In the immediate aftermath of Sandy, City Councilman and state Sen.-elect James Sanders claimed that devastation in Far Rockaway was similar to New Orleans’ infamous Lower Ninth Ward after Katrina. I recently visited Far Rockaway with Councilman Sanders, whose Bayswater home was flooded, to judge for myself.
While awaiting Sanders, I spied a Malcolm Forbes quote on the whiteboard in his office: “It’s much easier to suggest solutions when you don’t know much about the problem.”
With that in mind, I set out to learn about the problems besetting recovery efforts in that community.
Salt and sand residue is visible on every street; on residential blocks, damaged cars and ruined furniture await removal. But four white swans in Bayswater Park seemed harbingers of a return to normalcy.
One observer suggested that black residents are coping with the trauma much better than their white neighbors west of Far Rockaway, who were “freaking out.”
Another resident made a vague claim of unequal government responses to black and Jewish parts of the community. On the contrary, I saw numerous sanitation vehicles, NYPD officers and Red Cross vehicles crisscrossing the entire area.
Volunteers from a host of groups — the Church of Latter Day Saints, Occupy Sandy, student-athletes from Kellenberg (LI) Memorial HS, area churches — were active on almost every block.
Like angels, members of the Mormon group Helping Hands descended on the waterfront home of retiree Selma Erey, helping her to tear up her floorboards and drywall.
A few blocks farther along, amid a pile of discarded furniture, police sergeant and former Bronx resident Jaime Young had nothing but praise for her insurer, Allstate. She had both flood and sewer insurance to cover more than 80 percent of her losses, and didn’t seem to mind that FEMA denied her assistance because she has too much insurance. “My sewer insurance covered the furniture damaged in my basement,” she said.
Her daughter didn’t fare quite as well, because she didn’t heed her Mom’s advice and properly insure her car. Mayor Bloomberg should appoint the prescient Sgt. Young to whatever post-Sandy commission he creates.
Any skepticism I held on Sanders’ assertions lessened as I saw his concern for a thinly clad young Mexican mother and her child walking in search of milk. Seeing that she was wearing shower slippers, instead of proper cold weather shoes, the councilman stopped her to inquire about her situation.
He recruited two female Spanish-speaking EMTs to ask about her needs. Hearing her response, a passerby stopped and offered to share the milk and infant formula she had at home. Sanders handed her a blanket for her child and information about where to find shoes.
It was an example of Rockaway residents helping their neighbors amid a crisis.
My last stop was at the FEMA disaster recovery center on Central Avenue.
Kathryn Fairleigh, the center manager, told Councilman Sanders that she really needed city and state agencies represented. She has reps from HUD, but public-housing residents came in seeking information that only the city Housing Authority can answer. And people with complaints about price gouging by area merchants and contractors need advice and protection that only the city and state consumer-affairs agencies can offer. Surprisingly, no one from the state Insurance Department has deemed it important to set up a help desk.
In the wake of such a disaster, Mayor Bloomberg can’t possibly think 311 is adequate — can he?
Things are very tough in Far Rockaway, but it’s not New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward. Yet residents need clear government guidance to help sort out who recovers and who gets permanently displaced — and how it’s all to happen.
Those solutions will come from direct knowledge and understanding of needs, rather than from divisive hyperbole.In Far Rockaway, I saw people who’d been hit hard — but were also people embracing their neighbors and working collectively to speed a return to normalcy.