“By refusing to include the hardest-hit neighborhoods in the revamped pilot, New York State is complicit in the ongoing danger facing these residents. Basement safety is not a luxury, it’s a matter of life or death and we need to right this wrong.”
On Sept. 1, 2021, Hurricane Ida dumped an unprecedented 3.5 inches of rain per hour on New York City—nine inches in total. Our city’s outdated sewer system was quickly overwhelmed, leading to 13 deaths. Eleven of those people drowned in basement apartments.
Just this month, over two inches of rain fell on New York City in just one hour—the second rainiest hour since Ida. Once again, streets turned into rivers and subways flooded. Water poured into unregulated, unsafe basement units. Constituents have told us that every time it rains, they brace for impact. As we approach the fourth-year anniversary of Hurricane Ida, we are still failing to protect our most vulnerable.
That’s why we introduced Resolution 991 in the City Council, urging Albany lawmakers to pass bills A.597/S.2507 that would expand the state’s basement conversion pilot program to include unfairly excluded communities. This program, which the city has failed to roll out in a timely manner, would make hundreds and even thousands more basement apartments safe…