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Waterfront panel seeks local ideas for superstorm preparations

Waterfront panel seeks local ideas for superstorm preparations
New York Rising

The committee tasked with selecting projects to make Southern Brooklyn’s waterfront more resistant to future superstorms wants to hear your ideas before its final meeting.

New York Rising’s Southeast Brooklyn Waterfront Planning Committee will hold a vote on project proposals at a meeting in Bergen Beach on Nov. 12, and organizers say this is the last chance for locals to put forth ideas for how to spend the $4 million the state has allocated to Marine Park, Bergen Beach, and Mill Basin.

“Great ideas should be voiced now,” said Chelsea Muller, the regional lead of the New York Rising Reconstruction Program. “Now is the time.”

The committee has held two previous public forums over the past two months to gather ideas from residents about what projects are needed. Those who attend the November meeting will decide which projects to recommend, and the committee will hold a final meeting in January to present the selected proposals to the community. Those projects with then be sent to Gov. Cuomo’s office for final approval.

At past meetings, locals have discussed their various storm-related issues, such flood-prone inlets and frequent power outages, but the most common complaints have involved sewer backups.

“The critical issues are storm water and sewer backup,” said Joe Dai, a co-chairman of the committee.

But with the second anniversary of Hurricane Sandy approaching, Dai said the committee wants to hear from everyone to make sure other, widespread issues haven’t been overlooked. New York Rising released an online questionnaire for residents to fill out, with multiple-choice questions about the area’s most critical issues and fill-in-the-blank spaces for residents to write about their vision for the community’s next 50 years. The survey is available at: goo.gl/NatqYT

Dai wants to make sure all residents have a chance to share their neighborhood concerns.

“We’re still going through it all to see if we’ve missed something — or, are we on track?” said Dai. “We still want as much information as possible.”

Southeast Brooklyn Waterfront Public Forum at St. Bernard School [2030 E. 69th St., between Veterans Avenue and Avenue U, (888) 642–8886, www.facebook.com/NYStormRecovery]. Nov. 12 at 7 pm. Free.

Reach reporter Vanessa Ogle at vogle‌@cngl‌ocal.com or by calling (718) 260–4507. Follow her attwitter.com/oglevanessa.