Instead, he and his coworkers were stranded due to mass flooding from Hurricane Ida.

“Our job had no choice but to book a block of hotel rooms for all of us who got stuck because we had no way to get home,” Santiago said. “There were no taxis [or] Uber. Everything shut down.”

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is now enacting short and long-term plans to help keep the flooding to a minimum for New York residents, given the damage after Ida.

They pumped out 75 million gallons of water after Ida, said Acting Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the MTA Janno Lieber in a recent board meeting. Costs reported to the Federal Emergency Management Agency were estimated around $75-100 million, Lieber said. 

Nightmare at New York City subway! Passengers jumping through a gushing waterfall. Unbelievable! #Ida #Hurricane #NY #nycwx #NYC #flooding #nycsubway #Philadelphia #Nj #ViralVideo #climate #weather pic.twitter.com/G6ggHMIhsj

— pragiya (@ucatchpragiya) September 2, 2021

Like Santiago, Bushwick resident Alex Etling also struggled to get home during the flooding, although at first, he didn’t anticipate the severity of the damage.

“I was heading home on the L train, got off at the Jefferson stop, and heard the massive rush of water across the platform as soon as the doors opened,” Etling said. “I didn’t have a specific backup plan … The city so rarely shuts down the subway, I wasn’t expecting any major issues, though I likely should have given the severity of the storm.”

New pump trains, grouting, station ventilators, pump rooms and deep wells are some of the ways the MTA is working to reduce the flood damage, according to an MTA spokesperson. But New York residents aren’t confident anything will improve.

“I’ve told the MTA at least eight to 10 times about 36 Street’s ginormous leak like a waterfall, [and at] 86 Street, the flood waters [are] pushing the train to its side before entering the station,” Santiago said. “They never reply or just say ‘We’ll let station maintenance know’ and nothing changes.”

Over 20 subway lines were suspended due to the flood left in Ida’s wake. 

A torrent of water poured into a New York subway station Wednesday night as remnants of #HurricaneIda unleashed dangerous flash floods and tornadoes across the Northeast https://t.co/fYrX9zQKqi pic.twitter.com/ekke5dbANJ

— CNN (@CNN) September 2, 2021

“The subway system is not a submarine,” Lieber said. “It cannot be made impervious to water. We just need to limit how quickly it can get into the system and help the city to figure out how to do more drainage at the street level.”

As more rain fell, the city’s sewers could not contain the amount of water, and thus entered the subway system as a second sewage network, the MTA spokesperson said. 

“I love the subways but it’s really tough when it fails you and all they say is ‘Sorry’ and do it again,” Santiago said. “These issues are continuing to persist with no fix.” 

Before a flood or severe weather, the MTA prepares by placing pumps with portable generators and making sure ventilators are covered, according to the MTA. 

Additionally, the MTA has installed raised vent gratings and water flow moderators at 25 stations that have been hit consistently when storms happen. Vent cleaning has also been implemented in 40,000 locations as part of the MTA’s Subway Action Plan amounting to over $130 million. 

Santiago said the flooding has gotten worse, calling it a “toxic combination” of both climate change and wear and tear of the infrastructure.  

“There’s [electricity], there’s water, there’s rats, garbage,” he said. “This is dangerous … It’s beyond okay to just ignore the climate crisis and its effect on the MTA.”

Etling also blamed the floods’ severity on climate change. 

“The subway system in NYC is also very old, with many systems in disrepair and maintained with very old parts,” he said. “I think after [Hurricane] Sandy, flooding in the subway is taken more seriously, but overall, I don’t think New York City is adequately prepared for the effects of climate change.” 

The post MTA works on improvements after Hurricane Ida flooding appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

 The protest was peaceful, but about a hundred residents are fed up and ready to chain themselves to the trees to save the park.

