Bette Dewing

“Together we can change the face of our culture” was the subtitle chosen by editor Allen Houston for my previous column. Allen, who left this company shortly after that, chose a lot of good headlines in his two-plus years editing the paper, and we thank him and wish him great success in his new workplace.

But I regretted my main headline choice—“Unnatural Disasters the Worst,” about the school massacre that made America weep—because such unnatural disasters are more preventable than the “natural” kind like superstorm Sandy. The cultural climate needs changing in either case, by continuing the work to overcome the causes and help the afflicted, especially those alone in their loss. It’s the business of the media too, to keep government’s feet to the fire; in a recent edition of the Daily News, for example, concern with Sandy’s countless victims was found only in the letters to the editor.

Ah, I shouldn’t say “only.” Letters to the editor often have insights that get to the heart of the matter better than other reports. And thankfully, a resident of Peter Cooper Village shared a letter to the editor by local psychologist Richard Orbe-Austin about the emotional toll felt by residents there. Even though losses were minor compared to the massive kind felt elsewhere, they were substantial enough to cause emotional problems for 20 to 30 percent of the residents. They are the ones who often “suffer in silence, since others have moved on with their lives.” Elders often lack work communities. The psychologist urged residents to look out for vulnerable neighbors. And while the 1-800-HELPLINE resource was included, I thought of Democrat Hubert H. Humphrey’s belief that “the impersonal hand of government can never replace the caring hand of a neighbor.”
Don’t misunderstand; I think Humphrey would be appalled at the unconscionable delay in getting federal relief to superstorm Sandy victims. But he would also be concerned that “social service hands” increasingly take the place of caring hands of neighbors, civic and faith group and even family members. There just isn’t time to give “caring hands.”

Several recent Times pieces aired research on how elders with disabilities, especially, are the most vulnerable in times of disaster, including fire-caused deaths and injuries. But, while never forgetting the massive needs of superstorm Sandy victims, attention must be paid to traffic calamities, too. Charles Komanoff’s Streetsblog reported recently that five pedestrians were killed locally in four days of the holiday season, mostly as a result of the deadly “turning into a crosswalk” circumstance. How disastrous that government, whose first duty it is to protect the public, still ignores Komanoff’s 1998 manual “Killed By Automobile,” which has all the stats to support this hazardous “turning violation” claim, along with ways to prevent them. So here’s praying a copy recently given to the East 79th Street Neighborhood Association will prompt this highly effective 25-year-old civic group to make it their number one mission.

While Betty White’s TV program Off Their Rockers features elders playing outrageous pranks on youthful strangers encountered in an urban street setting, real-life collisions between elderly pedestrians and vehicles are no laughing matter. So we should heed Jim Battaglia’s call for “a video camera to be mounted above and on the rear wheels of a bus or truck to supplement the regular rear-view mirror which might not give an adequate view of pedestrians.”

Change can be accomplished if enough of us try—meeting the massive needs of Hurricane Sandy’s victims and overcoming traffic behaviors that routinely claim the lives and health of innocent victims with little or no media coverage. And we sure could use a leader like Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday we celebrate Jan. 21.

dewingbetter@aol.com

PETER COOPER VILLAGE RESIDENTS STRUGGLE WITH NO GAS, ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS AND FLOODED BASEMENTS

While most of Manhattan’s East Side neighborhoods have overcome Hurricane Sandy’s damages, some areas are still trying to catch up. Peter Cooper Village, particularly, is in an ongoing struggle to restore basic services to some of its buildings, like gas and intercoms, after the storm’s record-breaking surge flooded the complex’s basements. Management there is orchestrating a frenzy of repairs, which are moving things forward but displeasing many village residents.

“What I don’t like is all this secrecy,” said Arthur Wolf, an elderly tenant who sat on a bench in the middle of the iconic red brick private housing community. “They tell us only what they want to tell us. What’s all this stuff?” He gestured to the growling portable generators and patchwork of yellow tubing scattered between the buildings around him. Workers with wheelbarrows appeared out of a below-ground door and carted piles of debris to East 20th Street. During the storm, the basements of Peter Cooper Village’s buildings, located between East 23th and 20th Streets and First Avenue and Avenue C, took on up to 6 feet of water. A lot remains to be cleaned up.

“Nobody will tell what all this is, exactly, and how long it will go on,” added Marcia Robinson, a tenant who sat with Wolf.

