Mayor Michael Bloomberg held the first meeting today of a task force aimed at helping to prepare the city for the effects of global climate change.
The Climate Change Adaptation Task Force, which is made up of city and state agencies, as well as private companies, is part of the mayor's PlaNYC – the city's long-term sustainability plan.
The task force's goal is look at the city's bridges, roads, electrical, sewer, water and mass transit systems to see what can be done to prepare the systems for rising temperatures and sea levels.
"It is certainly wiser to act now than to bear all of the costs and the tragic human terms, as well as in dollars and cents, of rebuilding infrastructure that fails after a catastrophe," said Bloomberg. "It is our choice and hopefully we will make the right ones. I would like to think that the city is leading, rather than following. We're not just talking about things; we're actually doing things."
It is not clear how much it will cost the city to improve and update its infrastructure. However, the panel did get a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation for $350,000.
The mayor expects the panel to make its recommendations by next year.