“Next week, it’s gonna be disobedience,”  Eileen Myles, a poet, writer, and East River Park Action activist shouted into a megaphone. “We have to go to the next level. Media don’t pay any attention to us,” 

 The first of the 1,000 trees are scheduled to be cut down on Monday which will destroy the downtown sanctuary feeling of the park, protestors said. 

“When the trees we need are under attack, what do we do?”  Myles shouted, addressing the plan to cut down the trees. “Stand up, fight back!” 

Protestors responded by  shouting,“Bury the plan, not the park!” 

Eileen Myles, American poet, writer, art journalist and one of the leaders of the East River Park Action, at the park’s Amphitheather before the protest started. September 11, 2021. Photo by Nikol Mudrová

It wasn’t only shouting that could be heard in the  park  yesterday morning, participants also sang “These are the trees, we need to breathe” while sitting at the promenade along the river. 

Because of the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR) plan, the current park has to be practically destroyed and rebuilt all over again. Originally, the city wanted to put a flood protection between the main road and park while containing the park basically as it now, but the Committee on Environmental Protection and Committee on Parks & Recreation Oversight decided to drop that idea. 

On January 23, 2019, both committees changed the approach to ESCR’s plan which they believe would transform the East River Park “faster and smarter,” as Commissioner Mitchel J. Silver explained before the New York City Council. 

The plan would  build a 1.2 protection wall along the water and therefore elevate the whole park by eight feet of fill. According to the plan, newly planted trees would be different and more resistant species than the present ones.

NYC Council’s reasoning behind why they switched plans in 2019. Graphics taken from the January 23, 2019 NYC Council Hearing presentation. Provided by Megan Moriarty Press Officer, NYC Parks.

 He said that the plan should be finished before the end of 2023, a year faster than in the old plan.  But the protesters think  the rebuild will last longer.

“Those projects often delay anyway,” Daniel Efram, the activist running the NY Indisible initiative, who came to the protest.

The new plan promises better resiliency against flooding and around 2,000 new trees since many of the current ones show a decline in their health, Megan Moriarty, NYC Parks Press Officer said.  

 “The thing is, the park is resilient even on its own. Moriarty said, “It flooded, and then the water went back to the river. It’s like a sponge.” 

But Myles disagreed and claimed they still don’t understand why the city changed its policy. 

 The lack of transparency is, in fact, one of the main reasons people joined the protest. They understand that the solution for the flooding problem is needed, even more after the two recent hurricanes. 

 “When the city is hiding, lacks transparency, and does not involve community or even independent oversight, then it’s asking for a fight. So it got a fight,” Efram said.  

Moritarty from NYC Parks said that the department meets with the ESCR Community Advisory Group monthly. 

But Myles said  it isn’t enough.

“ (Mayor)De Blasio is not hearing, he is just repeating his own talk,” she said.

“Don’t tear it down, it’s the only park around.” Protesters shout while sitting on the ground of the East River Park promenade. September 11, 2021. Photo by Nikol Mudrová

 Despite the start of construction  Efram remains hopeful. He pointed out that now, people can really see the urgency considering they can’t run on the path anymore because of the construction. 

  Neighbor Paul Whity just realized he lost his park. He said  there won’t be any other place to go for a run, play tennis, football, or just spend time outside. 

“It is the only outdoor space we have, Tomkinson Square Park is always crowded,” he said. 

 The NYC Parks Dept. has offered up e local St. Vartan Park, Robert Moses Playground and St. Peter’s Field as replacements, but their smaller and farther away.

The post Activists vow to save East River Park appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

“We don’t need to be rescued; we don’t need to be saved. If you kill this park, you are killing us,” said the poet Eileen Myles, a resident of the Lower East Side of Manhattan since 1974 and a leading figure in East River Park Action, who are fighting the plan. “Why would you take green space away from this neighborhood? We need these trees. They protect us.”

