Gotham Gazette

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Mike Muller

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About 200 homes that are so damaged they endanger public safety and other buildings nearby will need to be bulldozed, the Buildings Department said on Sunday. That is in addition to that 200 houses already destroyed by the storm. They are also inspecting nearly 500 other damaged structures the could be razed as well. The department said that “only a very small number” of the buildings slated for demolition were at risk of being razed without notice. Officials offered “as much assistance as possible” to homeowners, including aid for demolition costs. The homes slated for removal are located in Breezy Point, Belle Harbor and Rockaway Beach in Queens; South Beach, Midland Beach and Fox Beach on Staten Island, and Gerritsen Beach in Brooklyn.

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An examination by The Times shows that the Long Island Power Authority -- which serves the Rockaways -- has repeatedly failed to plan for extreme weather. Gov. Cuomo has established a commission to investigate how utilities across the state responded to Sandy. The head of LIPA resigned yesterday.

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In many pockets throughout the city, the effects of Sandy are still being felt. It could be weeks before damaged hospitals reopen, but Mayor Bloomberg $500 million emergency plan for those hospitals and also public schools. Out of the city's 1,750 schools, 37 remain shuttered. Public housing residents who still have no power will receive a rent credit for their time without services, but not until January. Rockaway is still a demolition zone and mold is becoming a large concern. The city is launching "one-stop restoration centers" that will provide recovery services and disaster relief. The extra money Gov. Cuomo requested from the federal government is far from definite.

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Officials have been meeting with the real estate industry in an effort to pair vacant apartments with those displaced by storm damage.

Half of those still without power in the city, some 35,000 residents, live in public housing. Residents and public officials have panned the housing authority's response to the storm. The tenants will be eligible for rent credits for the days they've been without power.

The Long Island Power Authority told hundreds of powerless Rockaway residents they would need to hire a licensed city electrician to inspect their homes before LIPA could restore power. Con Ed said Wednesday's nor’easter knocked out power to 55,000 customers in New York City and Westchester. And LIPA blamed 60,000 new outages on the storm.

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Yesterday’s election saw long lines, jammed ballot scanners and shortages of affidavit ballots. Few voters used shuttle buses to get to substitute polling sites. Scanners were broken at polling sites in Gramercy Park and Park Slope. Two of three emergency sites in Coney Island opened over two hours late. Some poll workers at sites had no idea that people could vote using affidavit ballots, and the city printed up only 250 per election district. According to unofficial results, the state Senate is now tied, but thousands of absentee ballots still need to be counted in very close races. Even if the Democrats win a majority, a number of Democrats say they'll back Republican leadership. Meanwhile, embattled Assemblyman Vito Lopez won re-election with 89 percent of the vote despite the scandal swirling around him.

In the Press...

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