Category Archives: Civics and Urban Life

Two Boots and Old First Helping Sandy Victims Together

I received this email from Andrew Wandzilak, who works at Two Boots Brooklyn, about the relief efforts the restaurant andOld First Dutch Reformed Church are doing together for victims of Sandy.

Good Morning. Today we expand our operation into the Old First Reformed Church kitchen on Carroll Street and 7th Avenue. We will be making hot food to be delivered throughout Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. Many thanks to Rev. Daniel Meeter and the entire congregation of Old First.

We are working with City Council Member Brad Lander to provide meals to over 300 nursing home evacuees at the Park Slope Armory on 15th Street Saturday night.

Baltimore Radio station 101.9 lite FM and WJZ-TV 13 are collecting supplies for the effort! They will be delivering to Two Boots Sunday. Truckloads of donations are coming from Washington DC, Albany, NY and Rutland, VT. Thanks to all of our friends from out of state.

We need:

Blankets, blankets and more blankets

Batteries of all sorts

Juice boxes

Pet Food

Cleaning supplies

Garbage bags

Bleach

Paper Towels

Breathing Masks

Bulk food donations

We will be collecting supplies this weekend at Two Boots Brooklyn this weekend.

We still need volunteers at Two Boots and Old First to help sort and package supplies and prepare and portion food. If you’d like to volunteer, call @Lina Canney at 718 499 3253.

Gowanus Post-Sandy: Nearby Nightmare

A representative from CG CORD, Carroll Gardens Coalition for Respectful Development, sent me a link to this compelling—and disturbing—video taken as the Superfunded Gowanus Canal overflowed into the neighborhoods surrounding the Gowanus during Hurricane Sandy.

These videos depict both the force, and the wide extent of the flooding waters, especially along Bond Street at the crossings of Second Street, Carroll Street and Unions Street.

Many residents and businesses were left with this same water and toxic and a toxic sludge sitting in their basements after Hurricane Sandy. Others had to remove debris left by the Gowanus Canal on sidewalks, roadways, and yards.

Many report not knowing how to safely clean up after the Superfund water reached them. This is scary stuff.

Odd/Even Gas Rationing for New Yorkers Starts Today

On Thursday Mayor Bloomberg signed an executive order permitting odd/even gas rationing starting today.

Drivers who have a license plate that ends in an odd number, or ends in a letter or other character, will be able to buy gas or diesel on odd-numbered days.

Those with license plates that end in an even number or the number zero will be able to buy gas or diesel only on even-numbered days.

This makes so much sense.

Occupy Sandy Provides Humanitarian Relief From Sunset Park Church

The Occupy Wall Street movement has been incredibly effective in the coordination of volunteers and supplies. In Brooklyn, Occupy Sandy has been coordinating volunteer recovery efforts from St. Jacobi Evangelical Luteran Church in Sunset Park  (5406 Fourth Avenue).

Here’s how the group describes itself on interoccupy.net:  “Occupy Sandy is a coordinated relief effort to help distribute resources and volunteers to help neighborhoods and people affected by Hurricane Sandy. We are a coalition of people and organizations who are dedicated to implementing aid and establishing hubs for neighborhood resource distribution. Members of this coalition are from Occupy Wall Street, 350.org, recovers.org, InterOccupy.net and many individual volunteers.”

From what I understand, the church basically handed itself over to the Occupy volunteers who were ready to donate time, energy and hard work to the relief effort, in the days after Hurricane Sandy. “All those days out in Zucotti Park with no heat and electricity prepared them for times like this – they are experts in how to feed large numbers of people, how to run generators off vegetable oil and how to provide medical care to those in need,” Pastor Ann Kanfield of Greenpoint Reformed Church writes in an email.

If you are interested in volunteering, St. Jacobi Church in Sunset Park and Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew are Occupy Sandy’s primary training and distribution centers. For more information about Occupy Sandy go here.

New Date for Only the Blog at Two Moon Benefit for Sandy

Wednesday November 14 at 7PM is the NEW DATE for Writers Who Sing, Singers Who Write with Mila Drumke and Peter Silsbee and we’ll donate whatever you give to the Red Hook Initiative or another appropriate charity helping locals recover from Sandy. There will also be a RAFFLE of photos by Hugh Crawford, CDs by Mila Drumke and a book by Peter Silsbee.

