By Jeanmarie Evelly and Julie Shapiro
NEW YORK — A new Battery Park City could someday rise from the East River, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Tuesday.
Bloomberg proposed a "Seaport City", presumably a new neighborhood on landfill along the East Side of Manhattan from the Lower East Side to Battery Park, as a way of protecting the area from future hurricane storm surges.
The proposal — which Bloomberg acknowledged was "controversial" and would block current waterfront views — was just one idea of many the mayor offered Tuesday in a sweeping plan to address rising sea levels and climate change in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
In the speech at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Bloomberg also proposed surge barriers for Coney Island and double layers of sand dunes in the Rockaways.
But for the East Side of Lower Manhattan, which was hit hard during Sandy, Bloomberg had a more drastic suggestion.
He noted that Battery Park City, which was built on 92 acres of landfill in the 1970s, fared much better in last fall's storm than the South Street Seaport.
"Battery Park City made the difference," Bloomberg said. "We can achieve the same thing on the East Side."
Bloomberg suggested that the development be called "Seaport City."
"Yes, it would be expensive to build, but over time it would be effective just as Battery Park City," he said. "It's an ambitious idea, yes, but so was Battery Park City, and we believe it's an idea that deserves careful attention and further study, which will begin immediately."
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