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NYC Housing: A Tale of Two Cities

Safe, Affordable Homes for All New Yorkers

 

 

Click here to download or view a PDF version of Safe, Affordable Homes for All New Yorkers.

 

We live a Tale of Two Cities. The wealthiest New Yorkers enjoy a life of luxury, while many working and retired families can barely pay the rent. At the very bottom, 50,000 New Yorkers sleep in shelters every night. But the challenge is much greater. Almost half of all New Yorkers spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing — and one-third of households spend at least half on housing.

In 10 years, New York City has lost nearly as many affordable apartments as it has built or preserved. Gentrification, unscrupulous landlords, and the real estate lobby’s hold on government have pulled tens of thousands of apartments out of rent stabilization, and more are lost every year.

The de Blasio Record on Affordable Housing

 

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Is NYC's Climate Plan Enough to Win the Race Against Rising Seas?

      

Areas that are expected to be in a 100-year flood zone in the 2020s and 2050s as sea levels rise from global warming, according to new projections by the NYPCC

The city's climate adaptation projects should be devised to handle conditions far worse than even the most severe sea level rise estimates, scientists say.

insideclimatenews.org - by Katherine Bagley and Maria Gallucci- June 20, 2013

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to protect New York City from future superstorm Sandys and other climate-related threats is the most ambitious and scientifically accurate plan of its kind in the world. But as global warming intensifies and sea levels rise, even this strategy may not be enough to flood-proof the city for very long, experts say.

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Army Corps Restores Marsh Islands in Jamaica Bay N.Y. Posted 9/13/2012

By Vince Elias
New York District Public Affairs

It is estimated that approximately 1,400 acres of tidal salt marsh have been lost from the marsh islands in Jamaica Bay, New York since 1924, with the system wide rate of loss rapidly increasing in recent years. From 1994 and 1999, an estimated 220 acres of salt marsh were lost at a rate of 47 acres per year.

With the Manhattan skyline less than 10 miles to the north, the eight by four mile marsh islands complex is an integral part of the Bay, which has been targeted for restoration by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Park Service (Gateway), New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, New York City Department of Environmental Protection, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the National Resources Conservation Service and the New York/New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program.

To quell further erosion of the islands, and adding to an already impressive list of habitat restoration projects in the Bay, the Army Corps commenced the placement of sand from the Harbor Deepening Project’s Ambrose Channel contract in August 2012 to restore Black Wall and Rulers Bar marsh islands.

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Health officials announce public exposures to new measles case

Health officials announce public exposures to new measles case

 

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Local public health officials have confirmed a measles infection in an infant who was in several locations in King County during the contagious period. The infant is a King County resident who was too young to be vaccinated and likely exposed to the measles while overseas.

What to do if you were in location of potential measles exposure

Most people in our area have immunity to the measles through vaccination, so the risk to the general public is low. However, all people who were in the following locations around the same time as the individual with measles should:

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Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (BW-12)

http://www.fema.gov/flood-insurance-reform-act-2012

 

Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012

 

In July 2012, the U.S. Congress passed the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (BW-12) which calls on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and other agencies, to make a number of changes to the way the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is run. Some of these changes already have occurred, and others will be implemented in the coming months. Key provisions of the legislation will require the NFIP to raise rates to reflect true flood risk, make the program more financially stable, and change how Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) updates impact policyholders. The changes will mean premium rate increases for some—but not all—policyholders over time. Homeowners and business owners are encouraged to learn their flood risk and talk to their insurance agent to determine if their policy will be affected by BW-12.

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WEATHER ADVISORY -URGENT

Tue Nov 26 15:57:54 2013 
STATUS: Open - Active 
PROGNOSIS: Monitoring 
Weather-Nor-Easter 
Citywide  

 

(OEM WEATHER DISTRIBUTION LIST)

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY 
345 PM EST TUE NOV 26 2013

...STRONG WINDS EXPECTED FROM LATE TONIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY MAINLY 
IN AND NEAR NEW YORK CITY AND COASTAL SECTIONS OF SOUTHEAST NEW 
YORK AND CONNECTICUT...

