Levees, removable walls in plan to protect NYC

Associated Press ^ | Jun 11, 2013 2:29 PM EDT | Jennifer Peltz

[Carriage Hill]

Good movie. Gave me chills, way back then.

[EQAndyBuzz]

Sure, but lower Manhattan has been there for a while. They have been hit with storms before and will be hit again.

[Bubba_Leroy]

[IronJack]

BOONdoggle, BOONdoggle, BLOOMdoggle.

[Domangart]

They could always raise the streets 50 feet like the west coast cities.

[Senator_Blutarski]

This project will, of course, require lots of union labor. Once completed, it will require a large standing army of union workers who will maintain it and who be in a ready “stand-by” state to implement it when a storm arrives. Those workers will be supported by a cadre of clerks and bureaucrats. There will, of course, need to be a special police security detail created, and so on. The union employment opportunities would be endless.

[clearcarbon]

Wall-in the progressives. Good idea!

[BlueMondaySkipper]

I suggest a $100 entry fee for entering the city.

A $100 EXIT fee would be better.

[presidio9]

I am not defending Mayor Bloomberg, but the value of the newly created real estate on the lower east side WOULD offset a great deal of the costs. Remember, we are talking about some of the highest land values in the world. The reason things like this don't get done more often around the island typically involves blowback from environmentalists on the left, not the right. In this case, everybody wins. Whether sea levels are rising or not, the "hundred year storms" that happen just about every decade here have demonstrated how vulnerable the island (which sits a few feet above sea levels in most areas) and particularly its hundreds of miles of train, automobile, and other tunnels (which, of course are far below sea level) are to storm surges.

Again, I am sure there are things to hate about any plan Bloomberg comes up with, but this is a project that is about 100 years overdue for NYC.

[cripplecreek]

Talk to me about it when FReepers drop the idiotic notion of razing Detroit.

[presidio9]

This is the worst quality evident in FReepers. Hating those who are politically opposed to you gets you nowhere. They are still people. American people. Misguided, sure, but they want the best for the country, same as you and me.

That being said, I am not sure how much of Detroit is worth saving as long as the unions control that town. But what is best for NYC is without question good for the rest of the country. The problem is, the people who run NYC don't always know what's best for them. And things that are practical in a complicated place like NYC often seem strange and out of place to most of the rest of the country.