Music Video - Song for Rockaway (Ain't No One Here But Us Volunteers) - by Amanda Cole

Tue, 2013-01-29 23:53 — Kathy Gilbeaux

from Amanda Cole . . .

This song is for my fellow volunteers who did time in Rockaway, NY that first few weeks after Hurricane Sandy, and for all the folks who are struggling still in freezing/moldy homes, and within a system that needs to catch up to their life threatening needs, hear them out, and help them now, before another ice-block week passes.

Song for Rockaway (Ain't No One Here But Us Volunteers)

Obama Signs $50.5 Billion Sandy Relief Bill

Tue, 2013-01-29 17:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

CBS News - January 29, 2013

LONG BEACH, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — President Barack Obama on Tuesday night signed the $50.5 billion Sandy relief package into law.

Obama also designated storm relief funding as an emergency requirement.

The bill sends $50.5 billion in federal aid to 12 states hit by Sandy.

The allotments break down thusly:

• $11.5 billion to replenish disaster relief funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency;

• $10.9 billion for transit systems;

• $5.4 billion to rebuild and protect coastlines;

• $16 billion in community grants for businesses and homeowners.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Deadlines extended for FEMA registration and Transitional Sheltering Assistance program in New York

Tue, 2013-01-29 16:00 — LuLu2012

FEMA logo

 

Submitted By Naomi Rothwell via Peter Corless

Unexpected Focus at a Mayoral Forum

Tue, 2013-01-29 12:28 — LuLu2012

Mayoral Forum

Photo by Richard Perry

nytimes.com - by Michael M.Grynbaum - January 24th, 2013

This year’s campaign for New York City mayor was expected to turn on police tactics, education policy and economic development.

 

On Thursday, six of the leading candidates in the race found themselves discussing something different: mold.

The hazardous fungus, and its proliferation in homes and neighborhoods damaged by Hurricane Sandy, took center stage at a Brooklyn church during a forum on housing policy, an early clash in a race whose candidates are still looking for ways to stand out.

Towns’ Next Hit From Hurricane Is to Tax Revenue

Tue, 2013-01-29 11:58 — LuLu2012

Damaged Home

Photo by Robert Stolarik

nytimes.com - by Alison Leigh Cowan - January 24th, 2013

Localities across the New York region, already reeling from the cost of cleaning up from Hurricane Sandy, are confronting the prospect of an even bigger blow to their finances: a precipitous decline in property tax revenues.

City wasting Hurricane Sandy FEMA cash on roach-infested hotels and single room occupancies

Tue, 2013-01-29 11:12 — LuLu2012

Roach HotelPhoto by: Joe Marino/ New York Daily News

nydailynews.com - by Greg B. Smith - January 27th, 2013

 

Cast adrift by Hurricane Sandy, dozens of storm victims have been placed by the city in squalid SROs and fleabag hotels plagued by vermin, housing code violations and fire safety problems, a Daily News investigation has found.


A Month of Outrage Later, Senate Passes Sandy Relief

Mon, 2013-01-28 20:19 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

People walk along a beach in the heavily damaged Rockaway neighborhood in the Queens borough of New York on Friday, November 16.

cnn.com - by Matt Smith - January 28, 2013

(CNN) -- The Senate approved more than $50 billion in aid to states battered by Superstorm Sandy on Monday, four weeks after a delay that sparked bipartisan fury from Northeastern lawmakers.

The money includes grant funding for owners of homes and businesses, as well as funding for public improvement projects on the electrical grid, hospitals and transit systems to prevent damage from future storms. In a statement from the White House, President Barack Obama said he would sign the measure "as soon as it hits my desk."

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Recovery Remains Spotty 3 Months After Hurricane

Sat, 2013-01-26 07:00 — Maeryn Obley

A stretch of Front Street in the South Street Seaport area, a part of Lower Manhattan that continues to suffer from the effects of Hurricane Sandy. (Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times)

Image: A stretch of Front Street in the South Street Seaport area, a part of Lower Manhattan that continues to suffer from the effects of Hurricane Sandy. (Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times)

nytimes.com - January 21st, 2013

Hurricane Sandy slammed into New York and New Jersey nearly three months ago, and the grueling recovery effort continues with work being done to repair, rebuild and reopen shattered homes and businesses. But the process has been uneven, and there is ample evidence that many people are still struggling in the aftermath of one of the most vicious storms to hit the region. Following are snapshots of how some people and places are faring on the road back.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Sandy victims shiver through Arctic blast with no heat

Fri, 2013-01-25 22:27 — Maeryn Obley

Video: David Lee Miller reports from Staten Island

Submitted by Samuel Bendett

news.yahoo.com - January 25th, 2013 - Perry Chiaramonte

The brutal cold snap affecting much of the country is taking a devastating toll on victims of superstorm Sandy, many of whom are camped out in tent cities or living in homes without power, heat or running water.