NORTHERN MIDDLESEX-SOUTHERN FAIRFIELD-SOUTHERN NEW HAVEN-HUDSON- 
SOUTHERN WESTCHESTER-NEW YORK (MANHATTAN)-BRONX- 
RICHMOND (STATEN ISLAND)-KINGS (BROOKLYN)-NORTHERN QUEENS- 
SOUTHERN QUEENS- 
345 PM EST TUE NOV 26 2013

...WIND ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 9 AM EST 
WEDNESDAY...

* LOCATIONS...NEW YORK CITY...HUDSON COUNTY...SOUTHERN 
  WESTCHESTER COUNTY... COASTAL SOUTHEASTERN CONNECTICUT...AND 
  NORTHERN MIDDLESEX COUNTY.

* HAZARDS...STRONG WINDS.

* WINDS...SOUTHEAST 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH.

* TIMING...STRONGEST WINDS WILL BE FROM LATE TONIGHT INTO EARLY 
  WEDNESDAY MORNING.

* IMPACTS...POTENTIAL FOR DOWNED TREE LIMBS AND POWER LINES...AND 
  POSSIBLY A FEW TREES...CAUSING PROPERTY DAMAGE AND POWER 
  OUTAGES.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

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How Local Governments Hinder Our Response to Natural Disasters

Shoreline on the northeast Atlantic.

Image: Shoreline on the northeast Atlantic.

theatlanticcities.com - October 28th, 2013 - David Wachsmuth

The northeast Atlantic seaboard is the most densely urbanized area of the United States. And over generations, a bewildering patchwork of governance has evolved, with thousands of municipalities, hundreds of special-purpose agencies, dozens of cross-state partnerships, and a handful of states all sharing—and fighting over—governmental responsibilities.

The state of New Jersey alone has 565 municipalities representing a population only slightly larger than the single municipality of New York City.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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The Hard Math of Flood Insurance in a Warming World

      

A man walks through flooded streets in Hoboken, New Jersey, after Superstorm Sandy | Emile Wamsteker/Bloomberg via Getty Images

As subsidized rates of federal flood insurance rise, property owners along the coasts get angry. But we need insurance that reflects the risks of a changing planet

time.com - by Bryan Walsh - October 1, 2013

Thousands of homeowners in flood-prone parts of the country are going to be in for a rude awakening.  On Oct. 1, new changes to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which offers government-subsidized policies for households and businesses threatened by floods, mean that businesses in flood zones and homes that have been severely or repeatedly flooded will start going up 25% a year until rates reach levels that would reflect the actual risk from flooding. (Higher rates for second or vacation homes went into effect at the start of 2013.) That means that property owners in flood-prone areas who might have once been paying around $500 a year—rates that were well below what the market would charge, given the threat from flooding—will go up by thousands of dollars over the next decade.

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Canarsie Community <Light our Way to Recovery> October 29, 2013, Canarsie Park 6:30pm

 Light Our Way To Recovery is a candlelight commemorative gathering of the constituents of the Canarsie community, one of the many disaster impacted communities on the Eastern USA coastline. This event is given in remembrance of those persons who lost their lives as a result of Hurricane Sandy; to honor the people who volunteered and who continue to help; to highlight the need for support for Canarsie disaster victims who continue to struggle to rebuild, recover and survive the emotional maelstrom caused by the life changing events of October 29th 2012. 

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Reinsurance Association of America's Senate Testimony on Climate Change

On July 18, 2013, Frank Nutter, President of the Reinsurance Association of America, testified before the Senate Committee on Environment Protection and Public Works as to the RAAs perspective on weather and climate-related impacts in the United States.

 

Following are excerpts from his report:

"In the 1980’s, the average number of natural catastrophes globally was 400 events per year. In recent years, the average is 1000. Munich Re’s analysis suggests the increase is driven almost entirely by weather-related events. North America has seen a fivefold increase in the number of such events since 1980. In comparison, Europe has seen a twofold increase.

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