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In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, many business and homeowners were left with tough financial decisions as to how to rebuild their lives. Many were offered loans by the Small Business Association (SBA) but rejected them because they didn’t want to incur more debt.

Because of complex bureaucratic rules, business and homeowners who rejected the SBA loans are now being denied some resources, leading politicians like Senator Charles Schumer and Congressman Michael Grimm to press the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) into changing their rules, according to a press release.

Current HUD policy now demands that the amount of approved loans, including those who didn’t even accept them in the first place, are to be counted against the potential grant amounts they are eligible for in the upcoming distribution of the Community Development Block Grants. The justification of the complex rule that Schumer and Grimm are battling against was explained in the release:

Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding, which comes in the form of a grant, not a loan, is intended to supplement other forms of available aid, and cover only “unmet need.” In determining the amount of “unmet need,” HUD regulations provide that any SBA loans for which a homeowner is approved are counted against the of unmet need.

The problem with this regulation is that it does not take into consideration the circumstances that might have led someone to reject a loan in the first place. Schumer expressed concern that this policy will hurt people who need it most.

“This policy will punish these homeowners and HUD should do everything in it power to make sure these individuals are eligible for additional federal assistance,” said Schumer.

Schumer’s concerns were shared by Grimm, according to SI Live.

Photo By Erica Sherman

After a stream of complaints sent to the Bloomberg administration and pressure from Senator Charles Schumer, the city has reversed its refusal to reimburse Superstorm Sandy victims who already spent their own money on repairing their properties, according to a report by the New York Times.

Earlier this month, we reported on how the disbursement of federal dollars from the $60 billion Sandy bill excluded paybacks for New York City residents who already paid for storm repairs out of pocket. Residents living in the rest of New York state, Long Island and New Jersey would be paid back, regardless of whether they had paid for repairs yet or not. The whole situation seemed unfair.

At the time before the reversal, the city argued that they wanted to focus the first $1.77 billion Community Development Block Grants on property owners who couldn’t afford repairs. The city received a torrent of complaints on the plan to exclude people who were desperate to rebuild as quickly as possible during a two-week comment period. The Bloomberg administration subsequently reversed their decision.

Senator Schumer who was adamantly opposed to the original plan from the start called the city’s reversal, ” a step in the right direction.”

Now that everyone has a chance to be reimbursed for Sandy repairs, the revised city plan goes to the Housing and Urban Development Department for review. Once the plan is officially considered, the city promised it would provide more details for how people can qualify for the grants.

Today’s lesson: life isn’t fair. According to a report in the New York Daily News, the federal government will reimburse those who live in Long Island and made Sandy repairs out-of-pocket, but not those who live in New York City.

The difference has to do with the distribution of community development block grants being doled out by the federal government. The City of New York is receiving $1.8 billion to be dispersed to residents. It is the only municipality to be given an allocation directly from the federal government. The feds gave separate block grants to New York State, excluding the city, and New Jersey.

Sounds good, except the city, which, like New York State and New Jersey, drew up its own proposed guidelines for disbursement, included a clause that prohibits city dwellers from receiving compensation for repairs that they have already paid for. The State of New York, meanwhile, is getting $1.7 billion. There is no such restriction in the dispersal of their funds, and the state is expected to reimburse homeowners who paid for repairs themselves.

New York City residents were predictably peeved at the short shrift headed their way.

“I’m angry, but not surprised. The city does things their way,” Kathy Kirker told the Daily News.

Kirker, a Breezy Point resident, said her mother had to shell out $15,000 for a new furnace because her insurance wouldn’t cover it.

Senator Charles Schumer has rightfully called the discrepancy unfair and is fighting the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to get it changed.

“There needs to be consistency between New York City and New York State’s action plans to ensure that all homeowners in New York can access the same type of assistance,” Schumer wrote in a letter to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan on Tuesday.

“A homeowner in Rockaway Beach … will not be eligible for the same benefit that a homeowner in Long Beach, just 10 miles away, will be able to access.”

In their defense, a spokesman for the city claimed that all of the plans to dole out the $1.8 billion was preliminary and that changes might come in the future. However, if things stand the way they are now, those who paid big bucks to fix their homes might be out of luck from getting any of that money back.

Source: Susan Sterner via Wikimedia Commons

When Congress passed the $60 billion Sandy aid package this past January, they agreed to provide 65 percent of the needed funds to finance sea walls, and repair dunes and beaches for our area’s coastal communities. The idea was that the city and state would provide the remaining 35 percent of the money but thanks to Senator Charles Schumer, the feds have agreed to pick up the rest of the tab, according to a report in the New York Times.