Lax communication from the owner of the complex, CW Capital, has upset a number of tenants. Many rented personal storage space in the buildings’ basements, where they stored items such as clothes, decorations, memorabilia, documents and even paintings. After the flooding, residents were eager to assess the damage to their belongings underground, but at first were not allowed to enter the basements because of safety concerns. Then, according to Susan Steinberg, chair of the board of directors of the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association (Stuyvesant Town, the village’s next-door sister development, was not heavily damaged in the storm because its buildings do not have underground storage), residents received a notification shortly before Thanksgiving that they had until Nov. 30 to retrieve their things. After that date, everything remaining in the storage areas would be discarded.

“CW just wants to steamroll ahead,” Steinberg said. “Some tenants needed more time. They couldn’t sort through their things in just one trip.”

When the residents arrived to rummage through the remains of their possessions, they were required to sign a waiver that relieved management and its affiliates from blame if they were injured. This document forced many residents to second-guess the need to salvage their items. What exactly was in these basements that was so dangerous?

“We were getting messages left, right and center,” said Steinberg. “There was a lot of anger, a lot of frustration.”

Following complaints, CW extended retrieval dates by five days, and agreed to transfer the flooded belongings of those who could not visit the basements to an above-ground drop-off point. According to Steinberg, those who already signed waivers were not allowed to revisit their storage areas.

Flooding also damaged basement electrical systems and gas pumps, shorting intercom circuits and leaving some tenants still without heat. Workers now must check gas valves in each of the complex’s thousands of units, and sometimes have to drill locks to enter. They reportedly have caught at least one resident in the shower while entering apartments.

City Council Member Dan Garodnick is a Peter Cooper Village resident, and he affirmed that life was still far from normal for many tenants. “We hear about people who still have their gas out, who still can’t access their basements, who have no washers and dryers, who lost their cars in garages, whose intercoms don’t work,” he said. He noted that his own intercom and washer-dryer were inoperable.
Garodnick expressed grief that some tenants’ approval of the property manager had declined after what he said was a highly cooperative recovery effort in the storm’s immediate aftermath. With the Tenants Association’s and CW’s help, Garodnick organized a large-scale volunteer emergency response that checked in with every tenant in the complex to address their needs. Steinberg called the effort “fantastic” and affirmed CW’s involvement.

“We worked hand in hand with management during the crisis. We were very happy to do so,” Garodnick said. “That level of collaboration has changed, unfortunately. There’s much less communication, much less information being shared.”

In Steinberg’s words, things returned to “business as usual.” Both she and Garodnick said they were not certain why this was, but Steinberg speculated that CW’s desire to return buildings to normal trumped their interest in responding to tenants.

CW themselves—via their office, Peter Cooper Village Residential Services and public relations firm—could not be reached for comment on their relationship with tenants, and did not respond to messages before press time. On the village’s website, www.pcvst.com, management has a “Post-Storm Updates” in which posts over the past month detail repair progress. CW Capital Managing Director Andrew MacArthur posted there shortly after the storm, “While this last week has been extraordinarily trying, it also highlighted all that is special about our community. Our younger residents kept careful watch over their elderly neighbors and our elderly residents provided us all with an example of how to overcome adversity with good humor and fortitude. Our political figures pitched in, and the various resident groups have done their part. Finally, our staff has demonstrated a commitment to this community that is extraordinary. During this last week, PCVST showed what it means to be part of a community you should all be proud to call home.”

John Marsh, president of the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association, acknowledged issues in communication between CW and tenants, but asserted that overall the property manager was doing a good job with repairs, given the scope of the damages. “They’re dealing with it very aggressively, and we know it’s tough,” he said.

Marsh toured some of the basements shortly after the hurricane, and was one of the first to see the extent of what was lost. “It was pretty devastating,” he explained. “Piles of rubble, water lines above your head, glass smashed—it looked like a fire without the fire.”

Garodnick recently reached out to city agencies for assistance in making sure that there are no lingering safety issues in the buildings’ basements. By his request, workers from the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development have begun daily inspections of the complex’s damaged properties.

“We will make it through this,” he said.

Hurricane Sandy outdid even the most aggressive projections of its impact on New York. In my district on the East Side of Manhattan, and some of the West 50s, we had severe flooding throughout Zones A and B, power and heat outages that lasted for over a week, and—as if that weren’t bad enough—a crane that hung precariously in Midtown, forcing residents from their homes.

The situation presented an important opportunity for local government to respond. The flooding left thousands of my constituents stranded in their apartments and in need of assistance, particularly in Peter Cooper Village, Stuyvesant Town and Waterside Plaza, home to nearly 30,000 right next to the East River. Residents—who include me and my family—lacked electricity, heat and hot water, and just as dangerously, any telephone service.

