The conversation around Hurricane Sandy has shifted from rectifying the storm’s aftermath to the city’s future in disaster preparedness. City leaders have proposed several changes to infrastructure that could dramatically alter our cityscapes: building a barrier to block the city from water surges; using eminent domain to declare no-build zones; creating wetlands to absorb the water; making drastic changes to zoning; and making major changes to building codes. The common theme is that the cities cannot just be re-built—they have to be re-built differently.

On May 20th, the Community Advisory Board (CAB) of New York Public Radio offers the public an opportunity to learn about and discuss the scope, ramifications, and costs of these proposed changes. The CAB will host a panel, Protecting the City, Before Next Time, in which policymakers, experts, and the public can discuss how to prevent future devastation.

Panelists include:

* Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway, charged by Mayor Bloomberg to oversee the preparation of a specific and comprehensive action plan to prepare the city for the climate risks we face

* Andrew Freedman from Climate Central, Princeton, NJ – Andrew Freedman is a senior science writer for Climate Central, focusing on coverage of extreme weather and climate change

* Klaus Jacobs, Columbia University and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory – specializes in risks from global climate change, sea level rise, flooding of infrastructure systems.  Mayor Bloomberg appointed him to the NY Panel on Climate Change and he also serves on NY State’s Sea Level Rise Task Force

* Bob Yaro, Executive Director Regional Plan Association (RPA) – RPA is America’s  oldest independent urban research and advocacy organization, working to improve the infrastructure and sustainability of life in the NY/NJ metropolitan region.

Website:

http://www.wnyc.org/outreach/cab/