Could the flood-prone 34th Senate District primary be won on climate?

This summer’s hectic redistricting cycle left New York’s 34th District without an incumbent senator — incumbent Alessandra Biaggi is challenging for the U.S. House seat in the 17th Congressional District — leaving an opening for Assemblymember Nathalia Fernandez, political strategist Christian Amato, a former Biaggi staffer, and John Perez, a perennial candidate.

Now in the homestretch of the Aug. 23 primaries, Democratic candidates of the remade 34th District — comprised of a chunk of east Bronx constituencies as well as the Pelhams and portions of the city of New Rochelle into Westchester — hope to appeal to a variety of voters over a common thread affecting them: climate change.

The intensity of rainstorms in recent years has caused mass flooding in Bronx and Westchester waterfront communities, with City Island often bearing the brunt of flooding and Westchester residents of the 34th still feeling the financial effects of Hurricane Ida almost a year later.

A 2021 report by the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change has warned that the intensity and prevalence of 100-year storms are expected to increase, and some voters of the 34th District have told the Bronx Times that each storm brings flooding that overwhelms their properties and streetways with no relief from the city or state to fix outdated infrastructure.

According to riskfactor.com, which assesses multiyear flood risks across the nation, 9,690 properties in the Bronx — with roughly 2,000 properties in the 34th District — are likely to be severely affected by flooding over the next 30 years.

And the climate challenges don’t stop there as a July sinkhole in Morris Park caught viral attention and lead to disrupted service for residents, pollution from municipal and industrial discharges, stormwater runoff and streambank erosion affecting waterways.

Workers put a barrier around a sinkhole the size of three cars that disrupted water service for roughly 70 Morris Park residents on July 19. Photo Adrian Childress

“The worst effects of climate change are already visible,” said Fernandez, who lives in Morris Park. “Throughout the world and right here in our own neighborhood. Residents of the Bronx and Westchester should not have to expect destruction and flooding with each summer storm. They should not have to worry about how they will get to work or pick up their kids from school when transportation routes are blocked off due to flooding.”

As she seeks a promotion to the state Legislature’s upper chamber, Fernandez — who is being backed by the Bronx Democratic Party — says she has a plan ready, if elected, to combat the district’s climate woes. The assemblymember is calling for increased climate infrastructure on the waterfront coastlines, the passage of a bill she co-sponsored in the Assembly to electrify the city’s vehicle fleet by 2040 and climate resiliency grants for homeowners.

“As a leader of this district, I cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to implement long-term solutions against the effects of climate change,” Fernandez, 34, said. “In order to save the communities we call home, I am advocating for modernized and climate-resilient infrastructure as well as greener, sustainable energy sources. Now is the time for bold and immediate action, and I am ready to make that happen.”

As a longtime resident of the Pelham Parkway area, Amato said much of the district’s flooding issues stem from a sewer system that is more than 100 years old and is unable to handle the influx of heavy storm rains.

About 60% of the city is a combined sewer system, which allows stormwater from the streets to be combined with raw sewage; whenever a rainstorm overwhelms the sewers, a gross confluence of grime and sewer runoff flows into basements throughout the five boroughs.

“(City sewers) can’t handle the influx of heavy storm rains that came from hurricanes like Ida and Sandy, and because of that we have to be accountable to these shifts and understand that these communities are vulnerable because of this issue,” Amato said. “We’ve got to invest in sewer system replacement which is going to make our communities more resilient and it’s gonna address this flooding issue, which in turn is going to address the loss of property and the damage that communities are feeling.”

Amato, 34, told the Bronx Times that he believes the 34th district needs “accessible and accountable” constituent services, with a particular focus on flooding and coastal resiliency. Much of the fight to restore coastal resiliency, Amato says, is to allocate funding into restoration of the borough’s salt marshes — they protect shorelines from erosion by buffering wave action and trapping sediments — which have dwindled over the past decade.

According to riskfactor.com, which assesses multiyear flood risks across the nation, 9,690 properties in the Bronx — with roughly 2,000 properties in the 34th District — are likely to be severely affected by flooding over the next 30 years. File photo

“Our district used to have 16 saltmarshes that lined the coastline and all of them have really gone away,” he said. “Now we only have two. Not only do they create a natural habitat for wildlife, but what they also do is act as natural flood mitigators.”

Estimating the cost of building a salt marsh at $250,000, Amato said he would like to allocate money toward that effort.

Amato also wants to make progress on bills to conserve and protect the state’s public lands as well as pass a bill requiring corporate polluters to pay a $35 fee on each ton of their greenhouse gas emissions and other co-pollutants, with money earmarked for helping low- to moderate-income families pay utility bills.

The climate fight for Perez, according to responses he gave during an Aug. 13 BronxNet candidate forum, is less a legislative battle and more a need for physical, infrastructural improvements such as lifting wall and replacing city sewers.

Perez said that with climate impact studies done in City Island, Soundview and the Hunts Points shoreline in recent years, the climate strategies are clear, but the key issue is getting money to put them into action.

“We already have the recommendations. We know what needs to happen, we just need the money,” Perez said. “That’s what we’re waiting for. So continuously passing legislation after legislation to support something that’s already been done is useless.”

Reach Robbie Sequeira at rsequeira@schnepsmedia.com or (718) 260-4599. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes