<p>Dont have TV tonight to listen to Bruce. Hope it’s spectacular!</p>
<p>Who said the whole tri-state area is a war zone?
Some people are getting back to normal. Millions are not yet. Some never will.
As I said, I’m glad you and yours haven’t had to deal with the worst. That is a great blessing. I am also blessed to still have my family and my home. Thankfully, the damage to or house is fixable.</p>
<p>Most people are getting back to norm but there are still big issues everywhere and things are still a mess at places. We didn’t have too much damage here compared to everywhere else but much of my town still has no power and there are still trees down on lines everywhere you turn. Several of my co-workers have lost their homes due to this storm. I’ve seen houses and other buildings missing roofs. I was going out to find food on wednesday night here - one mcdonalds had a line wrapped around the whole building and the only food they had left was chicken nuggets. I wound up waiting 45 minutes to get a sub at Subway. Things are much better now that more places have power on again. I can only imagine how bad it is at the places closer to the coast or on an island like SI.</p>
<p>OHMom, </p>
<p>Most people in NYC were back to work by Wednesday. </p>
<p>All NYC schools children are going back on Monday. Kids in schools damaged by Sandy are going to be bussed to other schools. The teachers all went back today. What Nassau County is going to do I’ve no idea. </p>
<p>The rules for driving with 3 people in a car into Manhattan has been cancelled as of 5 om this evening. </p>
<p>What has happened is that it became a PR problem for the Mayor. Nothing more, nothing less. </p>
<p>I’ve heard no outcry about the Giants game not being cancelled on Sunday.No outcry of the gas the thousands and thousands of fans will use driving to the game. </p>
<p>And I am not, in any way, trying to diminish the suffering of any one affected by Sandy, but the decision to cancel now has nothing to do with the city not being able to handle both that and the disaster. This story has just become an emotional thing (understandably) and a PR disaster for the Mayor. </p>
<p>As for the coverage, of course the national media is going to cover disaster areas. But I’ve been watching NY1 - the all NYC news station and the conditions in the city have improved a thousand fold since Tuesday. </p>
<p>I also have family in NYC, LI, Westchester and CT. Only two of them have power, one getting it only today and the other - in Brooklyn, just outside an evacuation zone, never lost power. Are the ones without power all cold. Yes. My sister, DH &her dog will be coming here on Tuesday, after they vote because it’s so miserable. </p>
<p>But the idea that the city is in chaos is simply not true. In fact, incredibly, for a city/metro area of it’s size it’s really amazing how quickly things have been improving. In fact, I doubt there is any other city anywhere in the world which could have managed to do what NYC has accomplished doing in 4 day.</p>
<p>oldfort, It is great you have done so well on the Upper East Side. There is still major devastation out there elsewhere.
emilybee, This is not just about NYC. NJ is in bad shape in many places.</p>
<p>
Yes. It is true. You are simply incorrect. Is the entire city in chaos? No. But significant chunks of four boroughs absolutely are. And if the gas situation isn’t resolved before it impacts cabs on Monday or Tuesday it will be even worse.</p>
<p>Well I finally broke down and cried. The Sandy benefit, tired on Friday and a few glasses of wine…</p>
<p>Raised on SI. It’s devastated. NJ shore, devastated. (SI’ers alway go (went) to the Jersey Shore. It is so much closer than Jones Beach, etc.). Downtown Manhatten, South Ferry and the Battery Tunnel under water? </p>
<p>This is my youth, my home and my heart. I lived on SI but worked in Manhatten as did my parents all of their lives . Now, D1 lives in Manhatten. </p>
<p>I cannot believe the devastation. Please give if you can.</p>
<p>We’ve got family staying with us now, from Monmouth County. Not from an evac area. They are shellshocked. My SiL kept saying–mygod, you have warmth, lights, I can buy gas and ice. She hadn’t known Obama had come toNJ. She said she’d listen to her battery powered radio and they’dsay “visit our website tofind out where to get ice, charge phones, do laundry etc” and she’d want to scream because she couldn’t because she had no electricity.</p>
<p>Driving to so Jersey, we saw miles of gas lines. Disputes are breaking out all over. People I know all over the state are, in the vernacular “on their last nerve.” i’ve now driven from one end to the other, and i know people in virtually every county.</p>
<p>It is not even close to normal.</p>
<p>I was quoting from another thread.</p>
<p>I think if people are truly concerned there are ways to help out - give money. I am encouraging my friends and family to give to Red Cross.</p>
<p>Maybe the marathon wasn’t the right event to have at this time, but I don’t want people to stay away from NYC because of Sandy. A lot of those small business do depend on the tourists, a week without revenue is a huge impact. We will be eating out and doing some shopping around town this weekend. It is not being insensitive or not caring to our neighbors, but life needs to go on.</p>
