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A Year After Sandy, Recovery Effort Lurches Forward
By
Lauren Evans
Published Oct 23, 2013
Modified Oct 23, 2013
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By
Lauren Evans
Published Oct 23, 2013
Modified Oct 23, 2013
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As the one year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy approaches next week, a panel of top city officials reaffirmed Tuesday what many already know: While the bulk of the debris has been collected and the visible damage contained, the city still has its work cut out for it before long-term repairs are finished.
Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway touted the city's efforts to rebuild following Sandy, citing Floyd Bennett Field, Jacon Riis Park, South Street Seaport and even the decimated Breezy Point as bright spots in the city's recovery. The Rapid Repairs program brought urgent resources like heat and gas to 11,700 Sandy-battered homes in the weeks and months following the storm, he said, and a set of 60 recommendations will better prepare the city if—or let's face it, when—the next massive storm hits.
"Are we prepared for another storm? The short answer is yes, we are prepared—in fact, we are better prepared than we were for Sandy," he said, citing specifically replenished stockpiles and newly re-mapped evacuation zones that make use of more recent flood data.
Still, Holloway acknowledged that he'd prefer to see progress being made faster—Breezy Point residents whose homes burnt to the ground may have to wait years before new ones are built, and around half of the 24,000 victims who applied for aid through the Build It Back program are deemed a second tier priority, after those who make less than 80 percent of the average median income.
In June, Mayor Bloomberg released a report that predicted terrible things for the future of NYC weather—some of which can be defended against by updated building codes, but some of which cannot, Holloway said. Still, major institutions like NYU and Bellevue hospitals have implemented protections to better inure them against storms, and Con Edison has reinforced its 14th Street substation with 18-foot concrete walls so it hopefully won't explode again.
But with only a scant few months left in his term, the Bloomberg administration will have no choice but to pass its recommendations on to whoever comes next. "Our goal is to hand off basically a well-functioning machine, if you will, to our successors, who can then decide whether they're going to have it run exactly the same or make changes," Holloway said.
"We think the blueprint we’ve put together is a pretty good one. Obviously things evolve and change, but it’s a great start."
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bloomberg administration
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