November 14 at 7PM at Two Moon Art House and Cafe in Park Slope (315 Fourth Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets)

“Overhead, the two moons worked together to bathe the world in a strange light.” ― Haruki Murakami, 1Q84

Writers Who Sing, Singers Who Write celebrates the double-threat talents of artists who cross mediums to tell their stories. In this inspiring musical and literary evening, songwriters/writers Mila Drumke and Peter Silsbee will share how their music influences their non-fiction and fiction and vice versa.

Mila Drumke is currently writing a memoir called All the Time in the World about caring for her sister, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor at age 27. The project has received generous support from the NEA/Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, the Millay Colony for the Arts and Hedgebrook. She has also recorded numerous albums, including Radiate, which was named “one of the top 10 album discoveries of 2006” by WFUV. “Radiate is not just an artistic triumph—it’s easily Mila Drumke’s best work to date and one of the most impressive records of the year by anyone—but a personal one, too. In taking unimaginable sadness and turning it into something both grounded and visionary, she has created a deeply humane song cycle.” writes Neil Parkinson inHearsay magazine. For more information: miladrumke.com.

Peter Silsbee is a writer of fiction and non-fiction. He is also a singer/songwriter, who performs with his band, The Haywood Brothers, in top venues in New York City. He has published five young adult novels, including Amanda: Revealed, The Big Way Out, Love Among the Hiccups, and The Temptation of Kate.

For a compelling, entertaining night out, come hear these two talented writers and performers sing and read their work at the lovely Two Moon Art House and Cafe, Park Slope’s newest cultural spot with wine, coffee, delicious soups, sandwiches, salads and desserts.

At The Old Stone House: Hurricane Relief Contines

The Old Stone House Park Slope Neighbors Brooklyn Neighbors Hurricane Relief group has been busy. To date volunteers have purchased more than $22,000 worth of cleaning supplies, bedding, clothing, backpacks and school supplies for our neighbors displaced by the storm, and delivered car loads of donated supplies.

There’s still so much more work to be done and the OSH PSP Brooklyn Neighbors Hurricane Relief Group is still going strong.

And while the House, park and playground came through the storm unscathed, Leon Reid IV’s much loved Hundred Story House, which was installed at JJ Byrne Playground in September and had just left on October 28, was destroyed when it was submerged in the flood at Leon’s Newtown Creek-side studio at 99 Commercial Street, in Brooklyn. We hope you’ll support Leon’s rebuilding efforts through his website!

For more information about ways you can contribute to relief efforts go to The Old Stone House website. 

 

EB White on Democracy

This was read on NPR this evening. The reporter was reminded of it last night during President Obama’s acceptance speech when he said: “Democracy in a nation of 300 million can be noisy and messy and complicated. We have our own opinions. Each of us has deeply held beliefs. And when we go through tough times, when we make big decisions as a country, it necessarily stirs passions, stirs up controversy.”While at the The New Yorker, E.B. White, author of Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little, wrote this letter to the Writer’s War Board, in 1943.

Surely the Board knows what democracy is. It is the line that forms on the right. It is the don’t in don’t shove. It is the hole in the stuffed shirt through which the sawdust slowly trickles; it is the dent in the high hat. Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half the time. It is the feeling of privacy in the voting booths, the feeling of communion in the libraries, the feeling of vitality everywhere. Democracy is the letter to the editor. Democracy is the score at the beginning of the ninth. It is an idea which hasn’t been disproved yet, a song the words of which have not gone bad. It’s the mustard on the hot dog and the cream in the rationed coffee. Democracy is a request from a War Board, in the middle of the morning in the middle of a war, wanting to know what democracy is.

Nor’easter is Here

So what is a Nor’easter?

Here in the Eastern U.S.A. they can occur anytime from October and April when there’s plenty of moisture and cold air. Like tonight, they bring heavy rain and snow and sometimes hurricane-force winds and rough surf that can cause coastal flooding.

It is named for winds that blow in from the northeast and send the storm up the gulf stream.

Outbreak of Norovirus at John Jay Evacuation Center

Yesterday when I was voting, a local mom I know told me that there was an outbreak of a Norovirus at the John Jay High School Complex  Hurricane Sandy Evacuation Center and at two other Brooklyn high schools. The building is now quarantined and the schools in that building will not be able to resume until this serious health issue has been resolved.