The group hoped to draw a thousand people to represent the roughly one thousand trees that can be found in the 57.5 acre public park. And while those in attendance numbered closer to five or six hundred, it was the group’s largest demonstration to date. Many cherish the role the park has played in their lives over the past year and a half and are determined to keep it the way it is. 

“I came here every day during the pandemic,” said Allison Colby. “I love this park. What business does the city have tearing down a thousand trees?”

The $1.45 billion ESCR project set to begin construction in several weeks aims to fortify the park as a barrier for future storm surge and eventual sea level rise. East River Park Action’s efforts to lobby Mayor Bill de Blasio to consider a community plan they say will preserve the park’s integrity have been fruitless. The group has also unsuccessfully sought an oversight hearing from City Council Speaker Corey Johnson.

From the outside looking in, some may applaud the city for taking necessary steps to combat climate change. Yet in a community ‘full of environmentalists,’ Colby said, the park has proven its worth in the wake of Hurricane’s Henri and Ida. (link to the hurricanes. 

“The park is a natural deterrent for the weather, with the marshes and existing barriers, “ said Colby. “It’s doing its job as is. We do not want this park to be destroyed.” 

As the crowd swelled, volunteers in yellow work vests passed out one-pagers detailing the city’s plan. Parents pushed children in strollers or walked alongside them on bikes as drums, tambourines and call-and-response chanting filled the air. People mingled with the sort of familiarity forged over three years of building opposition. So good

Community artist and volunteer Clara Rodriguez-Torres shows up to East River Park on a weekly basis to protest and preserve it exactly how it is. Photo by Frank Festa

For some, like community artist and volunteer Clara Rodriguez-Torres, there’s a deep connection to the land. 

“When my grandpa came from the Dominican Republic in the 70s, he told me stories about watching fireworks over the East River. It felt like a special welcoming,” said Rodriguez-Torres. 

She visits the East Village apartment where she grew up with her grandparents to reminisce. The apartment once rented for $60 a month and now goes for over $4,000. The park represents a part of her childhood that’s still intact.  

“We’re not asking you to vote for anybody or buy anything,” she said. “We come out here every week just for this park because we love it so much.”

In what felt like a last ditch effort to rally support, speakers rotated turns with a megaphone before leading a march down the East River Promenade. Next weekend will feature one of the final public events at East River Park – a House music concert where the group hopes to recruit more believers in their cause. After that, construction will commence, and the beloved park will be forever changed. 

East River Park Action believes the time for peaceful protest has come to an end. 

“It’s going to be civil disobedience after this,” said Eileen Myles into the megaphone when it was her turn. 

Brimming with optimism, Myles urged onlookers to sign up for future direct action, which she says there will be plenty of. 

“We know some of you will be willing to chain yourselves to trees, to climb them, to camp overnight. And, to say fuck you, this is our park,” she said.

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Midland Beach resident Aiman Youssef, with a community member who is donating a set of doors to the Midland Avenue Neighborhood Relief Centre. Photo by Nidhi Prakash

In Midland Beach, Staten Island, voters trickled into Egbert Intermediate School this morning, a site that was partially under water 10 months ago in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

But just a few blocks down the road, Aiman Youssef, 43, sat in a tent on the site of his former home, like he does everyday. The tent has turned it into the Midland Avenue Neighborhood Relief Centre.

The primaries, in fact the mayoral election in general, is of no interest to him. He won’t be voting today.
“I don’t care who is the next mayor, I really don’t,” he said. “I care about who’s going to help who. The people are going to help each other. The politicians, they are going to get salaries and they’re going to move on.”

People come and go from the tent – a man arrived with two hefty doors to donate, A woman arrived looking for beds for her children. They’ve been sleeping on the floor for almost a year now, she said, and it’s becoming a real problem.

Another woman arrived searching for mousetraps – her home like many in the neighborhood has been battling mice since Sandy struck, a result of the flooding. Youssef provides what he can, stockpiled supplies from charitable organizations and community donations.

