for breaking news visit www.couriersun.com april 25, 2013 • The CourieR SUN 3 Photo courtesy Alice Ward-Miller HOME Rose Miller, 86, has been using money from her savings AGAIN to pay the thousands of dollars in repairs after Sandy. Homeowners may be reimbursed for out-of-pocket Sandy costs BY MAGGIE HAYES AND TERENCE M. CULLEN [email protected] Since Sandy ravaged the tristate area, homeowners battling with insurance companies have resorted to paying for damages out of their own pockets. “Right now, we’re using our savings,” said Rose Miller, 86, of Belle Harbor. “I keep my fingers crossed every time I take money out. We’re holding our breath with each payment.” Initially, residents like Miller were on their own without reimbursement, and local leaders stepped in to call on the city to extend a hand. According to published reports, city officials responded Tuesday night, April 23 by announcing “qualified homeowners,” those who paid with their own money, or without a FEMA loan, would be reimbursed. However, the city must still submit a plan to the federal government. Councilmember Donovan Richards hosted a press conference days earlier with Assemblymember Phillip Goldfeder and State Senator James Sanders. They called on the city to reimburse people like Miller who are scrounging their savings to rebuild. Miller and her husband have lived in their Rockaway home for over 50 years. After Sandy, the couple had to completely gut their basement, redo floors, purchase new appliances, clear wreckage outside, empty sand that had washed inside and more. Miller estimates her repairs totaled around $48,000. “We’re not going fancy,” Miller said. “We’re just getting our lives back in order.” A 10-foot plank from the boardwalk washed up to their front stoop, which was broken in pieces. Three family cars were also completely ruined. “We’re still suffering,” Miller said. “People don’t realize how deeply the neighborhood is affected. All of the reactions have died down.” The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is set to pay out the first $1.7 billion in Sandy aid to New York State later this month. The trio of politicians all said they had written to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, asking him to guarantee federal relief money go toward reimbursing homeowners. They added that most of the city’s Sandy aid will go to infrastructure rebuilding and growth and called on Mayor Michael Bloomberg to put homeowners first. “We shouldn’t minimize any family,” Goldfeder said. “If you need the services, if you need the help, you need the city to step up and be there for you.” The officials said the city is worried about people trying to inflate the cost of damages they suffered. But Sanders noted that if a FEMA inspector visited a damaged home, the owner would have an actual appraisal to give back to the city. Richards estimated that homeowners suffered an average of at least $50,000 in damage to their homes. Goldfeder said he sustained upwards of $60,000 to his Far Rockaway home, while Sanders cited around $30,000 in costs himself. The typical FEMA grant is about $30,000. Miller received $14,000 from FEMA. POLS: Don’t cut shuttles to Sandy-ravaged Rockaway BY TERE NCE M. CULLEN [email protected] Local and citywide leaders say the MTA is throwing Rockaway under the bus. Public Advocate Bill de Blasio joined with Assemblymember Phillip Goldfeder and Councilmember Donovan Richards in Far Rockaway on Friday, April 19 to decry the decreased shuttle bus service to the Sandy-affected peninsula. A train service to the Rockaways last ran on Sunday, October 28 as the city buckled down for the storm, which left rails across Jamaica Bay severely damaged. Since then, buses have run from the Howard Beach-JFK Station to the peninsula. But on Monday, April 22, the MTA cut bus service from 94 to 75 runs per weekday. De Blasio contrasted the cuts with the transit authority’s new Cannonball train, a streamlined shuttle to the Hamptons. He said people with high incomes would benefit from the new train while low- to middle-income Rockaway residents would suffer from the cost-saving measure. “The MTA can’t throw the Rockaways under the bus,” he said. “If it can expand service for Manhattanites weekending in the Hamptons, then it can afford to do right by hard-hit families in the Rockaways.” Train service within Rockaway returned in December with the restored H train. It runs from the Far Rockaway-Mott Avenue station to Beach 90-Holland. “This shuttle service provides an essential lifeline with the rest of New York City for our residents in one of the areas hit hardest by Sandy,” Richards said. “If anything, what we really need is more buses during peak morning and evening hours.” Goldfeder, who has advocated for faster train service to the peninsula, noted that south Queens residents already have one of the city’s longest commutes to midtown. With families still reeling six months after the storm, the service cuts would be another blow, he said. “Our communities are still struggling to rebuild from the damage caused by Sandy,” Goldfeder said. “And the last thing they need is to be nickeled-anddimed for service that is crucial to helping them recover.” The MTA, however, said the service, while decreasing, is shifting to streamline travel in and out of Rockaway. “We’re actually improving service for the vast majority of customers who use the shuttle,” said MTA spokesperson Kevin Ortiz. There will be more shuttle buses running during rush hours, and decreased service during slower hours, he said. Oritz said the Cannonball train follows a route that has been in operation for the past century. He added that the only recent change was making the train leave from Penn Station instead of Hunters Point.
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