According to the Daily News, 13 children who were living in the shelter contracted the extremely contagious norovirus, which causes vomiting, diarrhea and gastrointestinal distress.

Obama: “I Have Never Been More Hopeful About America”

We spent election night 2012 at a friend’s house in Park Slope. Dinner was jittery—but delicious. As we drank copious amounts of Italian wine, we agonized about an America governed by Mitt Romney; fantasized about four more years with Obama. Any optimism was quelled by our host, who is extremely superstitious.

At 9:30, media projections shifted in Obama’s direction. At 10:18 Fox News, of all places, projected Obama the winner. The night just got better and better after that.

We walked home early Wednesday morning before Romney’s concession and Obama’s acceptance. Annoyance set in as we wondered why Romney was being such a sore sport. Lights were on in Park Slope windows but Seventh Avenue was quiet, nothing like 2008 when streets were filled with ecstatic citizens and honking cars.

Once home we settled on the couch with the television on. Waiting. Finally, finally at 1:30AM or so we listened, rapturously, as Obama delivered an inspiring and gracious acceptance speech, the best speech of the campaign.

I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting.

 

Added Value in Red Hook Needs Your Help

Added Value Needs Your Help

Hurricane Sandy submerged Added Value, the community farm in Red Hook just as it submerged the Red Hook neighborhood in several feet of sea water when it came ashore on October 29th, 2012. In the picture above, staff and volunteers are beginning the massive clean up effort Post-Sandy

Added Value’s Red Hook Farm grows more than just food. It catalyzes a food justice ecosystem in that community through youth empowerment programs and it ensures that Red Hook has access to healthy, affordable food.

If you believe in their mission, they need your help now more than ever.

Here’s how you can help:

 1. Donate. A gift of any amount is welcome, via PayPal or Credit Card.

2. Volunteer. Follow their updates on Facebook and contact  them for ways to help.

Voting Today with a Special Note to John Jay Voters

Lines are long because turnout is good. At least here in Park Slope. But here’s some stuff that you need to know.

If you usually vote at the John Jay High School Complex, you are voting today at PS 282 on Sixth Avenue and Lincoln Place.

When you get there, go to the special entrance for John Jay voters on Berkeley Place between Sixth and Fifth (it’s near the playground entrance).

Once inside get on line in your election district if you know it. The line for district 80 was long but the line for 78 (which covers Third Street between 6th and 7th and elsewhere) wasn’t long at all. It took me ten minutes to get in and out.

If you don’t know your election district, go to one of the information tables and find out. Then go to the proper table where you’ll get a ballot and a card with your voting number on it.  Since we’re doing paper ballots now, it was easy to find a standing desk with attached pens. But not all the desks have working pens. Bring a pen just in case. Then, bring your filled out ballot to a scanner and VOILA.

The deed is done.

Live Blogging on Katie Couric’s “Day of Giving” Show

Yesterday was a surreal blur of network television impressions as I live-blogged and tweeted the new Katie Couric Show on ABC’s Day of Giving. The network raised $16.8 million for Sandy recovery efforts.

Whew.

Guests on the show included Jon Bon Jovi, a Jersey native, who returned from an international tour to be with his family and community on the devastated Jersey shore. His JBJ Soul Kitchen Restaurant in Red Bank New Jersey  was flooded out but at another site, Soul Kitchen volunteers are preparing meals for Sandy victims.

It was interesting to learn about Bon Jovi’s Soul Kitchen, a non-profit community restaurant run by the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation. The menu has no set prices. “You select what you like and make the minimum donation. If you can afford to donate more you are helping to feed your neighbor. If you are unable to donate, an hour of volunteering pays for the meal.”

Bon Jovi is a tremendously likable and sincere guy. “I was gutted,” he said when he saw Jersey after Superstorm Sandy. “Cash is king,” he told the audience urging them to give money to relief organizations rather than “just show up not sure what you can do.” Asked whether he thought the shore would regain its former glory he said: “There are a lot of determined people in Jersey, Breezy Point, Rockaway. A tough bunch. We’ll rebuild.”

