The
Red Hook StarªRevue
SEPTEMBER 2016
FREE
SOUTH BROOKLYN’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
Red Hook’s Professor at Large By Noah Phillips
C
entered, tan, and slightly scraggly, it isn’t hard to picture Alexandros Washburn as a fisherman in his mother’s native Greece. Although the Stevens Institute of Technology professor and veteran urban planner has no formal role on any of the citizen’s committees or research teams or councils of public officials attempting to guide Red Hook’s future post-Sandy, Washburn is hard at work generating ideas that defy traditional definitions of resilience here and around the world.
ters. City and state-sponsored groups such as NY Rising and OneNYC have worked to develop plans making Red Hook resilient, and devoted resources to investigating and promoting techniques such as an Integrated Flood Protection System (IFPS).
“I must say, I feel like I’m getting traction,” says Washburn. “On the scientific end of it, it feels as things have accelerated this summer.”
“I don’t want to wait for politics to solve our problems, I don’t think politics will,” says Washburn, who has worked at every level of government. “The storms aren’t waiting, the weather’s not waiting, climate change isn’t waiting.”
After the 2012 hurricane that devastated Red Hook and other nearby waterfront communities in New York and New Jersey, billions of dollars have poured through federal, state, city, and private coffers to both rebuild after the storm and prepare for future disas-
But Washburn isn’t satisfied with these processes, and he isn’t satisfied with an IFPS. In Washburn’s view, politicians and government workers’ biggest weakness is that they don’t communicate with each other well – this presents a big problem for communities waiting for guidance and assistance.
Luckily, says Washburn, Red Hook may be able to do the work of resiliency from the ground up. “Red Hook is the potentially world changing exam-
CITIBIKE INVADES RED HOOK
ple,” says Washburn. “I can critique the city, I can critique the feds, and I can also come up with solutions that cut across jurisdictions and political boundaries.”
Solving the right problem
The Red Hook IFPS Project is being coordinated jointly by the Mayor’s office of Recovery and Resiliency and the NYC Economic Development Corporation. In a brochure distributed after an April public meeting at the Miccio Center, the Red Hook IFPS Project defined an IFPS as follows: “An integrated flood protection system (IFPS) consists of various permanent and deployable features (for example: a permanent wall, deployable gates, landscape features, drainage modifications, street elevations) that integrate with the urban environment and work together to reduce flood risk from coastal flooding and sea level rise.” The Governor’s office originally promised $200 million for this project, but, as the Star-Revue has reported, that number was recently clarified to be $100 million. Washburn says that while effective construction of an IFPS might have been possible for the original figure, there’s “no way” it could be built for the latter. But Washburn has other problems with the IFPS. “My problem with that from day one though is, we love the sea! We don’t want a wall that’s in our face!” says Washburm. “Yes, we may need protection, but there’s got to be a better way.” As an example of poor planning, Washburn cites the ‘Great Wall of Japan,’ a 250-mile series of sea walls under construction along the coast of that country. The government announced the $6.8 billion project shortly after the 2011 tsunami disaster which killed more than 18,000 people and caused a radioactive meltdown at the Fukushima Nuclear Power plant. But critics, including UN officials and the wife of the Prime Minister, have said that the sea walls will damage ecosystems and tourism, according to Russia Today.
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“Maybe it’s going to work technically,” says Washburn, “but it’s not going to work for quality of life.” Moreover, there isn’t any guarantee that it would work technically. Sea walls can only withstand a certain amount of force, and during rainstorms could (continued on page 3)
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