Borough prez visits Jamaica Bay, Botanical Garden to push new sustainability report
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Queens Borough President Richards plants a spartina plant on the living shoreline on Jamaica Bay, which betters the environment and limits storm damage. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
As public officials try to keep sustainability and environmental justice a priority and with Earth Day coming later this month, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards released a report Monday detailing sustainability goals in the borough.
The 25-page report, the result of Operation Urban Sustainability which Richards launched last year, details potential plans to increase food sustainability, more eco-friendly construction, education and resiliency in Queens.
“This is the blueprint, it's the beginning,” Richards told the Eagle at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge on Monday, the second leg of a Queens sustainability trip which included a visit to the Queens Botanical Gardens. “Those who fail to plan, plan to fail – we've seen the impacts of climate change from Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Ida and basically the report is Queens’ response.”
The report, which was a year in the making, includes a number of recommendations that the working group said will aid Queens in its efforts to combat climate change.
“I’m not saying we're going to have everything and incorporate everything – I'm sure there'll be pieces that can certainly be added as we go along,” Richards said. “But the goal is to look at this, to figure out if we need city, state or federal assistance in terms of funding, but most importantly, to make sure that we have a response.”
Richards did plantings at the Queens Botanical Garden and then planted along Jamaica Bay’s newly constructed living shoreline, which is meant to better the surrounding environment by soaking up nitrogen levels in the water and lessen wave damage in future storms.
“This is a field trip dream come true,” he said. “We aren’t just here to sit behind a desk.”
Operation Urban Sustainability’s report is split into five separate sections attacking different aspects of sustainability.
This includes energy systems and buildings, which account for 70 percent of emissions in New York City. According to the report, over a quarter Queens residents spend six percent of their income on energy.
The report details a new land use rubric which would push for certain sustainability measures in new buildings and land use projects. For instance, new residential buildings should have composing chutes, green roofs, expanded bike parking and community facility space.
Commercial buildings would need to maintain air quality and consider a resting space for delivery workers.
Other building-related suggestions include making all Queens’ public buildings net zero, beginning a solar energy farm in the former Edgemere Landfill site in the Rockaways and supporting the Renewable Rikers project.
Other priorities in the report include looking to increase environmental and community outreach across the borough.
“From Astoria to Arverne and everywhere in between, Queens families are tired of bearing the brunt of climate change and the deadly, devastating impacts it brings. The fierce urgency of now commands us to take action — to both save lives today and leave a stronger, healthier borough for our children tomorrow,” Richards said in a statement following the release of the report.
The report recommends the creation of a Queens Borough Environmental Justice Coordinator.
“This person would serve as the central point of contact for environmental justice communities in Queens, and would advocate for Queens vis-a-vis the various City, State and Federal legislative acts that include environmental justice concerns,” the report says.
It also recommends projects like creating a boroughwide environmental justice map that can help indicate environmental risk factors, like flooding and air pollution, in specific Queens communities.
Flooding specifically is considered a major issue in the report – in the last few years Queens specifically has been harmed by intense flooding.
Hurricane Ida killed nearly a dozen people in Queens in 2021, and last December, surprise flooding engulfed the Rockaway peninsula for several hours causing damages to homes in low lying and low income neighborhoods.
“The response to the environmental and health crisis created by this flooding has been slow and inadequate,” the report says. “Many residents have reported feeling neglected and abandoned by the government and relief agencies. The lack of support has been particularly devastating for disadvantaged communities, who often have fewer resources to fall back on in times of crisis.”
To mitigate this, the report recommends increasing permeability in Queens streets, maintaining storm drains – which many Rockaway locals have blamed for December’s issues – and habitat restoration, like the living shorelines which Richards toured on Monday.
“Many of the efforts named in this report involve multi-agency and public support – we realize these projects will take dedicated time, money and coordination. However, our climate future grows more uncertain with each day,” the report says in its concluding section. “Queens has made great strides towards urban sustainability in recent years through a variety of initiatives focused on composting, flooding and resilience, environmental justice, transportation alternatives, and renewable energy…While there is still much work to be done, Queens’ commitment to sustainability and resilience is a testament to the power of local action and community engagement.”
On Monday, environmentalists in Queens who helped the borough president along his sustainability “field trip” spoke in support of the report and the suggestions it makes to better sustainability measures in the borough.
"We applaud Borough President Richards for convening community leaders and stakeholders to develop specific achievable targets toward building resilience, creating new economic opportunities, and expanding our natural areas," said Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy Executive Director Terri Carta.
"We can talk about the climate crisis or we can do something about it,” said Queens Botanical Garden Executive Director Evie Hantzopoulus. “The recommendations in this report, from building more green roofs to comprehensive composting, demonstrates that the solutions are there if we invest in them and Queens will lead the way.”