The always appealing Steve Buscemi, a Brooklyn native, was also a guest on the show. A former firefighter, Buscemi has pitched in extensively to help firefighters since 9/11. Over the weekend he went out to the Rockaways and Breezy Point where many firefighters live. “They’re great about helping others but a little shy about getting help for themselves,” he told Katie’s audience.

Also on the show was the sister, uncle and cousins of a young girl named Angela Rose who died during the storm. Her mother is in the hospital. Katie interviewed the family sensitively as they spoke about the 13-year-old Angela, “a popular and typical teenager: who loved to “stay up late and text her friends.”

Continue reading Live Blogging on Katie Couric’s “Day of Giving” Show

Benefit for Sandy Recovery Efforts at Two Moon on Wednesday

This week’s Only the Blog at Two Moon is now a benefit for Sandy recovery efforts.

Come Wednesday, November 7th to Writers Who Sing, Singers Who Write with Mila Drumke and Peter Silsbee and we’ll donate whatever you give to the Red Hook Initiative or another appropriate charity helping locals recover from Sandy. There will also be a RAFFLE of photos by Hugh Crawford, CDs by Mila Drumke and a book by Peter Silsbee.

November 7 at 7PM at Two Moon Art House and Cafe in Park Slope (315 Fourth Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets)

“Overhead, the two moons worked together to bathe the world in a strange light.” ― Haruki Murakami, 1Q84

Writers Who Sing, Singers Who Write celebrates the double-threat talents of artists who cross mediums to tell their stories. In this inspiring musical and literary evening, songwriters/writers Mila Drumke and Peter Silsbee will share how their music influences their non-fiction and fiction and vice versa.

Mila Drumke is currently writing a memoir called All the Time in the World about caring for her sister, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor at age 27. The project has received generous support from the NEA/Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, the Millay Colony for the Arts and Hedgebrook. She has also recorded numerous albums, including Radiate, which was named “one of the top 10 album discoveries of 2006” by WFUV. “Radiate is not just an artistic triumph—it’s easily Mila Drumke’s best work to date and one of the most impressive records of the year by anyone—but a personal one, too. In taking unimaginable sadness and turning it into something both grounded and visionary, she has created a deeply humane song cycle.” writes Neil Parkinson inHearsay magazine. For more information: miladrumke.com.

Peter Silsbee is a writer of fiction and non-fiction. He is also a singer/songwriter, who performs with his band, The Haywood Brothers, in top venues in New York City. He has published five young adult novels, including Amanda: Revealed, The Big Way Out, Love Among the Hiccups, and The Temptation of Kate.

For a compelling, entertaining night out, come hear these two talented writers and performers sing and read their work at the lovely Two Moon Art House and Cafe, Park Slope’s newest cultural spot with wine, coffee, delicious soups, sandwiches, salads and desserts.

 

Displaced New Yorkers Can Vote Anywhere with Affadavits

Governor Cuomo has signed an executive order to allow New Yorkers displaced by Hurricane Sandy to vote by affidavit ballot.

If you are a displaced voter, you will need to sign a sworn statement that you are registered to vote in the state and federal elections.

New Jersey is doing something very similar but will be using provisional ballots.

Also, be sure to check your polling site before you leave to vote tomorrow. Make sure your usual voting site hasn’t changed. Click here for the Board of Elections website on voting after Sandy. 

Live Blogging the Katie Couric Show

Yesterday at around 6PM, I got an email from Brittany Jones Cooper, an assistant to Katie Couric, who asked if I would be willing to live blog on the Katie Couric Show. I was, of course, happy to do it and intrigued. She sent me a list of guidelines about what I should wear.

Recommended: Solid Bright Attire & Dressy shoes. Katie LOVES bright colors and will be happy to see our audience dressed to impress in colorful tops/attire.  The camera picks up bright colors best, so please try to plan your outfit accordingly.

Honestly, I think that was the only obstacle to my being on the show. I don’t own any bright colored clothes. I looked in my closet and found two suit jackets that weren’t black.

This morning, I got up early, dressed and headed out to beat the Post-Sandy rush hour not knowing what to expect. The 3-Train at Grand Army Plaza was crowded but it was running and it got me to the Upper West Side quickly.

Continue reading Live Blogging the Katie Couric Show

Helpfulness All Around in Brooklyn

Helpfulness is all around us here in Brooklyn. It’s one of the most inspiring things I’ve ever seen in my life.

