Tipsheet

A Big, Fat Beautiful Wall Might Save New York City From Flooding

The Army Corps of Engineers is considering ways to save New York City from catastrophic storm surges, and the best solution proposed so far involves building a giant sea wall to thwart any potential deluge. And liberals said walls don't work. 

The proposed wall would be constructed miles off the shore of Manhattan Island and keep the sea from claiming millions of lives and billions of dollars in property damage. Even the "New Colossus" quote, written by pro-refugee socialist Emma Lazarus, inscribed in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty would be protected by the construction of the big, fat beautiful wall.

(Via The New York Times)

The giant barrier is the largest of five options the Army Corps of Engineers is studying to protect the New York area as storms become more frequent, and destructive, on a warming Earth.

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Those who support a barrier miles from Manhattan’s coast — one in the outer New York Harbor, out of sight from many residents and tourists — say it would be the best solution for protecting the most people, properties and landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty, from a storm surge swelling the East and Hudson Rivers, without cutting off the city from its waterfront.

Catherine McVay Hughes, who led the community board in Lower Manhattan during Hurricane Sandy, supports the outer harbor barrier because, she said, protection measures built solely on the coastlines, yet high enough to ward off the biggest floods, would be unsightly.

Advocates like Ms. McVay Hughes are attracted to the prospect of an enormous barrier that would protect much of the region. They also say that the use of locally tailored, onshore solutions alone, like berms, wetlands restoration and raised parks, would likely benefit wealthy areas first, not the low-income communities that suffered disproportionately from Sandy in 2012.

The border wall would work in much the same way as the proposed sea wall. By building a huge border wall many miles away in the desert, untold lives and billions of dollars will be spared when criminal aliens can no longer illegally reenter the country five minutes after being deported. It's also true that a border wall protects the entire country, whereas wealthy people like Nancy Pelosi can always build private walls and hire security guards to protect themselves from criminal aliens. The rest of us have to walk around like Kate Steinle and risk being shot in broad daylight.