General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFor Those Worried About Staten Island, They're Getting Help
You can safely ignore the hype by the useless MSM as they show the video of the people crying for help yesterday morning. They received help by the afternoon. This is not Bush running FEMA for Katrina, as much as the media wants it to be. There are military hospital vehicles in positions and military ships off shore. People are getting food, water, shelter and medical care.
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/11/the_feds_heed_staten_islands_s.html
By the afternoon, she was picking up bottled water and meals ready-to-eat -- provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- from a National Guard distribution center in Miller Field, set up by city elected officials, and manned by police, Red Cross and Salvation Army volunteers.
....
In addition to the city and federal response, the Red Cross was put on the defensive yesterday after Borough President James Molinaro slammed the organization for not being in his borough.
"He's serving as an advocate for his community, and we're definitely listening, and we are there helping," Red Cross spokeswoman Ann Marie Borrego responded.
She said the charity had five emergency response vehicles in the New Dorp area by late afternoon Thursday, and five more would arrive on the Island by Thursday evening. Josh Lockwood, CEO of the Red Cross in New York, also came to the borough. Red Cross of America CEO Gail McGovern reached out to the borough president by phone.
While some people wanted the organization on hand earlier, the Red Cross does not typically put its volunteers or supplies in the path of a storm, to avoid their volunteers being in danger or their supplies being destroyed.
"After the storms passed, we could start moving into neighborhoods," Ms. Borrego said.
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)to Staten Islanders and others that they're getting a bit of food and water, but if we still have widespread power outages and gasoline shortages by Tuesday, it's not going to go well for our side.
David Letterman opened up his monologue last night (yes, I have power, never really lost it) with, "Welcome to post-apocalypic New York!" If that joke resonated at the end of the second day (Tuesday doesn't count, everybody expected nothing would be functional then) I fear what people who have spent a week in the dark with no gas to get to work will be thinking by Tuesday morning.
berni_mccoy
(23,018 posts)anytime soon. There is widespread damage and the houses aren't livable due to the damage from contaminated water.
The people who believe they can live in their damaged homes are in denial. They need to move to shelters until temporary housing can be established, which likely won't happen until next week at the earliest. There is the practical issue that there is no usable real estate to place temporary housing (FEMA trailers) on Staten Island.
Much won't be resolved by Election Day, that is a given.
Hissyspit
(45,788 posts)I hear.
berni_mccoy
(23,018 posts)customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)First comes denial, and then comes anger. It's not just Staten Islanders going through this, there is a wide swath of normally blue voting areas who are feeling the pressures. The timing of the election is not that good, not like we thought on Wednesday. Believe me, it doesn't take long for panic and fear to settle in, and Romney's invisibility is probably his best asset with people in the coastal areas of the Northeast right now.
leftynyc
(26,060 posts)of Staten Islanders at all but they are the only borough that ALWAYS leans red. Fewer voters there will not hurt the Democrats at all.
bluestate10
(10,942 posts)was he doing? The people on that island are getting help, but they were also asked to evacuate to safer ground before the storm and chose to stay put. A lot of the blame for their predicament is on them.
leftynyc
(26,060 posts)My cousin grew up there and still has several friends. When I asked her why they didn't evacuate, she said it was because of the minimal damage from Irene. They just didn't believe the hype and now they're suffering for it.
Edited to add: Cousin now lives in Rockaway and did evacuate and came home to a house where there was a foot of water on her main floor.
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)I might have only enough gas to get to work for three more workdays if I can't find any this weekend. There are others who drive a lot further, and once you load up school buses, school staff, and parents who insist on dropping off Junior from the SUV or minivan into the mix, you'll have even more gas-sucking delays.
There are a lot of down-ballot Democratic officeholders who need every one of our people to come out on Tuesday.
leftynyc
(26,060 posts)There was a line for a gas station down the street that went on for 1/4 mile. I'm not sure where you are but my sister mentioned she had no trouble at all in Greenwich and I heard it was pretty easy in White Plains. We're still waiting to hear if the schools in Westchester are going to open next week. There are still so many power outages and perhaps the fuel situation will also factor in.
There will not be as many voters in NY, NJ and perhaps CT this year. That's just the reality.
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)1/4 mile was the length of the line on Wednesday going into the last service island on the Garden State Parkway. The next day, it was about a half a mile, and when I came home yesterday, it was a full mile, this time I used my odometer to measure it. I would imagine that some have devoted part of this weekend to waiting in a gas line, and it wouldn't surprise me to hear of those lines being miles long.
