In statements to Lusa at the end of the meeting, which took place at the New York City executive headquarters in Manhattan, Carlos Moedas indicated that he had a “very special meeting” with Eric Adams, with whom he discussed sustainability issues and talked about the drainage tunnels being built in Lisbon, as New York also suffers from floods and inundations.
“We were talking about what we’re doing, which is the largest project in Europe in terms of drainage tunnels for water, to prevent flooding in the city of Lisbon. I even showed him a video of how these tunnels are being made, 70 meters below the ground in Lisbon. He [Eric Adams] turned to me and said: ‘That’s something we have to do too. We haven’t managed it yet, but it’s also something New York should do to prevent flooding’,” said the Lisbon mayor.
“We’re starting to open up a relationship between the municipalities, in terms of innovation, culture and homeless people, but especially in this area of sustainability and in what are the large drainage tunnels of Lisbon, with American engineers going to our drainage tunnels, and also our team coming here to see what they’re doing in terms of, for example, permeable asphalt,” he added.
On Saturday, the Lisbon mayor took to social media to mark the meeting with Eric Adams. “I was received by the Mayor of New York to exchange experiences in leadership and management of the two cities. Among them, I highlight the interest in Lisbon Capital of Innovation, the experience of our General Drainage Plan and the sharing of policies in the area of security and social issues,” he reinforced in the post shared on X.
Considered the largest municipal work ever undertaken by the Lisbon City Council, the Lisbon General Drainage Plan (PGDL) aims to protect the city from extreme precipitation events, floods, and inundations.
Regarding the social problems affecting both cities, Moedas and Adams addressed the issue of homeless people and migrants arriving in cities without documentation.
“We shared best practices and I said that, often, in Lisbon I can’t help people who don’t have documentation and he replied that exactly the same thing happens in New York, and that documentation is the responsibility of governments, not mayors. So we exchanged a lot of ideas we have to try to prevent people from falling into a street situation,” he told Lusa.
Carlos Moedas invited Eric Adams to visit Lisbon in October, to be present at the Estoril Conferences and the opening of the Tribeca Festival in Lisbon, but the New York mayor has not yet been able to confirm his presence.
The Tribeca Festival was precisely one of the reasons that led Carlos Moedas to travel to New York, where he will participate on Tuesday in a launch event for this festival that, for the first time, will take place in Lisbon.
“I come to New York especially because we’re going to launch the Tribeca Film Festival in Lisbon for the first time in October, (…) at the Unicorn factory, the big technology project we have in Lisbon. With this project, we’re going to connect technology to the world of art and also to the most vulnerable people, to the municipal neighborhoods. It’s a festival that’s not red carpet, as they say, but it’s a festival to also bring communities, neighborhoods, producers, small filmmakers, those who are just starting out, young people, to be able to work at the Tribeca Film Festival. So it’s a very unique moment,” Moedas declared.
The Tribeca Festival Lisbon will take place between October 17 and 19 and results from a partnership between Tribeca Enterprises, the television station SIC, the streaming platform OPTO, and the Lisbon City Council.
In addition to Robert de Niro and Jane Rosenthal, who co-founded the Tribeca festival in 2002 in New York, the Lisbon edition will feature the presence of director Patty Jenkins, actress Whoopi Goldberg, and actor Griffin Dunne.
During his visit to New York, Carlos Moedas also visited the offices of the social project ‘The Brotherhood Sister Sol’ and, on Sunday, will participate in a ceremony honoring Portuguese and Portuguese descendants who were victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks.