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Resiliency Questions Linger for New York City, Years after Sandy

The Bond Buyer

As the innovation- and resilience-themed Smart Cities conference begins this week, questions include how well New York is prepared for another catastrophe.

Not very well, said city Comptroller Scott Stringer.

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The Smart Cities conference started Monday at Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island. It will resume the following two days at Pier 36 along Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

Key themes are innovations in technology and infrastructure that make cities sustainable. Talking points will include sustainability, governance, cybersecurity, autonomous vehicles and affordable housing.

“This year they’re really focused on resiliency, which has become more than just simply a statement in a mayor’s speech,” said Alan Rubin, a resilience financing expert and a principal at Blank Rome LLP. “It actually has teeth in it now.”

Related research, Rubin said, focuses on mitigation. “They’re saying $1 worth of mitigation money equals $8 worth of disaster money, so it’s an 8 times multiple.”

“Resiliency questions linger for New York City, years after Sandy,” by Paul Burton was published in The Bond Buyer on May 13, 2019.