Yesterday I posted photos by Pastor Tom Martinez of Sandy relief volunteers at the Greenpoint Reformed Church in Brooklyn. Soon after I got an email from the Katie Couric Show. They saw the pix and wanted to know more about the grassroots relief efforts I’ve been hearing about in Brooklyn. That’s why I was asked to be a live blogger on Katie’s show during ABC’s Day of Giving.

Indeed, parts of Brooklyn were hard hit.

Nearby in Coney Island and Red Hook homes were lost, property damaged, and businesses devastated. Public housing in Red Hook and Gowanus have been without electricity, heat, water and elevator service since the storm.

Thankfully, people in ways large and small have spontaneously come together to help others.

Groups like Red Hook Initiative, which was primarily a youth center, have stepped in to coordinate volunteer efforts locally. In Park Slope, two shelters, at the Park Slope Armory and the John Jay High School Complex, were set up by the city. Congregation Beth Elohim and other group have been busy cooking and providing clothing and care for the evacuees from the Rockaways that arrived by the busload.

The Old Stone House in Park Slope, a museum and cultural center, is now a drop-off site for donations. Yesterday the House was filled to the gills with volunteers sorting through the dry goods, food, water and clothing that was contributed.

Pastor Ann Kanfield of Greenpoint Reformed Church is amazed by the “outpouring of good will and a real desire to help among New Yorkers, but also from the world at large.”

She writes in an email to me: “We’ve received monetary donations from friends across the country. One woman sent $20 when she only had $40 in her bank account, but she felt that she was grateful for what she had and she wanted to help those who needed it more than she did.”

On Friday an email was forwarded to me from a local woman, who was inviting friends and neighbors to cook a hot dish that she would drive over to Red Hook the next morning, providing a hot lunch for those in the Red Hook Houses.

According to Pastor Kanfield, people really want to do something but the hard part is not knowing what’s actually needed, and where it’s needed. “This is really a twofold issue: communication and distribution,” she writes. “We need to communicate the needs to people who want to help, and then we need the items distributed in ways that they can be used.”

To alleviate confusion and answer questions about relief efforts, City Councilmember Brad Lander and Eric McClure of Park Slope Neighbors have sent out sending out daily updates about the storm and the relief efforts which have kept locals informed.

Interestingly, the Occupy Wall Street movement has been incredibly effective in the coordination of volunteers and supplies. In Brooklyn, they’ve been coordinating services from St. Jacobi Evangelical Luteran Church in Sunset Park  (5406 Fourth Avenue). “All those days out in Zucotti Park with no heat and electricity prepared them for times like this – they are experts in how to feed large numbers of people, how to run generators off vegetable oil and how to provide medical care to those in need,” Pastor Kanfield writes.

The number of volunteers who came out and continue to help with the recovery is overwhelming. “I’m exhausted, but it’s a good exhausted—the phone keeps ringing, the emails keep coming—people want to help. And I’m really thankful that our little church could play a role in enabling them to live out the command to “love your neighbor as you love yourself,” writes Pastor Kanfield.

Indeed.

 

 

 

New York is a City of Helpers

Today, just 6 days post-Sandy, New York City feels like a city of helpers. Volunteers are doing whatever they can to help. Driving, cooking, lifting, donating dry goods, warm clothing and blankets. Concern and loving kindness is flowing in the direction of those in need.

Out here in Park Slope, an area the storm largely missed, there has been an enormous volunteer effort for Red Hook, Coney Island, Gowanus and the Rockaways.

The rabbi at Congregation Beth Elohim put up the above picture on Facebook and worte: “Another way to pray.” Indeed, it’s a mitzvah to help others and people around here are taking that very, very seriously. And there are so many ways to do it. A journalist friend writes on her Facebook page:

“Many housing project buildings are still dark – from Park Slope you can walk to the Gowanus Community Center, 420 Baltic near Hoyt where they are accepting donations of diapers, canned food, formula, powdered milk, formula, etc. Signing off from the 3rd world country formerly known as New York City…”

There have been non-stop call-outs on Twitter and Facebook for drivers, for heavy lifters, for cooks, for people willing to put in long shifts at shelters, for social workers and those with medical expertise. There are ways to contribute big and small.

