NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed a nearly $20 billion plan Tuesday to transform how New York City protects itself from storms and global warming.

As part of the plan, removable flood walls would be set up for much of lower Manhattan as well as a 15-to-20-foot levee to guard part of Staten Island and a system of gates and levees to protect a Brooklyn creek.

As WCBS 880’s Rich Lamb reported, the mega-plan calls for a combination of permanent and temporary flood protection systems that can be installed before a storm rolls in and then be put back in storage for the next time.

“In places like Red Hook, Chinatown, the Lower East Side, East Harlem, Hunts Point and in front of Bellevue Hospital and along hospital row and possibly down to the Battery,” Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg’s proposals also include building dunes on Staten Island and the Rockaways, firming up the shoreline with bulkheads in various neighborhoods and considering building a levee and a new “Seaport City” development at the South Street Seaport that would echo nearby Battery Park City.

“Some of our waterfront protections may be controversial; some may block views, but the alternative is to get flooded out,” Bloomberg said.