News: New York City’s $3.3 Billion Project
(Long Island, N.Y.) Last week New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a blueprint for a project he’s calling “Vision 2020.” Over the next ten years $3.3 billion dollars is estimated to go into improving the quality of New York City’s five hundred and twenty mile waterfront. While many projects have been dedicated to upgrading the city’s shoreline, this is the first that will create a plan specifically for the waterways.
New York City has more waterfront than Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, and Portland combined. The new project will help to change the priorities of the city towards upgrading the city’s water and sewage system. Many New Yorkers are seeing the mayor in a different light, noting that he’s come a long way from sacrificing one of Brooklyn’s historic shipping piers for the construction of the city’s first mega IKEA store.
Upgrading the city’s sewage system is a main priority of the project so that rainstorms will no longer overwhelm the city’s drains. Under the plan, better landscaping and more permeable pavement will be installed to allow water absorption through the ground. This process will prevent water from flowing into the gutters and bombarding the system during a storm.
An estimated fifty acres of new parks will be created under the blueprint, including the renovation of Battery Park’s Pier A. Esplanade parks will be completed on both sides of Manhattan and will include about nine acres of East River Esplanade South between the Battery Maritime Building and Pier 35. A new café will be opened on Pier 15 and a new hotel/restaurant will appear in the Battery Maritime Building.
Another priority of the project is protection of the city’s wetlands by getting human wastes out of the New York Harbor. The mayor envisions metro cards being used on ferries crossing the East River and other waterways. The plan will be the first waterfront blueprint in two decades that will aim towards recreational use of waterways that function for both a transportation and a commercial purpose. For the first time in centuries, the New York City waterfront might mean more to travelers than scenery.
An estimated $2.5 billion will be spent over three years and funded by the city’s water utility payments. Another $700 million will come from the city’s capital budget, which the mayor claims has already been set aside for the project. Also, $200 million will go to maritime industry initiatives and ecological restoration endeavors.
The problem with the city’s sewage system dates back centuries. In the 1880s the Erie Canal made the city America’s main commercial port. Heavy usage of the New York waterways turned the harbor into a nasty showcase of pollution. Wildlife was destroyed as methane gas became abundant in the water and emitted horrible odors into the atmosphere.
The city’s sewage system was created before waste treatment became a priority. Street gutters and toilets empty into the same pipes and are flooded during rainstorms. It’s estimated that at least sixty times a year raw sewage leaks from pipelines into the waterways. The mayor’s project aims to reduce the outflow of sewage by forty percent during the period of its completion.
Over the last thirty years the amount of human waste in the harbor has been reduced. More swimmers plunge into the water than ever before, but still remind themselves not to swallow any of the harbor’s water. They use caution by waiting two days after rainfall before swimming, keeping up with tetanus shots, and taking showers immediately after their return. Nonetheless, residents are skeptical of the mayor’s plan, thinking that $3.3 billion for 520 miles of waterfront doesn’t seem feasible and unforeseen costs should be anticipated.
