On May 6, 2021, the NYU Urban Lab partnered with the ULI New York and the Waterfront Alliance to sponsor a single-day mTAP: A Green New Deal for the FDR. ULI is the oldest network of land use and real estate experts in the world, and the Waterfront Alliance is a coalition working to change the region’s waterways. The panel was divided into a morning session of sponsor briefings and 16+ stakeholder interviews, a public panel, and afternoon deep dive sessions on each topic.
Panel’s focus
- What if a holistic resiliency planning effort were to start with the premise of rebuilding the FDR as coastal flood protection infrastructure?
- Could it be a smart highway regulating traffic and easing congestion?
- Are there new ways to finance such a project? Could communities be reconnected to their waterfront?
- Could reconstruction serve as a model for the Green New Deal, creating new green jobs for low-income communities and communities of color?
14 mTAP panelists
- Sam Chandan: Director, NYU Stern Center for Real Estate Finance Research
- Cortney Worrall: President and CEO, Waterfront Alliance
- Ali Chaudhry: SVP & Chief of Development and Government Relations, AECOM
- Matthew Kwatinetz: Director of the NYU Urban Lab
- Vishaan Chakrabarti: Founder of the Practice for Architecture Urbanism
- Felix Ciampa: Executive Director at Urban Land Institute New York
- Kate Biocourt: Director, Climate Resilient Coasts and Watersheds, New York – New Jersey
- Matthew S. Washington: Vice President & Chief of Staff at Phipps Houses
- Patty Belew: Assistant Director, Special Events at New York University
- Venetia Lannon: Vice President, Environment Health Safety at Con Edison
- Chris Karakul: Manager at ULI New York
- Maritza Silva-Farrell: Executive Director at ALIGN
- Tyler Duvall: CEO and Co-Founder, Cavnue
- Maria Lomber: NYU Urban Lab
Stakeholders interviewed
- Laura Starr: Partner, Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners
- Trent Lethco: Principal and leader of ARUP’s Integrated Planning Group in New York
- Trever Holland: TUFF LES and CB3
- Amy Chester: Managing Director, Rebuild by Design
- Elijah Hutchinson: Vice President of Waterfronts, NYCEDC
- Cecilia Kushner: Chief Strategy Officer, NYCEDC
- Adam Meagher: Vice President for Planning & Development, NYCEDC
- Carrie Grassi: Senior Policy Advisor, NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate Resiliency
- Eric Wilson: Deputy Director, NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate Resilience
- Tom Fox: Founder Tom Fox NY, Maritime Industry Advisor
- Frank Avila Goldman: Affordable/Low-income Housing Advocate
- Dina Elkan: Director Events & Park at Solar 1
- Ingrid Sotello: East Harlem Community Alliance
- Alice Blank: Community Board 1
- Victor Papa: Two Bridges Neighborhood Council
- Adam Hartke: CB 6 District Manager
- Christine Datz-Romero: Executive Director, Lower East Side Ecology Center
- Danny Harris: Executive Director, Transportation Alternatives
- Suzan Al Shammari: Manhattan Organizer, Transportation Alternatives