4 The Courier sun • july 11, 2013 for breaking news visit www.couriersun.com BREEZY BURNED PHOTO COURTESY OF SULLIVAN & GALLESHAW, LLP Breezy Point residents who lost homes and businesses during the Sandy fire are suing LIPA and National Grid for negligence. Lawsuit alleges negligence by power companies during Sandy BY MAGIE HAYES mhayes@queenscourier.com The Breezy Point blaze during Sandy was “so massive, in order to prevent incidents such as electrical fires. The claim states that prior to Sandy, both LIPA and National Grid were aware of the necessity to do so. Law firms Sullivan and Galleshaw, LLP and Godosky and Gentile, P.C. are representing 120 people seeking different amounts of compensation based on damages. “It’s a tremendous burden on these folks,” said attorney Keith Sullivan, who was born and raised in the Rockaways. “They don’t have the money to rebuild.” He added that the fire victims will have to rebuild according to new building codes and FEMA requirements. LIPA issued a statement in response to the lawsuit saying the “effort to place fault for this tragedy with the utility is misplaced,” but the company is “sensitive to those families who suffered tragic losses from Sandy.” Sullivan countered the statement, saying it is “completely “That implies these people are making this up,” he said. “There’s nothing faint about their losses.” A National Grid spokesperson said the group has not yet received the lawsuit, but “National Grid’s actions during Sandy were reasonable and appropriate” and they “don’t believe that these claims have merit.” Heeran, who is also a local firefighter, said once he received the fire marshal’s report, he thought, “There’s negligence here.” “If the power was shut down, the fire would have never happened,” he said. “We would have been flooded, but would have been back up in business within 10 days.” SECOND ACT EIGHT MONTHS POST SANDY, ROCKAWAY THEATRE SET TO RELAUNCH BY MAGIE HAYES mhayes@queenscourier.com It is curtains up once more at the Rockaway Theatre. The community theater, located in Breezy Point’s Fort Tilden, was completely destroyed during Sandy. But the show must go on, and the Rockaway group is officially ready to reopen its doors. A production of “The Rockaway Café” will open on Friday, July 19 and run through early August. The cast has been rehearsing its comeback on a newly built, post-Sandy stage. “We’re ready to reintroduce the whole theater to the community,” said Stephen Ryan, an actor in various theater productions. Ryan was cast in the play “Brighton Beach Memoirs” that showed on Sunday, October 28, just one day before Sandy. “We knew the storm was coming. I didn’t think it was going to be as bad as they were saying,” he said. “The show went on, but we just made a quick exit.” “I assumed this place floated away,” he added. Susan Jasper, the theater’s production manager, said she returned to the site after the storm to find water had come down through the audience’s section, washed over the stage and rushed back into the dressing room. “This was a disaster in many ways,” Jasper said. Floors and walls were replaced; the stage, built in 1942, was rebuilt; the dressing room was redone, props and sets were replaced and repairs are far from over. The building needed mold remediation as well. Jasper estimates all of the damages amount to roughly $200,000. They have not received any help from FEMA or the Red Cross and are “back to square one” — not for the first time. The facility was completely rehabilitated when Jasper took over in 1997. The theater’s children’s program typically runs every September through March. After the storm hit, Jasper had to cancel the program and refund parents. Additionally, the group had to postpone the production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” from November to March. The show was instead shown at Our Lady of Grace in Howard Beach. “The way I originally envisioned the production had to be drastically changed,” said Chaz Peacock, the show’s director. Locals had to pull out due to their own homes’ damages, causing half of the production to be recast and the actors performed on a much smaller stage. Now, ready to reopen, “The Rockaway Café” is set as the theater’s annual variety show. Each year, the show has a specific genre of music. This year, the theater is “saluting the storm” with songs like “I Made it Through the Rain.” “Act one is devastation, act two is uplifting,” Jasper said. There will also be raffles at all matinee performances. Local merchants have donated gifts and gift certificates and the theater group is still accepting donations of any kind. “The loyalty of people involved helped us get back,” Peacock said. Admission to “The Rockaway Café” will be $20 for adults and $15 for seniors and children. All proceeds will help defray the costs of rebuilding. For information on how to help or showtimes, call 718-374-6400. Garden Center • Seasonal Decor Landscaping • Irrigation 125 Crossbay Blvd. • Broad Channel it looked like a forest fire,” said Billy Heeran, a Rockaway resident. Heeran owned what has been called an “iconic restaurant” in the neighborhood, the Harbor Light Pub. The family business had stayed afloat for over 30 years, but it was reduced to ashes the night of the storm. Dylan Smith, who died while surfing less than two months after rescuing people during Sandy, worked for Heeran for 10 years. Smith called Heeran that night to tell him the pub was on fire. “He said, ‘Billy, there’s fire blowing out of the windows,’” Heeran said. “I knew it was bad. There was no fire department getting in there.” Following the FDNY’s confirmation that the fire was electrical, people who lost homes and businesses decided to fight back. As previously reported by The Courier, a notice of claim was filed in January saying that residents were seeking damage compensation from power companies LIPA and National Grid. The negligence claim against the power companies was officially filed on Tuesday, July 3. It alleges that the two had a duty to provide for and ensure the safety of the property of those it supplies with electricity, such as Breezy Point, and was negligent in failing to de-energize the area prior to the storm. In the event of extreme flooding, power companies are advised to shut off electricity in vulnerable areas ridiculous.” at the root of all your garden needs. 718.855.543.NURSERY (6877)
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