I hope this spirit of generosity lasts for a very long time. On the eve of a very divisive election, it is inspiring that people are feeling such a pull towards others, such a sense of concern, a real desire to help.

It’s really quite beautiful.

 

 

Toxic Sludge Left Behind by Flooded Superfund Gowanus

Triada Samaras, co-founder of Carroll Gardens Organization for Respectful Development (CORD), has been trying to get the attention of the media all week. So far, little luck. Last night they decided to try CNN and NPR. This is a letter she wrote to Anderson Cooper and NPR. The picture above was taken on Second Street and Bond not far from where I sit.

Dear Mr. Cooper:

Dear NPR:

PLEASE HELP US!! We are living in the toxic flood aftermath of a EPA designated Superfund site right here in Brooklyn! We had a flood of five feet of highly contaminated Gowanus Canal water during Hurricane Sandy and toxic sludge has been left behind with highly dangerous chemicals including oil, PCB’s, coal tar wastes, E coli, gonorrhea, heavy metals, and raw sewage. This is one of the most contaminated waterways in America directly across from Wall Street.

We need media coverage! No one is helping us! Our elected officials have forgotten us! Supermarkets that have been flooded with this toxic stew are now selling us food! HELP!!

PLEASE HELP US!!!

Triada Samaras

CG CORD Co-Founder

www.carrollgardenspetition.blogspot.com

cgcord@gmail.com

and: The Communities of Carroll Gardens/Gowanus/Red Hook

Brooklyn, NY

Here are some links that tell our story:

http://carrollgardenspetition.blogspot.com/2012/10/horrific-flooding-of-gowanus-canal-last.html

http://pardonmeforasking.blogspot.com/2012/11/gowanus-business-owners-concerned-about.html

http://carrollgardenspetition.blogspot.com/2012/11/who-will-clean-gowanus-canal-aftermath.html

http://pardonmeforasking.blogspot.com/2012/10/hurricane-sandy-amazing-gowanus.html

Find Out if Your Polling Site Has Changed. Mine Did.

Thanks to a tweet from Brad Lander I see that I won’t be voting on Tuesday at John Jay High School Complex Park Slope where I have always voted. Instead, I’ll be voting at PS 282 at Sixth Avenue and Berkeley Place.

Find out where you’ll be voting by going to this Board of Elections site. Type in your address and find out NOW so you won’t be surprised on Tuesday.

Because of Sandy, John Jay is being used as an evacuation shelter. That’s why they’ve moved the voting elsewhere.

http://gis.nyc.gov/vote/ps/index.htm?number=+449+&street=Third+Street&borough=Brooklyn&lang=en

Find Out if Your School Has Been Impacted by the Storm

Tomorrow New York City public school students are expected to return to school. How is that going to go with so many children living in areas still without power?

We shall see.

Approximately 35  schools will be relocated because they were impacted by the storm. Here’s what I found on the NYC.gov website:

Most NYC public schools will reopen Monday, 11/5. Some schools will not be open on Monday, 11/5, and Tuesday, 11/6 due to severe damage caused by the recent hurricane. Others will open on 11/5 but will be temporarily relocated. Teachers and staff should report on 11/5 at their regular start time.

 Find out if your school has been impacted by the storm

A Different Sort of Marathon

It’s Marathon Sunday without the Marathon and that feels right. While I’m all for uplifting spectacle, this is not the time for a running race that exemplifies man’s ability to push past obstacles. It would have been a great metaphor but a hollow one in the face of this particular catastrophe that requires all our resources to bring the city and state back.

The aftermath of Superstorm Sandy is a marathon of a different sort.

WNYC reported yesterday that some marathoners in town for the race will run as a way to bring supplies to storm damaged areas in the region. Early this morning, there was a 6km run/relief effort planned from 61 Local in Cobble Hill to Red Hook.

Reports from Red Hook are mixed: there is suffering but also a great deal of help finally pouring into that waterlogged and power-less community. The idea that 3,000 residents of the Red  Hook Houses, 30 14-story buildings that house  6,000, will continue without power and water for another week or ten days is unacceptable. Let’s hope Con Edison can bring power back to Red Hook more swiftly. In the short term, FEMA generators would be a big help.