The remaining 35 percent needed to complete the beach restoration projects, which totals $1.2 billion overall, amounts to $436 million. The new funds will help finance projects that will be administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The projects the money covers include dune protection and repair for several miles of beachfront property in Long Beach and other locations in Nassau County and hurricane prevention and beach erosion control along the coast of Fire Island.

Our area will receive beachfront repairs in Coney Island and Brighton Beach. The Rockaways and other parts of Brooklyn will also receive similar repairs.

Schumer stressed the importance of these projects to the Times”

“These are some of the most important projects in New York and you might even argue in the country in terms of protecting heavily populated areas from storms,” Senator Schumer, a Democrat, said. “They have been held up for decades — the Long Island one for 50 years — for lack of funding.”

The projects, some long dormant, will finally get some much needed attention and funding after Schumer loosened language that limited the Army Corps’ ability to finish the work.

Schumer hopes that their final completion will payoff in the case of a future devastating storm.

Source: Gregory Maizous

The following is a press release from the Health and Hospitals Corporation:

The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation announced today that for the first time since Hurricane Sandy flooded its basement and first floor, causing substantial damage to its emergency department, Coney Island Hospital is again receiving ambulances for most types of cases through the City’s 911 service.

“The restoration of ambulance service brings us one step closer to our goal of restoring all services in the facility and re-establishing ourselves as the primary health care source in southern Brooklyn,” said Arthur Wagner, the hospital’s Executive Director.

“Since the storm, Coney Island has been systematically restoring services to help meet the healthcare needs of the community,” said Dr. John Maese, Chief Medical Officer. “We are delighted to again expand our much-needed services to the community and accept 911 ambulances.”

Ambulances began arriving at Coney Island on Wednesday, February 20. The hospital is accepting most types of 911 patients, including heart attacks and stroke cases. Trauma care and labor and delivery remain closed.

Repairs are ongoing at Coney Island, and its emergency department continues to function at a reduced capacity due to storm damage. However, the hospital’s Tower Building has re-opened along with most of its inpatient beds and imaging and laboratory services, and the hospital has for several weeks been admitting walk-in patients from its emergency department and patients from other HHC facilities.

It has inpatient adult psychiatric beds available, operating rooms, as well as medical/surgical and intensive care beds. All primary and specialty outpatient clinics are open, and have been operating a fleet of mobile medical vans providing primary care services and flu shots in parts of Brooklyn and Staten Island affected by Sandy.

Newly elected Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, who represents the majority of Anthony Weiner’s old stomping grounds in the recently redrawn 8th Congressional District, had a warm welcome by a slew of New York political heavyweights before his inaugural remarks, according to a report in the New York Times.

Jeffries, who represents a large part of the Brooklyn southern coastline including of Coney Island, received a sterling introduction to the Congressional stage as Democratic political bigwigs like Senator Charles Schumer and Representatives Jerrold Nadler and Yvette Clarke were in attendance at Pratt Institute Memorial Hall.

It seems that Jeffries’ inauguration was the place to be seen, politically speaking, as according to the Times, every Democratic hopeful for the upcoming Mayoral race was in attendance including Public Advocate Bill di Blasio, Comptroller John C. Liu, Council Speaker Christine Quinn and former Comptroller William Thompson.

In his remarks, Jeffries paid tribute to retiring Representative Edolphus Towns and former Representative Shirley Chisholm who had previously represented large parts of the constituencies Jeffries now presides over. He also put forward a progressive message.

“We’re going to give you the government that you deserve,” Congressman Jeffries said. “That’s my mission. We’re not going backward. We’re going to keep moving forward.”

Source: Maria Danalakis

FEMA has approved $103 million in aid to the New York City Health and Hospital Corporation to help fund repairs at facilities including Coney Island Hospital (2601 Ocean Parkway).

Senator Charles Schumer announced last week that the funding would come through, according to the Wall Street Journal, and will contribute to repairs at Bellevue Hospital, Goler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital and Metropolitan Hospital Center in addition to Coney Island.

The $103 million package still falls far from the $810 million HHC execs said they needed to come back from Sandy at a press conference two weeks ago. That number includes $200 million for Coney Island Hospital, and is the total estimated price for repairs, revenue loss and improvements to protect against future storms.