As for me, I got lucky. My lady found that our nearby Costco opened the pumps at 5 AM this morning (the sign had said 6 AM), she decided to try it on a lark while headed for a Citgo station that a friend told us was opening at 5 or quarter after, that had gasoline for seventy cents more per gallon. She only needed 20 minutes to gas up, then came back for my car and filled it up, taking an additional 45 minutes to do that. I know I've been pissing people on the GSP off by only driving 60 MPH, but I know gas is neither cheap nor plentiful, and I don't see why they feel compelled to burn their supply up faster at 70+ MPH.
The vast majority of people will not get up and leave their families at ten minutes to five AM, relatively few will get the "free" gas from the military (notice that the stories don't tell where to find it?) and there are going to be some truly grumpy folks out in the more coastal areas of the Northeast on Tuesday morning. It wouldn't surprise me that they might skip voting for the President, when they assume that he's going to win their state anyway. That translates into more voting power for whatever placeholder Republicon has been drafted to run against a sure-thing Democratic incumbent, and creates the possibility of some upsets.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)Those homes will not be back to normal for weeks.
This is the crisis point, recovery takes anywhere from five to seven years on average. This is life in the real word.
kenziemom06
(92 posts)...still don't have power and may not 'til Monday. Private tree removal companies need to take care of all the downed trees and then the power companies need to repair all the wires and fallen poles. The mainstream media isn't down here nor is anyone claiming that death is imminent. I hate to say this, because I feel so badly for those folks on Staten Island, Long Island, the Jersey shore, etc., but anyone who votes for Romney based on the fact that the storm clean-up has not happened at warp speed was probably going to vote for him anyway; most folks know that this will take months, if not years.
knitter4democracy
(14,350 posts)Maybe that's part of the problem: they don't live in an area wiped out regularly by storms. We had a horrific storm over a year ago in my town (and my street was hit by a tornado the year before that), and we're still rebuilding and know it. We were all impressed with how quickly we were helped, even though we were without power for almost a week and all.
Chorophyll
(5,179 posts)The only difference this time was the incredible, 13-foot storm surge, which came farther inland than anyone expected. I'm really tired of the implication that New Yorkers have never been through anything. We have blizzards, ice storms, and nor'easters every year. We've had three enormous, historical blackouts. And a little thing called 9/11.
Each area has its own problems. Some people are calm, some are hysterical. No one puts a news camera into a calm person's face, unfortunately.
knitter4democracy
(14,350 posts)I'm a Michigander, and most of us don't blink at blizzards or ice storms, same with most summer storms that can get vicious here. I'm thinking it was similar for these people, and that's why they didn't evacuate. Still, they just weren't mentally prepared for just how bad it would be despite all the warnings because they personally hadn't been through something of this magnitude. That's all I was saying, not that New Yorkers are wusses or anything like that.
Chorophyll
(5,179 posts)I firmly believe that people who were told to evacuate should have heeded that warning. Some people can't, unfortunately. Others are just stubborn, because they've ridden out storms before. Including hurricanes. We get 'em here. 1938 crushed Long Island and New England. But the size of this thing, combined with the already high tides, was unprecedented.
gkhouston
(21,642 posts)It's a lot easier to get by with no power and limited/no gas if you've got water/sewer service and somewhere habitable to hunker down. The flood damage is really making the recovery a lot tougher.
Chorophyll
(5,179 posts)like this. Then too, if your entire house got knocked off its foundation and flattened, you've got a very good reason to be hysterical.
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)but I do think that people who would normally find time to vote on the way home might just skip it, if it's too much of a hassle because of the problems of the coastal Northeast. Rethugs tend to be older folks who don't have to use gasoline to get to work, or have all day to sit in line for it, they also include wealthier people who have multiple vehicles that may have been full of gasoline before the storm hit.
I'm sorry, but I'm worried when I see the gas lines on the Garden State Parkway double in size every passing day.
geckosfeet
(9,644 posts)in a couple of days have unrealistic expectations. Infrastructure is destroyed. Roads and lighting is gone. Electricity is gone. Our culture cannot survive without electricity. Communications are crippled.
The destruction from a natural disaster is not repaired in the time frame of a 2 hour movie or a 1 hour newscast. Simply locating and identifying people in need of help takes time. Getting supply lines in place takes time.
