Latest news with #SteveRodriguez
CBS News
16-04-2025
- General
- CBS News
Flooding threatens millions of Americans, yet many keep building homes in floodplains
An estimated 40 million Americans live in floodplains , facing a risk of catastrophic flooding that puts them and their homes in danger. That includes Steve Rodriguez, whose home near a creek in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, floods so often, he paid to raise it 10 feet. Some of his neighbors went even higher, 20 feet or more. The flooding risk is made worse by more intense rainfall driven by climate change and by unchecked development. "They've overbuilt the area and you get a lot of runoff from the malls, from the street, parking lots," Rodriguez said. Local governments are trying to solve the problem by voluntarily buying homes and demolishing them. In the last 25 years, local governments have tapped into federal programs to buy at least 14,700 homes for flood-related reasons. Many people in his neighborhood took a buyout, but Rodriguez turned it down. The way the U.S. has built in floodplains is "a huge problem," said Maya van Rossum, who leads the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, a nonprofit that fights to protect the river and the communities that depend on it. Homeowners who refuse to take a buyout are sometimes offered government funds to elevate their houses, but van Rossum said that option doesn't completely protect them and contributes to possible flooding elsewhere. "It is very sad when people have suffered severe loss from a flood event, but it does a tremendous disservice for the politicians to come in and listen to their sad stories and then respond with solutions like this," she said. "Because that sad story is going to be repeated over and over and over again. And that is not fair to anybody." Rodriguez admitted people probably shouldn't live in floodplains but said the buyout offer he got in 1999 didn't make sense for him financially. The creek has flooded a dozen times since, and now he feels stuck. Van Rossum said the problem is bigger than just one homeowner. "When there's been a catastrophic event, you will see massive devastation and in the year or two following you will see massive rebuilding at great expense and then the whole cycle will happen over again," she said. National environmental reporter David Schechter and a team of CBS journalists spent five days traveling the length of the Delaware River to explore problems facing America's waterways. Watch "An American River" on Saturday, April 19, at 1 p.m. ET on CBS News 24/7. Taylor Johnston and Grace Manthey contributed to this report.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
$2 Million Granted for Brooklyn Bridge Project and What That Means for the Brooklyn Banks
Big news outta Gotham City as Gotham Park, the nonprofit reopening the iconic Brooklyn Banks space under Manhattan's Brooklyn Bridge, received two million dollars in federal capital funding to help its mission—part of which is the reopening of the skateable Big and Small Brooklyn Banks. "What a day 🎉celebrating $2 million in federal capital funding for our new public space beneath the Brooklyn Bridge. 🎉Gotham Park is so thankful to @senschumer, @senkirstengillibrand and @repdangoldman for their vigorous support to bring this funding to Lower Manhattan. This federal 'Reconnecting Communities' grant will create a legacy public space to reconnect our diverse communities at the foot of one of our nation's most significant landmarks – the Brooklyn Bridge - while catalyzing social, economic, environmental and health benefits for millions of New thanks to @nycmayor, Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi , our agency partners at @nyc_dot led by Commissioner @ydanis_rodriguez and @nypd, and to our incredible community stakeholders who have supported our grassroots efforts: Gotham Park's Board led by Elizabeth Lewinsohn, @trinitychurchnyc, @theskateparkproject, our Community Boards 1 and 3, our neighbors including NYCHA's Alfred E. Smith Houses, Chinatown, Chatham Green, Southbridge Towers, the South Street Seaport Historic District, @paceuniversity, the Murry Bergtraum Campus, and so many you ALL for your commitment to the hard work of building legacy public space to uplift New Yorkers for generations to come!" If you're old enough to remember skating the Small Banks, this is huge! And if you're too young, trust us, you're going to be stoked when those perfect brick bumps are back. 💻🛹 🛹💻We reached out to NYC miracle worker Steve Rodriguez for what this money means for skateboarding: "The first step is always the most significant. And this funding is an amazing start to refurbishing/transforming the space for skateboarding and general public use. Gotham park (which is a 9-acre space which includes the Small Banks, 9 stair, Big Banks and other areas that were never skated) will require a significant renovation project that will most likely require 100-200 million (remember we're in NYC) to complete. As far as how this affects the timeline of the Small and Big banks reopening I would say that it does not affect the initial timeline as I believe these funds are for the next stage of the project. So I see it as more as momentum/awareness of the space rather than direct funds to make the current stage happen faster."—Steve Rodriguez Though this two million does not relate to the opening of The Banks, The Big Banks are still scheduled to open this year, with the Small Banks opening sometime after that. Please consider donating to they are the ones maintaining the park and picking up trash—please don't litter when you're down there!