Those unable to get proper lodging have hunkered down in their homes without the basic necessities of heat, electricity, or running water.

“Many families in Union Beach are using space heaters to warm upstairs,” said Jeanette Van Houten, a resident from the small New Jersey town that was among the hardest-hit communities. “There’s people with no heat, no electric, but they are staying in the house because it’s better than having to deal with FEMA and having to leave hotels every two weeks.

Cuomo To Sandy Victims Along Coastline: "Move On"

Thu, 2013-01-24 12:03 — LuLu2012

FEMA's 100 and 500-year flood mapFrom: NYC Mayor's Office

gothamist.com - by Christopher Robbins - January 24th, 2013

 

Using language couched in euphemisms, Governor Cuomo is urging residents whose homes sit along coastlines and were destroyed by Hurricane Sandy to sell their property and "move on." "At one point, you have to say maybe Mother Nature doesn't want you here," the governor told the editorial board of the Daily News."Maybe she's trying to tell you something."

Sanctuary From Storm Is a School Again

Wed, 2013-01-23 10:03 — LuLu2012

St. Francis de Sales

Photo: Michael Nagle

nytimes.com - by Sarah Maslin Nir - january 22, 2013

Since the hurricane charged through the Belle Harbor enclave of the Rockaway Peninsula, the redbrick church of St. Francis de Sales has been the heart of the area’s relief initiatives, even as it was itself battered. The warped floors of its adjacent grade school’s soaked gymnasium became a sanctuary to thousands of people a day who came here for hot food and dry clothes.

It seemed that the only people to whom St. Francis was closed were the more than 500 children and staff members of its Roman Catholic school; they spent the past three months at a makeshift school in another borough, while their school — so badly flooded that police scuba divers had to spelunk through the rectory’s basement at one point — hosted the relief effort and was repaired.

Why 58 Representatives Who Voted for Hurricane Katrina Aid Voted Against Aid for Sandy

Tue, 2013-01-22 16:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

Damage in the Rockaway neighborhood in Queens, N.Y., where the historic boardwalk was washed away during Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 31, 2012. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

propublica.org - by Theodoric Meyer - January 18, 2013

When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, Congress passed two relief bills almost unanimously. But when it comes to Hurricane Sandy, some in Congress seem to have had a change of heart.

In total, 58 representatives voted against bills this month similar to ones that they had supported after Katrina.

Here's a breakdown of how each of them voted on the two Katrina bills and the two Sandy ones:

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

March 23, 2006 - Final Report on New York City Emergency Response and Evacuation Plans in the Event of a Weather-Related Emergency

Mon, 2013-01-21 22:16 — Kathy Gilbeaux

 

March 23, 2006 - Final Report on New York City Emergency Response and Evacuation Plans in the Event of a Weather-Related Emergency (33 page .PDF file)
http://www.greatestchallenge.org/documents/hurricane_report.pdf

September 15, 2005 - Preliminary Report on New York City Emergency Response and Evacuation Plans in the Event of a Weather-Related Emergency (20 page .PDF file)
http://www.monticellonys.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/NYC-OEM-Brodsky-Hurricane-Evacuation-Report-2006-.pdf

“People would stop evacuating simply because they were unable to evacuate.”
-New York City Hurricane Evacuation Behavioral Analysis, April 2005

Photos - "Tent City" in Staten Island

Mon, 2013-01-21 21:27 — Kathy Gilbeaux

                                   (CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW TO VIEW ADDITIONAL PHOTOS)

      

submitted by Naomi Rothwell - January 9, 2013

Friday, January 4th, 2013. Tonight we delivered cases of much needed drinking water to a refugee camp in Staten Island. The camp is on Cedar Grove Ave in New Dorp, SI. The wrecked homes in the album are the homes owned by the people in the tents. The tents are serving as a refugee camp, and are not at all like the tents we've seen in Rockaway. There are anywhere from 150-300 people using the tents throughout each day, but far fewer that are using them as primary shelter. At night, there are a few dozen living in cars or tents.

Report from:

Dennis Saleeby
Citizen Volunteer
Field Operations Director
NY Resilience System

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