<p>Listening to “Under the Boardwalk” in the concert did it for me-- I sang along loudly, through my tears, then made a substantial donation to the Red Cross.</p>
<p>Jersey girl here. I used to go down the shore every summer, when I was a kid.</p>
<p>My niece in lower Manhattan just said wistfully on her Facebook, “Fingers crossed for power tomorrow, a heated apartment would be really great right now.”</p>
<p>Things are nowhere near normal.</p>
<p>
I took your advice and filled up the gas tank today before the alternate day restrictions in NJ were insituted. Most grateful!</p>
<p>I’ve been in three boroughs and south and central New Jersey in the last two days. Manattan is improving rapidlyand most power is supposed to be restored by tomorrow, which is another huge leap in the right direction. There is still significant difficulty in getting gas, though, but when power comes back in NJ it can be transported in. In SI and Brooklyn, there is gas, but no power to pump it, so that will improve as power comes back to the gas stations. </p>
<p>I on Tuesday that I didn’t think tourists should have come to NYC this week, particularly without being prepared, and I stand by that. Certain parts of Manhattan were always fine, but certainly not all of Manhattan and not much of the other boroughs. Heck, when all the subways were down and most of the bridges/tunnels, I don’t know how anyone could say it was no big deal.</p>
<p>Oldfort,you’re completely right that people should donate if they want to do something, but blood is valuable, too. I totally applaud your position that life should go on and completely appreciate your supporting businesses because jobs are crucial</p>
<p>emily no argument that things are improving. But not all areas are as together as others. If the marathon could loop Central park that would be one thing. But shutting down bridges…starting in SI…that’s not just bad PR, it’s bad, period.</p>
<p>Long Beach “hopes to open schools on a limited basis midweek next week” according to their web site. Don’t know where the kids will live while they go since all the houses are uninhabitable due to no sewer/water and the national guard still enforces a night curfew and few stores are open but…</p>
<p>Things are nowhere near normal here, in an area of Westchester County that was damaged but not devastated. In our small village, 200-300 trees went down. There are many roads still closed. I see progress here, trees gradually being cleared away and roads gradually being opened. But most people I know here and in CT are still without power, and some have been told that they won’t have it until next week. Most of the traffic lights around here are still out. Temporary stop signs have been put up, and these intersections are now 4-way stops. There are very long gas lines at the few stations that are open. Schools have been closed all week, and we’ve been told that they may open on Monday if power is restored by then.</p>
<p>So we’re not lower Manhattan, or Staten Island, or NJ, or Breezy Point, or any of the areas that have been devastated. But things are far from normal even here. I think it’s going to be a long time before the region is back to normal.</p>
<p>As someone far from this storm’s impact, I would like to thank all the local posters here who have given a real picture of what’s going on in the storm-affected areas. I feel like I get a better picture here than from national news.
Our hearts and best wishes to all in the area.</p>
<p>
It’s like that here, too. I am the worst driver in the entire history of the world and this is a major challenge for me. YOu should all be glad you aren’t on the road with me. </p>
<p>But maneuvering around no traffic lights alongside hostile gas lines actually is chaotic. There are even hours’ long gas lines in Manhattan.</p>
<p>Here is more chaos
[Queens</a> residents arm themselves in the post-storm blackout from looters - NY Daily News](<a href=“Queens News - New York Daily News”>Queens residents arm themselves in the post-storm blackout from looters)</p>
<p>"So we’re not lower Manhattan, or Staten Island, or NJ, or Breezy Point, or any of the areas that have been devastated. But things are far from normal even here. I think it’s going to be a long time before the region is back to normal.’</p>
<p>I have to disagree. When the power is restored most everyone, except those in the devastated areas, will indeed be back to normal and feeling that way, too. It’s very disorienting when you don’t have power, every one is tired from the struggle of having to deal with the myriad inconveniences - which for most this is what has been. A major inconvenience for sure, but once the power is back on all this pass and pretty quickly too.</p>
<p>emilybee,It’s been more than an " inconvenience" for many,many people. I’m baffled at your continued insistence on minimizing this.</p>
<p>Better we think it’s a war zone. As soon as people believe the situation is OK, it will lose their attention, and then it will be even harder to take any action to improve things for the people who are affected.</p>