Coastal Resiliency in NYC with Jainey Bavishi, Director Mayor’s Office of Recovery & Resilience | Capitol Beach

October 4, 2020

If you can make it here, you'll make it anywhere . . .

Jainey Bavish is the Director of New York City's Office of Recovery & Resilience and the lead on developing strategies to protect America's premier coastal city from rising waters.  She joins host Derek Brockbank on the Capitol Beach podcast from City Hall rather than Derek's regular haunt in Washington DC.  They discuss how the Big Apple is integrating resilience across city agencies, how resilience can be done equitably, and how Jainey’s experience in India and New Orleans guides her resilience ethos.  They also dive into the Army Corps of Engineers' recent blockbuster decision to cancel the federal study on how to protect New York and New Jersey from storm surge and sea level rise.  Facing a future without a federal partner (though certainly not left "high and dry"), they explore how NYC plans to protect its residents as the Corps fumbles the ball.  Turns out,  Jainey is not going to follow the President's January 18 tweet when he encouraged cancellation of the Corps study and told NYC residents, "Sorry, you’ll just have to get your mops & buckets ready!"  It's a tough problem but NYC is planning to forge ahead even without the feds.  Listen in to Derek and Jainey Bavishi, two coastal pros.  It's great show and only on ASPN!

Show Transcription
This transcription was generated by a computer. Please excuse any errors.
Derek Brockbank

Derek Brockbank is Executive Director of Coastal States Organization (CSO), which represents the nation’s Coastal States, Territories, and Commonwealths on ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes issues. With two decades of experience in Washington DC on coastal adaptation policy and organizational development, Derek is connecting state coastal management programs with federal agencies and resources in order to address the greatest coastal challenges facing society. He previously served as executive director for the American Shore & Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA) where he led the strategic planning and outreach, government affairs, and development goals of the nation’s leading organization advocating for beach and coastal restoration. Prior to starting with ASBPA, Derek worked as campaign director for a coalition effort to restore the Mississippi River Delta and Coastal Louisiana, and was part of a gulf-wide campaign to pass the RESTORE Act, securing billions of dollars for Gulf Coast restoration. This followed up on his work with National Wildlife Federation on climate adaption. Derek grew up in New York City and got his coastal education from an early age playing on the beaches of Long Island, and kayaking and fishing in Peconic Bay.