Regardless, the FEMA grant will help fill the coffers and keep repairs underway.

“I’ve seen the damage with my own eyes, and it was devastating. I appreciate FEMA listening to our pleas and getting these funds here quickly. This is not the end of the aid that these hospitals will need – not by a long shot – and we’ll keep fighting until the hospitals have been fully restored and they can get back to what they’re good at – helping New Yorkers heal and recover,” Schumer said Thursday.

Coney Island Hospital is currently open for most outpatient and some inpatient services. They expect to be fully operational and resuming emergency room intake within the next few months.

The “all in” costs for repairing Coney Island Hospital (2601 Ocean Parkway) and upgrading it to be better prepared for future storms is approximately $200 million, Health and Hospitals Corporation President Alan Aviles told Sheepshead Bites during a press conference yesterday.

Aviles led U.S. Senator Charles Schumer and reporters on a tour of the facility, showing off the hospital’s progress nearly two and a half months after Superstorm Sandy. The two announced that repairs to the city’s public hospitals in the wake of the storm and necessary improvements will cost $810 million – an amount included in the $51 billion aid being considered in Congress.

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The Coalition Against the Rockaway Pipeline (CARP) delivered petitions with 5,000 signatures to Senator Charles Schumer’s Manhattan office Tuesday as members of the environmental group push for a presidential veto of the project.

Although the House and the Senate passed the bill authorizing a gas pipeline to run through the Gateway National Recreation Area, CARP members don’t plan to give up.

“It is too late to the stop the bill from being passed. It’s not too late to show opposition to the project,” said Jonathan Fluck, CARP’s spokesperson.

The proposed Jamaica Bay pipeline would connect an existing natural gas pipeline three miles offshore with Southern Brooklyn. The pipeline would tunnel under Jacob Riis Park, cross Jamaica Bay and surface at Floyd Bennett Field. Williams Company, which is constructing the pipeline, plans to establish a metering station within a vacant hanger at the historic airfield.

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Councilman Lew Fidler held a press conference on Avenue J today, joined by Charles Schumer, to announce that the Democratic U.S. Senator is endorsing Fidler in the race to replace State Senator Carl Kruger. But Fidler took a moment during the presser to address the ongoing coverage of his earlier claims that Republican opponent David Storobin has “ties to skinheads and neo-Nazi groups and white supremacist groups.”

PolitickerNY reports:

“I want to answer that, and my campaign folks would probably tell me that I shouldn’t,” he began. “I never, ever, ever did, or would have, called David Storobin a neo-Nazi.”

“I’m not so internet savvy … I used the word ‘ties’ instead of ‘links,’” he explained.  Adding that he “never once raised it in public,” while Mr. Storobin “continues to raise it in public.”

… “Again, he’s responding to comments that I made to a group of young Democrats at a bar, where I thought we were in a private room,” he added. “Look, if I was 25, I’m sure I would have used ‘links’ instead of ‘ties,’ I wish I was 25.”

Indeed, Fidler did make the comments at Wheeler’s in a pep rally-style speech to the Brooklyn Young Democrats, saying that the Brooklyn GOP was making a mistake backing a candidate whose past they hadn’t done their homework on. It had recently come out on the Gatemouth political blog that Storobin’s writings were repeatedly linked to by white nationalist groups. Storobin’s articles mysteriously vanished around the same time his campaign launched.

Fidler wasn’t all apologies, though. He managed to throw a barb at his opponent, saying he’s been using the issue to distract from real issues.

“He’s trying to make an issue out of things that’s not all that relevant to the people who live in this district who are more concerned about whether or not we’re going to have safe streets, clean streets, about whether or not they’re going to be able to afford yeshiva tuition for our kids, how good our public schools are, whether our parks are maintained – all of those issues,” Fidler said. “David Storobin seems to want to talk about anything else. I wonder why.”

Fidler’s got some evidence on his side to back that up. A member of Storobin’s team leaked a four-point “game plan” for their campaign strategy. Top of the list? Focus on Fidler’s “lies about David Storobin.”

“Lew Fidler made repeated, baseless accusations that David Storobin was a neo-nazi who had ties to skinheads,” the Storobin memo states. “After days of spreading despicable lies and suffering the condemnation of Jewish leaders throughout the community, Fidler finally backpedaled…but not because he knows he’s wrong but because he got caught in a lie.  If you can’t trust Lew Fidler’s word on David Storobin’s Jewish faith, you can’t trust anything he says.”