NYC teachers' fund pledges $1 billion in Sandy aid

The New York City Teachers Retirement System is making the pledge through a project of the Clinton Global Initiative, started in 2005 by former President Bill Clinton, who made the announcement on Thursday.

The pension fund money will go to projects that affect transportation, power, water, communications and housing in New York City and the surrounding metropolitan region.

The projects could include rebuilding housing destroyed by the late October storm, which killed at least 140 people in 10 states but hit New York and New Jersey the hardest, flooding neighborhoods and knocking out power to some residents for weeks.

The money, besides contributing to the repair and upgrade of facilities used by hundreds of thousands of people, could create thousands of jobs, the Clinton Global Initiative said in a statement on its website.

Clinton was joined by Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew, city Comptroller John Liu and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten in announcing the $1 billion allocation. They said the funds would strengthen infrastructure so New York is better protected from the rising sea levels, droughts and storms that coincide with climate change.