USACE HATS
We oppose USACE’s proposal to build an on-land seawall in the Mott Haven-Port Morris section of the South Bronx. The impact of a large wall cannot be diminished, particularly for a community like ours where the sentiments of trapped and imprisoned are all too common as a result of lived experiences and historic/ongoing injustices would permanently sever our communities from the waterfront. Read our public comments to USACE here.
The Challenge
NYNJHATS perpetuates injustices and inequities by proposing raised promenades for some communities and a seawall for Mott Haven-Port Morris.
After Hurricane Sandy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers initiated a study on how to protect NYC from future storm surges - known as the NY-NJ Harbors & Tributaries Focus Area Study (NYNJHATS). In September 2022, they released their $52 billion proposal, including an on-land sea wall that would permanently block off full access to the Mott Haven-Port Morris section of the South Bronx waterfront.
As communities across NYC enjoy a waterfront renaissance, reflected in the re-opening of waterfronts and the transformation of those spaces into parks, promenades, and other features, the South Bronx waterfront continues to be inaccessible, dangerous, and replete with polluting infrastructure. This is an injustice.
Instead of a seawall on our waterfront, we need open green space to protect us from storm surges and sea level rise while allowing us to breathe cleaner air.
South Bronx Unite worked with neighborhood residents to create this plan: The Mott Haven-Port Morris Waterfront Plan. Alternative 3B, the selected plan USACE chose to follow through, would impede our Waterfont Plan from being fully constructed, and will continue to marginalize our already vunerable communities of the South Bronx.