stretch of coastline between Montgomery and East 25th streets," Deffenbaugh writes. The review will cost the city $20,000 and will be delivered by September 23.