Coney Island NYCHA residents demand
long-delayed Sandy repairs
BREAKTHROUGH TECHNOLOGY
COURIER LIFE, DECEMBER 11-17, 2020 3
BY ROSE ADAMS
Residents of a Coney Island
public housing development are
insisting that authorities deliver
the Superstorm Sandy repairs
they were promised years
ago, which have been mired in
delays, one petition states.
“This petition is for
O’Dwyer to stand up and
let NYCHA know that they
have mismanaged funding
for our development for too
long,” reads the petition signed
by 49 people as of Dec. 7.
O’Dwyer Gardens, Surfside
Gardens, and Coney Island Site
8 — three subsidized housing
developments on Surf Avenue
between W. 31st and 36th streets
— have been waiting for years
to receive the full $275 million
in repairs that the Housing Authority
earmarked for the developments
after Superstorm
Sandy wrecked them in 2012.
The fi xes, which were funded
by a 2016 Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA)
grant, originally included facade
resurfacing, roof and boiler
replacements, playground improvements,
the installation of
fl ood mitigation systems, and
the renovation of 38 ground fl oor
apartments destroyed by Sandy,
among other improvements.
Construction began in 2017,
and workers recently fi nished
the fi rst stage of the project,
which included roof replacement
at all 12 buildings, facade
work, and the installation of
underground utilities, said
NYCHA spokeswoman Rochel
Leah Goldblatt. Construction
for Sandy-related fi xes has cost
$38.9 million dollars so far at
O’Dwyer Gardens and $97.8 at
all three developments, Goldblatt
added, and is expected to
wrap up by the end of 2022.
But the repairs have already
gone over-budget, forcing
the Housing Authority
to eliminate elements of its
original plan — such as a
much-needed renovation of
O’Dwyer’s lobby, area Councilman
Mark Treyger said.
“Their excuse was that the
cost of construction, the cost
of doing work, and because of
the age of the buildings, the
lobby renovation would cost
more than they originally
thought,” said Treyger, who
recently attended a meeting
about the construction’s progress
with Tenant Association
President Sheila Smalls, Assemblywoman
Mathylde Frontus,
and a NYCHA rep.
Treyger said he asked
how much money the agency
needed to revamp the lobby,
so that he could apply for city
funds to close the gap, but as of
Dec. 4, he said he hasn’t heard
back from NYCHA.
“There really is an issue
here of management resources
and doing things in a timely
manner,” he said. “NYCHA
is an agency that no question
is in serious need for resources
… but here you have a situation
where you have a three billion
dollar grant from FEMA.”
Smalls, who leads O’Dwyer’s
tenant association, says that
many of the repairs are too little,
too late. Over the last several
weeks, Smalls has posted fl yers
across O’Dwyer’s six buildings,
urging residents to speak out
about the complex’s conditions,
residents told Brooklyn Paper.
“How long do our children
have to wait for playgrounds
that have not been updated
for two decades?” the fl yer
reads. “Why do we have to enter
buildings that lack proper
lighting and utilize mailboxes
that are broken and wet?”
Several of the ground
fl oor apartments that NYCHA
promised to repair with
the FEMA funds have not yet
been renovated, Smalls said in
the petition.
Goldblatt said that the
agency is working “as quickly
as possible.”
“The construction is underway
and the contractors are
working as quickly as possible,
taking into account that the
buildings are fully occupied, so
work must be phased to ensure
interruptions to services are
limited and that the construction
is performed in a safe and
thoughtful way,” she said.
Residents of O’Dwyer Gardens (left) are demanding that NYCHA fi nish its
long-delayed Sandy repairs. Photo by Derrick Watterson
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