Friends in High Places

A pair of Albany lawmakers representing Lower Manhattan have been appointed to committees in their respective houses of the State legislature that work on areas of acute concern to Downtown residents.

State Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou has been named chair of the Assembly Subcommittee on Catastrophic Natural Disasters, which is a subsidiary panel of the Assembly’s Standing Committee on Insurance. Ms. Niou’s panel will focus on improving state policies on insurance coverage in the event of a disaster in New York. In this capacity, she may prove a potent advocate for local residents and business owners who felt abandoned by insurance companies in the wake of 2012’s Hurricane Sandy, after years of paying premiums.

State Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou will chair panel that oversees insurance for natural disasters.

“My district, Lower Manhattan, was greatly impacted by Sandy,” Ms Niou says. “The storm wreaked havoc on the buildings and infrastructure of Lower Manhattan, and water flooded commercial and residential buildings. My district is still recovering. Small businesses with storefronts in South Street Seaport are still coming to me seeking support for damage caused by Sandy. All along the Lower Manhattan coastline, we are working on resiliency projects aimed at reducing flood risk due to coastal storms and rising sea levels. However, in addition to building flood barriers and keeping our communities safe in the event of a natural disaster, we must consider the economic cost of hurricanes, ice storms, and superstorms, on individuals and small businesses.”

“We are responsible for helping our communities to rebuild, and that can not be done without consumer-friendly insurance coverage for everyone in our State,” she continues. “I pledge to continue advocating for our communities as we bolster our State’s preparation against future catastrophes.”

Community Board 1 (CB1) chair Anthony Notaro says of Ms. Niou’s appointment, “this new role should provide more value to our district, especially after our experience with Superstorm Sandy.”

Jessica Lapin, president of the Downtown Alliance, adds, “having Lower Manhattan’s Assembly member as chair of this vitally important subcommittee is an appointment that benefits us all enormously. Our neighborhoods are on the front line of resiliency issues and Ms. Niou will be in a position to exercise leadership on the set of critical matters that will come before this subcommittee.”

	State Senator Brian Kavanagh will serve on a committee that oversees the Battery Park City Authority.

Former CB1 chair Catherine McVay Hughes, who has been a persistent advocate for local resiliency measures, observes that, “water surrounds Ms. Niou’s district, east and west, and Superstorm Sandy, which devastated the district, should be a warning of what could happen for us with rising sea levels and storm surge. More than five years later and the rebuilding isn’t finished yet. Yuh-Line Niou is on the front lines of this looming threat.”

In a related development, State Senator Brian Kavanagh has been appointed to the Senate’s Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, which has jurisdiction over the operations of State agencies such as the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA). In this capacity, he may be able to influence the implementation of the recently enacted law that requires the next two vacant seats on the board of the BPCA to be filled with appointees who reside within the community.