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Grant to Strengthen Bronx Against Storms

hunts point plans, HUD(1)

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan announced that a Hunts Point, South Bronx proposal submitted by PennDesign/OLIN has selected as a winner of HUD’s Rebuild by Design competition. HUD Secretary Donovan was joined by Governor Andrew Cuomo, Senator Charles Schumer, and Mayor Bill de Blasio in New York City to announce the six winning proposals. PennDesign/OLIN’s project, titled Lifelines, was awarded $20 million to help provide additional planning, studying, and to help the organization oversee a small pilot/demonstration of the project in the Hunts Point community.

"We are delighted to see this vital and visionary project get the recognition and support it deserves", stated Linda Cox, Executive Director of the Bronx River Alliance. "Protecting and enhancing the resilient shores of the Hunts Point Market, while building on the strengths of the community infrastructure, is a wise investment.” The Bronx River Alliance allong with a number of other community groups will continue to work with PennDesign/OLIN over the coming months to ensure that the needs of the local community are represented.

The PennDesign/OLIN proposal sets out four strategies: build Cleanways to improve air quality and water absorbtion for the community; integrate Adaptable Flood Protection systems to safeguard the whole neighborhood and create public amenities along the Hunts Point waterfront; develop leadership efforts to build capacity for social resilience; and construct a Marine Emergency Supply Chain to enhance the waterways as critical infrastructure. Hunts Point is the hub of the region’s food supply chain and is a local living-wage employment center in the poorest Congressional district in the country.

The winning proposals came from six interdisciplinary teams representing some of the best planning, design, and engineering talent in the world. These inventive proposals are a blueprint for how communities can increase resilience as they rebuild and recover from major envrionmental disasters such as Hurricane Sandy. HUD chose the winners for their excellence in design and resilience and their engagement with local communities. These ideas will serve as a model for how communities can mitigate the effects of climate change and natural disasters in throughout the Sandy-effected region, the United States, and the world.

Stay tuned for more information about the Hunts Point projects to learn how they benefit the Bronx Community and the Bronx River. To find out more, read the PennDesign/OLIN’s summary of the Lifeline program.

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About the Bronx River Alliance

The Bronx River Alliance is a coordinated voice for the river that works in partnership to protect, improve and restore the Bronx River corridor so that it can be a healthy ecological, recreational, resource for the communities through which it flows.

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