In the midst of all this, Youssef said the mayoral candidates have had little to do with the community.

“They didn’t approach us to help, so I don’t know if they’re going to help or not,” he said. “But personally speaking I will continue helping the people without asking the politicians.

Youssef and his 79-year-old mother are in a temporary hotel, and must find somewhere to stay when help from FEMA runs out this month. He said the community lost a lot of people, and many are struggling to come to terms with the trauma.

“Some people still start shaking when they see the water,” he said.

Back at the polling station, Diane Cruz, 34, was voting for Bill de Blasio in the hope of better childcare.
She is about to lose free after school care for her four children, and she’s not sure how her family will manage. They’re still in the middle of rebuilding their home and she’s about to lose her job.

“They [politicians] all say, and then none of them come through,” Cruz said. “Something’s got to give.”
When the storm hit last year, Cruz was trapped in a nearby store, unable to reach her children. She said a local man stole a boat and rescued them along with around 200 others.

She wiped tears away as she remembered the scene at the school last year.

“We drove past it with my son and he said, ‘Mommy look- they’re using my school as a morgue,’” she said.
There were body bags lined up outside the building. Eleven Midway Beach locals lost their lives in the storm.

Local resident Arlene Davey, 74, went out to vote in the primaries too. She’ll be supporting Christine Quinn, although she hasn’t been paying much attention to the contenders’ campaigns.

“I just have enough trying to get my home back together again,” she said.

The post NYC Primary: Staten Island voters still dealing with Sandy appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

HOBOKEN, N.J.–Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) commuters can finally return to a sense of normalcy three months after Hurricane Sandy made landfall.

PATH announced Jan. 30 that service from Hoboken and the World Trade Center would be restored for full weekday service. During the storm, over five feet of water burst through the elevator shaft and into the Hoboken PATH station, destroying underground electrical grids and left the vulnerable New Jersey commuter city flooded and in shambles.

Of Hoboken’s roughly 50,000 residents, over 56 percent  use public transportation, and suspended service left many people scrambling to find alternative ways to travel to midtown and lower Manhattan. What ensued were long lines and extensive commute times months after many other Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) stations, including tunnels under the East River that received extensive flooding, reopened.

Matt Critelli of Hoboken, N.J., echoed many frustrations of PATH commuters, not expecting service to be suspended months after Hurricane Sandy.

“I had no idea it would last as long as it did,” Critelli, 27, said as he exited the Hoboken PATH station. “I figured service would be down for two to three weeks. It seemed like they never had a timetable.”

Post-Sandy, Critelli had to take the ferry into Midtown, nearly tripling his commute time as well as emptying his wallet.

“It got pretty expensive,” he said. “It was mostly financially inconvenient.”

Joshua Josephson, also of Hoboken, N.J., works a block away from the World Trade Center, and relies heavily on the PATH to get to lower Manhattan daily. Like many other PATH riders, he did not understand why such a commuter-dependent community remained without its main transportation hub for so long.

“I don’t know what the procedures were (and) why Hoboken was the last to get full service,” Josephson, 27, said.

While weekday service has been fully restored, weekend riders still face closures. The PATH stations at Exchange Place and the World Trade Center remained closed on weekends as PATH crews continue repairs. According to the PATH website, the stations will not open for weekend service until next month.

And overnight service from Newark and World Trade Center is not expected to be open until March, the final piece that will restore PATH service to a pre-Sandy schedule.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie commended the work of PATH officials and the many riders who have endured the wait.

“PATH riders’ patience, understanding and flexibility under such difficult circumstances are great examples of how the people of this region respond in the face of tragedy, and today is another major step toward returning our daily lives and routines to normal,” he said in a Jan. 30 release.

If anything, many riders have gained a sense of appreciation for what was and essentially still remains a major transportation hub for commuters.

“I think a lot of us took the PATH for granted,” said Critelli. “After not having it for a while, we see how much we use it every single day and on the weekends.”

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