Without the ability to call in our out, seniors and residents with limited mobility were cut off from the outside world, with family members who were worried about them.

In response, we set up our volunteer operation starting on Thursday morning, and worked hand in hand with both properties’ management with the goal of knocking on every door in both communities every day until power began to be restored. We put out a call for volunteers; we secured donations of food, blankets, batteries and water with the help of Speaker Quinn’s staff; we set up a volunteer center (and City Council mobile office) in the Stuyvesant Town Community Center and in the Management Office of Waterside Plaza; and we got to work.

It was inspiring to see how many New Yorkers turned out to help, with hundreds of volunteers from New York Cares, religious groups, local tenants associations and many others, including my colleagues in government. We dispatched them door to door, checking on our neighbors, assessing their needs, and then sending volunteers back out immediately with the relevant supplies, to the extent we had them. This continued over several consecutive days, until the power and heat started coming back.

One of the most pressing needs was that of seniors who worried that their prescriptions were running out, and needed immediate refills. In response, we called for local nurses and doctors to arrange health visits for seniors who were trapped—and we had volunteers make runs to fill their prescriptions, and bring them up the dark staircases in the buildings.

We even had a couple of very nice surprises. We had generous donations of food from the Setai Hotel, Riverpark restaurant, which also offered hot coffee in Stuyvesant Oval, and a delivery of hot soup from celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito, which he had made himself. And we had countless volunteers who pooled their own funds and made emergency runs for supplies, including prescription refills and batteries. A particularly entrepreneurial group of volunteers at Waterside borrowed a shopping cart from a local store and wheeled 300 bottles of water across the FDR for residents at Waterside.

The most incongruous image that sticks out in my mind was 40 members of the Air Force National Guard showing up late on Thursday in the Stuyvesant Town Community Center, in full military fatigues and an army truck, passing boxes of “meals ready to eat” down an assembly line into the center. When they were done, we marched with them with flashlights through the dark and desolate Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper up to meet their truck in Waterside Plaza, where they did the same thing.

Another image was one that most New Yorkers won’t soon forget: a crane hanging dangerously above Midtown in 90 mph winds, also in my council district. While the City acted swiftly to evacuate hundreds of residents, many left their homes in a hurry, leaving medication, clothing and pets behind. We worked to help these residents gain safe, temporary access to their apartments to retrieve the items they needed. I’m happy to report that as of Monday night, the crane was secured and all residents in the West 50s who had been evacuated were allowed to return home.

While the communities in my district are slowly getting back to life as usual, there are still large parts of the city that are not so lucky. If you are able to get out to Staten Island or the hard-hit areas in Brooklyn and Queens, I strongly encourage you to lend a hand there.

Dan Garodnick is the City Council Member for District 4 on the Upper East Side.

According to court filings, Rahman was walking in front of the AK Houses at East 128th Street and Lexington Avenue at 1:30 a.m. when he fired a shot that hit a parked car near Shaw. When he tried to flee, Shaw was struck in the back by a second bullet and was later pronounced dead at the hospital. Rahman is also charged with firing another shot into a crowd as he was being chased by a group of people.
Hoylman’s Plan for Peter Cooper & Stuy
Brad Hoylman, the presumptive frontrunner in the campaign for Tom Duane’s soon-to-be-vacated seat in the state Senate, released a detailed plan for how he would address the long-term concerns of residents of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. The two complexes have long been home to middle-class residents of the city, but the future of that purpose has been in jeopardy since a failed financial takeover in 2006 by Tishman Speyer left the residents in limbo. Issues with maintenance, tenant and rent regulations, and quality of life have been chief concerns of residents in the past several years as they look for financial partnerships. The ST/PCV Tenants’ Association has been working on finding solutions to these problems and searching for reputable partners that would allow residents to either purchase their homes at reasonable prices or remain as rent-stabilized renters if they choose. Hoylman, with the backing of Dan Garodnick, a resident as well as the area’s City Council member, said that he would follow through on several points at the state level to protect residents if he is elected.

Hoylman has vowed that he would work to repeal the Urstadt Law, which prohibits the city from imposing more restrictive rent laws than the state, in order to let the City Council carve out appropriate rules for the unique ST/PCV community. He also pledged to work on many of the tenant protection law that are hallmark issues of downstate Democratic legislators, like repealing vacancy decontrol laws that give landlords incentives to evict tenants and boost rents out of regulation limits. While the goals are certainly lofty—legislators have been duking it out over rent guidelines every year for decades—Hoylman has also promised some concrete steps his office would take immediately without having to battle upstate Republicans.

