November 9, 2012

Dear Governor Cuomo and Mayor Bloomberg,

We write first to thank you for your dedication to the constituents of this City and your support in addressing the unprecedented crisis of Hurricane Sandy. While there has been an incredible outpouring of help and attention to our friends and neighbors struggling throughout the five boroughs, we have learned in recent days that constituents of Queens in the Rockaways and Hamilton Beach, home to approximately 80,000 people, continue to live without vital necessities. As we continue to hear stories from the residents there, we are particularly concerned that this area will be without power for a minimum of the next three weeks, including the Thanksgiving holiday.

As concerned citizens of New York City and neighbors to those worst affected by the storm, the groups who have signed below would like to know the steps being taken to address these areas and, more importantly, to offer our assistance as you and your agencies increase emergency efforts.

From current communication with those in the field, we have assessed that thousands of residents have little or no access to the following resources:

(TO READ THE COMPLETE LETTER - SEE LINK OR ATTACHMENT BELOW - 6 PAGE .PDF FILE)

nytimes.com - by Joe Nocera - November 9, 2012

On Friday morning, I drove out to the Rockaways with Nan Shipley, a 48-year-old real estate broker and mother of three. Though we barely know each other, she had been sending me e-mails all week, updating me about the problems facing residents of the Rockaways, the thin peninsula on the southern edge of Queens that had been decimated by Hurricane Sandy.

Shipley, who lives in Manhattan, had been going out there every day since last Saturday, volunteering in the hard-hit enclave of Belle Harbor, where a Roman Catholic church, St. Francis de Sales, had essentially been taken over by relief workers.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

MYFOXNY.COM - November 10, 2012

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will be opening a Disaster Recovery Center in Rockland County Sunday to assist victims of Hurricane Sandy.  

The Disaster Recovery Center will be located at Provident Bank Park in Pomona and will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. seven days a week until further notice. 

http://www.myfoxny.com/story/20063874/fema-disaster-recovery-center-to-open-in-rockland

Image: Wreckage caused by Hurricane Sandy.

Submitted by Samuel Bendett

inhabitat.com - November 6th, 2012 - Molly Cotter

Many people have been talking about how to pick up the pieces after Hurricane Sandy, but nonprofit design services group Architecture for Humanity has actually gone and created a 5-point rebuilding plan. Their proposal not only focuses on working with local authorities, companies, and builders, but is also dedicated to reconstructing for long-term results, and that means building green. The organization, which has been helping Japan reconstruct many of its towns after the tsunami and earthquakes of 2011, used their expertise to draw up a strategic scheme for how New York and New Jersey could be rebuilt in a way that would make them more sustainable and disaster-proof than ever before.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

ny.cbslocal.com - November 9, 2012

'<Mayor>Bloomberg said Friday that the program called “NYC Rapid Repair” is aimed at getting as many people back into their homes as quickly as possible.

He said that starting Tuesday, New Yorkers whose homes were damaged in the storm can go to a city restoration center, get a Federal Emergency Management Agency number and sign up.

“You have to have a FEMA ID number. The FEMA ID number will be given you regardless of whether you have insurance, regardless of how much damage you have, regardless of whether you have a mortgage. Just call FEMA, they will give you a number and then you have to just ask for the assistance,” Bloomberg said.

To Contact FEMA, call 1 (800) 621-FEMA (3362)

He said that once a homeowner signs up, a contractor will come and assess the damage and “within a short time, the work will be done.”

Bloomberg said he expects FEMA to pay for most of the repairs.

cbsnews.com - November 6, 2012

'The Long Island Power Authority has removed some areas of Long Island and the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens from its map of power outages caused by superstorm Sandy, saying homes there are too damaged to receive electric service ... the number of customers in Rockaway affected by power outages is listed as zero. There are about 193,000 customers in Nassau and Suffolk Counties still without power...New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo slammed the state's utility companies... Cuomo said that power had been restored to all but 480,000 New Yorkers, down from 2.1 million affected by the storm. But he added that, a week after the deadly storm made landfall, such slow progress was "unacceptable," and that utilities will be "held accountable for their lack of performance,"... Con Edison has restored power to almost all Manhattan ... But Cuomo said that there is more to Con Ed's service area than just Manhattan, and accused the utility of blowing other areas off... '

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57545640/some-hard-hit-ny-areas-disa

nydailynews.com - November 8, 2012 - Victoria Cavaliere

'Following in the footsteps of New Jersey, Mayor Bloomberg on Thursday signed "an emergency order to establish an odd-even license plate system" to cut down on wait times as consumers queue at gas stations to fill up their tanks.

The measure will go into effect at 6 a.m. Friday.

Long Island, also reeling from gas shortages following Hurricane Sandy, will begin a rationing program in Suffolk and Nassau Counties starting at 5 p.m. Friday.

Drivers with license plates ending in an even number can buy only on even-numbered days. Drivers with license plates ending in an odd number can buy on odd-numbered days. Vanity plates are considered odd.'

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/gas-shortage-continues-fray-patience-drivers-article-1.1198809

easthampton.patch.com - November 8, 2012 - Evelyn O'Doherty

"There is enormous outcry about Hurricane Sandy and the path of destruction it left ... if you truly want to be EFFECTIVE in your response, you have to listen to the needs of the people on the ground...I was lucky enough to join Melissa Berman from East End Cares as she spearheaded an election day trip into Rockaway with a group of about 30 volunteers....Please contact East End Cares or one of the following groups to get an accurate read on what donations you might supply and especially, if you're headed west to help, get a contact on the ground to point you in the right direction. "

http://easthampton.patch.com/blog_posts/east-end-cares-mobilizes-an-entire-community

With motorists in areas ravaged by Hurricane Sandy still struggling to find gasoline, lawmakers in New York and New Jersey have vowed to introduce legislation aimed at preventing shortages in future disasters. They are seeking to mandate that gas stations maintain on-site generators so they can pump fuel even during power outages.

The gas station industry is already threatening to fight back, complaining that it should not be required to secure its own power supply when other industries do not face similar mandates.

Huffingtonpost.com - Christina Wilkie - November 5, 2012

Here is the Change.Org petition that simply states:

Make it MANDATORY for all gas stations to be equipped with generators

In a time of crisis we would still be able to fuel our cars and or generators to keep New Yorkers safe and working .We all know what happens without these generators!

http://www.change.org/petitions/new-york-state-law-makers-make-it-mandatory-for-all-gas-stations-to-be-equipped-with-generators#share

Attached is a .pdf detailing the Nor'easter forecast for November 7th and 8th.

(Please note - you must login to view the attachment - kg)

Image: Up to 40,000 people need relocating because of damage from the storm and the lack of electricity and heat. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

guardian.co.uk - November 4th, 2012 - Matt Williams

Authorities in the north-east United States are warning of a new crisis facing the region as cold weather heads towards tens of thousands of people who still have no power or heat and are living in homes damaged by superstorm Sandy.

While much of New York City is approaching a semblance of normality, state governor Andrew Cuomo and the city's mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Sunday that plummeting temperatures were now one of the main threats facing residents in other stricken areas such as Staten Island and Long Island.

Cuomo warned of a "massive, massive housing problem", with up to 40,000 people – mainly residents of public housing – needing relocating because of damage from the storm and the lack of electricity and heat.