There are elderly and disabled individuals in those buildings that need medical services and other kinds of help. Many are terrified to be in their apartments after dark.

Parts of Staten Island, Long Island and New Jersey still look like war-torn countries. Last night someone told me that the storm damaged areas in New York State and New Jersey are equal to the size of Europe.

The scale of this disaster is unfathomable. That said, progress is being made though it is “fractured” as the New York Times reports today. As time passes and the recovery efforts lag in some areas, anger heightens and people living in areas still without power and water feel disenfranchised and bitter.

On Monday most New York City schools will be open. The subways seem to be back with some exceptions. Lower Manhattan is bright again. I am hoping that this week brings some comfort to those who have suffered inordinately this past week and have endured a marathon of a different sort.

Temporary Fuel Trucks Deployed: For First Responders First.

This info via Park Slope Patch:

Free gas will be available through temporary fuel trucks that are being deployed across the five boroughs and Long Island, according to the New York Post. But not so fast.

The state Division of Military and Naval Affairs issued an advisory asking that the public keep away from the pumps until emergency vehicles could fill up, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Once the first responders fill up: “The 5,000 gallon trucks will be deployed throughout the morning and there are an additional 150,000 gallons of fuel available to restock the trucks throughout the day. There is a 10 gallon limit per vehicle. Cars can fill up directly off of the truck.”

Here is a list of the fueling stations in Brooklyn and Queens.

Brooklyn Armory 
1579 Bedford Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11225

Queens Armory 
93-05 160th St.
Jamaica, NY 11433

The City’s in Ruins: We Will Rise Up Again

After days of non-stop television images, WNYC radio reports, Twitter, Facebook, and other media stories, the scales have truly fallen from my eyes as I take in the full magnitude of what’s been done to our city by Sandy.

To quote Bruce Springsteen: “My city’s in ruins.” The song, The Rising, was included on Springsteen’s same-named 9/11-themed album, but it was actually about Asbury Park. But now, sadly, it’s apt, profoundly apt, for New York City post-Superstorm Sandy.

The devastation in our city is heartbreaking. The suffering of our fellow citizens is painful. The discomfort, the difficulties, the pain…

A friend who lives in downtown Manhattan just got her power back. She writes: “Lower NYC is devastated, trees fell, awnings ripped off, it looked like a bomb hit, I started crying, like a child at all the scenes of damage, especially around Gramercy and Union Square.”

Another friend, Mike Sorgatz, described Red Hook on Facebook Saturday morning: “It’s a mess out there. Flooding hit the 4-5 foot mark. Fairway’s parking lot is filled with trash. Streets are lined with waterlogged furniture and plastic bags. The only thing more spectacular is the number of people volunteering to help.”

Another friend, Lorie Honor in Staten Island, wrote yesterday: “Much is yet to be revealed here on Staten Island…new definition of the “forgotten borough” as we suffered greatest loss of life and still have had limited news coverage and just now are getting Red Cross distribution and some aid to the displaced.”

Staten Island is now getting the help—and news coverage—it deserves. But the suffering, the destruction and the heroism of the local helpers is mighty

All night I thought about the people in NYC public housing without water and electricity. I felt grateful that a good friend of mine who used to live in public housing on Coney Island moved a year ago to South Carolina. I was grateful that she did not have to endure the many days without power and the related discomfort and frustration. But many of her relatives and friends are suffering.

So many are suffering in our city. The Marathon has been cancelled. The clean up to come is beyond all imagining. But as Mike Sorgatz said, ” The only thing more spectacular is the number of people volunteering to help.”

Indeed. The photographs that Tom Martinez sent yesterday (including the one above) of volunteers at the Park Slope Armory transporting food and dry goods to the Red Hook Initiative were also encouraging. The level of volunteerism of all kinds has been incredible.

That’s what give me hope and what makes this bearable. Because of our communities, our modes of communication (Facebook, Twitter, radio) and our determination (and faith) not to let our fellow citizens suffer, I have  hope that we will overcome. Take it, Bruce…

My city’s in ruins 
My city’s in ruins 

Now with these hands 
I pray Lord 
with these hands 
for the strength Lord 
with these hands 
for the faith Lord 
with these hands 
I pray Lord 
with these hands 
for the strength Lord 
with these hands 
for the faith Lord 
with these hands