Yesterday, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the
city’s 10-year Waterfront Vision and Action Agenda. New England
cities should take note of this forward-thinking plan, which
knits together a dizzying array of restoration activities to
ensure that NYC’s rivers, harbors and 500-mile waterfront remain
world class amenities for its residents and visitors. The
waterfront plan incorporates key elements of NYC’s Green
Infrastructure Plan, released last September. Among other
things, NYC plans to invest over $4 billion over the next 20
years in modernizing infrastructure to control pollution to the
city’s waterways. Recognizing it would need to invest huge sums
to protect and enhance its critically valuable waterfront, the
city did its homework. Experts found that using green
infrastructure approaches to reduce sewer overflows over the 20
years would result in cost savings of $1.5 billion. NYC’s vision
for restoring water quality now includes a mix of strategic
investments in some “grey” or hard piped i