Given the scale of this disaster I would say the metro area dodged a huge bullet. Yes there was damage but it could have been much much worse. And the emergency response services are doing a their jobs.
knitter4democracy
(14,350 posts)A guy I know on FB was posting about how slow FEMA's been in response to Sandy and that everyone should remember that on Tuesday, so I was able to post this link to show that it's all been anything but slow.
Dumbass. I also reminded him of Katrina and how slow Bush was to do a damn thing.
Sedona
(3,769 posts)I could use it for a few FB complainers.
Fla Dem
(23,352 posts)BeliQueen
(504 posts)One woman was complaining about the aid she received. She had food, and she said, "Well I was expecting a blanket or something. This (food) is a joke."
So even though they're getting help, they're still unable to show gratitude.
leftynyc
(26,060 posts)that did not heed a mandatory evacuation, my sympathy only goes so far.
ananda
(28,783 posts).. then why wasn't it enforced?
Just what does fucking mandatory mean anyway?
OldDem2012
(3,526 posts)....How many police and other law enforcement agencies are you going to divert from other critical roles to make that happen?
Here's how it's supposed to work. The police send a skeleton crew out to go door-to-door informing the occupants they are under a mandatory evacuation. If the occupants refuse to go, the police tell them if conditions get really bad, they cannot expect help from police or rescue personnel. They then get the occupants to sign a form after listing the names of the occupants. As heartless as this sounds, if none of this scares the occupants into leaving, they are truly on their own.
And yes, the evacuation from Staten Island was indeed mandatory.
peace13
(11,076 posts)As usual it was sensational reporting and nothing more.
Chorophyll
(5,179 posts)DU would be screaming "police state!"
There is never going to be an ideal situation.
By the way, Staten Island is BIG. The whole place was not an evacuation zone, just sections.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)In the US they can't enforce them. I places like Mexico at times the army does, and people scream. When they don't and an idiot dies, people scream.
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)are noting more than whiny teabaggers.
They keep saying that they want government out of their business, except in a case like this!
Doubtful, but this may change their tune!
Chorophyll
(5,179 posts)As well as my friend Gina, a white woman and lifelong Democrat.
For fuck's sake. People are people.
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)are the darn teabaggers.
Chorophyll
(5,179 posts)People who've lost their house and everything in it have a right to be upset. They don't have a right to blame the government for that -- if that's even what they're doing -- but they certainly have the right to be upset.
oldbanjo
(690 posts)SC is a lot warmer then NY and NJ but it will take some time to fix things. The food and water should not be taken to these Islands the people that are requesting help should be removed off the Island.
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)OldDem2012
(3,526 posts)....are the very same people that were told point-blank that they were under a mandatory evacuation.
They all chose to stay when they could have gotten out of the danger zone and be living someplace right now with a roof over their head with heat, food, and water. Some of those people are now dead, including children.
Their elected leaders aren't helping the situation by blasting organizations who are trying their best to provide assistance. You can't simply snap your fingers and expect aid to be instantaneous.
peace13
(11,076 posts)Get out!!!... Mother nature does not always deal us the cards we want but when the emergency is called in advance we do have choices to make. Unfortunately most of life's choices are not easy or fun. I feel for these folks. So sad. Some never get a warning.
FSogol
(45,360 posts)Go donate Blood.
Stinky The Clown
(67,697 posts)How will those who wish to see the Democrats discredited get something - anything - to stick? They HAVE to flog this story.
I get a kick out of seeing who is flogging this story.
peace13
(11,076 posts)They could have benefited more from a psychiatrist at that moment. It was raw grief. No amount of food and water was going to wash that away. They lost everything. So many mocked the NO people who sounded exactly the same way. I wonder why?
My heart goes out to all who have been hurt by this storm. My words to those who still have a roof over their head but no services...you will have to wait your turn. Many in the mid west waited almost two weeks to get power back this summer without so much as a card from NY. Many Americans have already had to wait their turn and yes....wages were lost, rationing of staples was necessary. Some businesses were destroyed in the process.
We will help you get back on your feet but we will have to make some changes in the future. It looks like some areas will not make sense to rebuild and personal emergency reserves will have to be restocked and made larger as one thing is certain. This will not be the last time the water rises.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,085 posts)Messy, with a lot of people out of power, a lot of long gas lines, and a lot of frustration in general. But under control.
Certainly not like New Orleans and Katrina.