He said he would appoint a dedicated staffer to ST/PCV issues as well as work with the management to persuade them against contracting with universities to rent out whole blocks of apartments to students and to maintain the historic layout and grounds of the properties.
“Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village tenants deserve a secure future in the homes they have lived in for so long,” said Hoylman.

East Side Boat Ride
On Wednesday, Aug. 22, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Open House New York is hosting an East River boat cruise with journalists Sharon Seitz and Stuart Miller, co-authors of The Other Islands of New York City: A History and Guide.

The guided river jaunt will start at Pier 16 at the South Street Seaport, where seafarers will board the Circle Line’s Zephyr cruise boat. It will then sail north, passing Roosevelt and Rikers islands as well as other little-known spots such as U Thant Island, the smallest one on the river; Mill Rock, the result of underwater detonations in 1885 that were intended to clear shipping lanes; and North Brother, a protected sanctuary where birds have made their homes among the long-abandoned hospital buildings.

Tickets are $36 per person in advance at ohnyotherislandstour.eventbrite.com or $40 cash at the door. The funds raised from the event go toward the OHNY weekend in October, when dozens of unique and historic buildings are open to the public.

Plan for safer 5th and 6th aves
The advocacy group Transportation Alternatives is launching a new campaign to improve bike and pedestrian safety on Fifth and Sixth avenues, which the Department of Transportation has identified as two of the busiest streets south of 59th Street.

“With community demand for safer, more livable Fifth and Sixth avenues reaching a fever pitch, the community will surely win improvements similar to those ushered in by New Yorkers in other neighborhoods,” said executive director Paul Steely White.

“I wanted to do something else and realized it’s time to start the next chapter,” Duane said in a recent interview. “I would say ‘retire’ is not a completely accurate term; I’m just not ready for re-election. I plan to continue working in my own small way to make the world a better place.”

Duane, who was elected in 1998 and was New York’s first openly gay senator, was the first senator to introduce the Marriage Equality Act in 2001 and continued to push for its support until it was passed last year. He also made waves in 1991 when he won election to the City Council after disclosing his HIV-positive status, and in the Senate he passed legislation expanding routine HIV testing.

Duane said he is proud to have passed laws that directly impact his constituents as well as serve as models for other cities.
“I supported the Midwifery Modernization Act to allow nurse midwives to practice in New York State. I’ve supported routine HIV testing and helped lessen the stigma, particularly within correctional facilities. I also supported the prohibition of insurance companies to create tier four drugs with incredibly expensive co-payments,” Duane said of his accomplishments.

He also introduced the anti-bullying Dignity for All Students Act in the Senate and fought for its successful passage, helped secure passage of a law that eliminates the criminal statute of limitations on many serious sex crimes and worked on measures that toughened laws against hate crimes and discrimination.

Duane’s announcement to leave public office after the current Senate term, which ends Dec. 31, has many already lamenting his departure and others scrambling to replace him.

“I am sad to hear of Tom Duane’s departure from public life,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, whose district overlaps Duane’s, in a statement. “Locally, he has been a powerful and unyielding advocate for affordable housing and tenants’ rights, serving his constituents as only a truly committed and compassionate public servant can. In Albany, Tom has been a legendary champion for civil rights, sponsoring and supporting legislation over the years to benefit all New Yorkers.”
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio also praised the senator, singling out his contributions to gay rights in the state.

“Today’s generation of LGBTQ youth will grow up in a world made more free and more fair because of Tom’s service,” de Blasio said in a statement. “He will always be remembered for his pivotal role in securing marriage equality for all New Yorkers.”

Hoping to follow in Duane’s footsteps, current chair of Community Board 2 and longtime Democratic activist Brad Hoylman has already officially declared his candidacy for the seat. Hoylman is promising to bring reform to Albany and continue Duane’s legacy of fighting for equality at the state level, and political players expect him to receive the coveted endorsement from Duane himself.

City & State also reports that a woman named Tanika Inlaw has been going to local Democratic clubs to seek support for a 29th District candidacy that she announced on Facebook last week.

Duane said that for the time being, he’s focused on finishing out his final term strongly. But he said that he’ll definitely miss parts of the job.

“I’ll miss the challenges of garnering the widest possible support for issues I believe in, especially from people who have not shared my points of view,” Duane said. “I’ll miss finding that common ground and working with people in a collegial manner to pass bills that help people in a way they should be helped.”