Recent rainstorms have caused massive flooding problems in New York City. No borough knows the pain more than Queens, home of seven of the city’s 10 hardest-hit communities.<\/p>\n
It has led some to ask if Mayor Zohran Mamdani is doing enough.<\/p>\n
Donovan Richards has represented Queens in one form or another for the last 13 years, including as the current borough president and former chairman of the City Council’s Environmental Protection Committee. CBS News New York’s Marcia Kramer asked Richards if the city is doing its part.<\/p>\n
“I think we are 40 years behind where we needed to be,” Richards said. “I think the impacts of climate change certainly are showing its ugly head every single day. We’re seeing much more intense rainstorms, and that’s the problem.”<\/p>\n
Richards added, “Part of the challenge is, it depends on where the wind goes. It’s unpredictable at this point.”<\/p>\n
The borough president went on to discuss some of the steps that have been taken<\/a> — along with the massive amount of money spent — over the years to mitigate flooding.<\/p>\n Later, Kramer spoke to Richards about the timetable for opening of community jails in Queens, which have been designed to help replace Rikers Island. To see that conversation, please click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kramer’s second guest was former Long Island Congressman Steve Israel, who spoke of the “technological miracle” of identifying human remains from the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks 25 years after they happened.<\/p>\n “I think the hardest part of post-9\/11, where families who still had no news, no word, and then waited for way too long, but now we have these exquisite technologies that can identify remains,” Israel said.<\/p>\n Israel went on to say the terrorists didn’t just want to kill people on that day; they also wanted to destroy Americans’ faith in the country. Israel said they completely underestimated our resolve.<\/p>\n To see Kramer’s extended interview with Israel, please click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n