<p>“Yes it would. But I understand why you think you know what you are talking about.”</p>
<p>Like I said, if people knew what was really going on behind the scenes one of the last things people would be in an uproar about is the running of the marathon.</p>
<p>From my point of view, the perception is important, but secondary. As Emily pointed out earlier, some Staten Islanders can get food and fuel by either taking the ferry or driving across the bridge to obtain those supplies. Had the marathon taken place, the bridge would have been closed for hours, causing traffic to be brought to a standstill for hours AS HAPPENS EVERY YEAR, and the runners would have been transported by ferry, taking that mode of transportation of service for hours AS HAPPENS EVERY YEAR. The difference being that people here would need more access, not less, to try to get ready for back to school and work on Monday.</p>
<p>
And like I said, you don’t know what or who I know or what my expertise is. Mine Not my husband’s.</p>
<p>One last thing - the “fact” that the marathon was only a tiny little piece of the entire unrelenting pressure that the metro NY administration and elected officials are feeling makes it even more surprising that they would have made this decision. It’s the small issues that can grow to big problems which become distractions to those very people who have REAL problems to deal with. This is also something that escapes from the minds of “important people” and little people like me get paid to pound into their heads.</p>
<p>" The lack of empathy displayed by a small handful of people here is remarkable. "</p>
<p>I have to agree…I am not sure why some people don’t seem to see the impact this storm has had on so many.
The notion that people were given time to " prepare " and that should suffice is stunning to me. Evacuation and packing three days of food , water and clothing is hardly enough when in comes to losing everything you have.</p>
<p>Most of us in the area that Sandy passed directly over are very, very thankful that we were not to the north of the most severe destruction</p>
<p>We have friends who live in and have businesses in LBI. They have no idea when they can get back in and the longer they have to wait, the more damage will occur inside their building. Also , so many people who rent their homes and businesses do NOT have flood insurance and will suffer tremendous loss…our friends fit this description
Ironically, we have flood insurance in one of our stores , yet it was built in the last five yrs so the water went in and out…nothing a mop and some bleach didn’t fix up…the other one we were not covered for since we rent. I am thinking that a lot of people who rent their now destroyed homes will be at the mercy of FEMA to get back some order and semblance
Please lets not say that it’t their own fault …just please.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Wow. Although I no longer live there, I grew up in NYC and have been following what’s going on there more closely than my local news (our immediate area’s damage was as nothing compared to what others are going through). My heart goes out to you and everyone there. And I hope your trip back to UD is an easy one!</p>
<p>Cartera45- re: post 879- no I don’t feel “forunate” (lucky) to have what we have. We made choices and sacrifices to get here.</p>
<p>I do feel forunate that this storm did not come ashore in my area. Our area was battered by Sandy for 2 days and we had flooding in parts of the city. I do have sympathy for people who lost their homes to the storm surge. We have been through several hurricanes and many more Nor’easters over the years. </p>
<p>Sevmom- you can get a small generator for $150 on amazon. Less expensive then a fancy new iPad or even a smart phone in some cases. </p>
<p>DonnaL- not everyone affected by this storm lives in an apartment in NYC.</p>
<p>
Exactly. If you haven’t had power, heat and real food for a week, and have waited for hours on a gas line, you shouldn’t also have to sit in bumper to bumper traffic because the bridge is closed and traffic isn’t moving. Wasting the gas you just got.</p>
<p>For those who don’t now, the main artery on SI sretches between the Goethals Bridge to NJ and the Verrzano Bridge in Brooklyn. The expressway leads to the Verrazano Bridge, which would be closed for the Marathon, spilling traffic onto local streets which are already overwhelmed by storm damage. Not a big deal on a regular year, but an unnecessary imposition on burdened people this year.</p>
<p>Ignorant question: Don’t generators use gas? We aren’t able to get gas right now.</p>
<p>Different models of generators are designed to run on different fuels (diesel, gasoline, propane, etc.). So yes when you can’t get the specific fuel you need, your generator won’t work.</p>
<p>Zoosermom- most generator use gas but many can be converted to use propane. There are also some low watt hand crank models.</p>
<p>Really? I didn’t know that. I guess I need to learn.</p>
<p>Just for the sake of completeness, some generators run on natural gas. But they are quite expensive and must be installed by an electrician and hooked up to the gas line. And they are permanent, required a small structure to be built around them. I know people who have this. It is probably also possible to install them inside with venting. This is probably what hospitals and other large institutions have.</p>
<p>“It’s the small issues that can grow to big problems which become distractions to those very people who have REAL problems to deal with. This is also something that escapes from the minds of “important people” and little people like me get paid to pound into their heads.”</p>
<p>And I would suggest that turning this small issue into a cause celebre, which has been fueled but the media, is obscuring things that are going on which are vastly more critical to those who have real problems to deal with. But the people got their “victory” so. </p>
<p>The real PR machines are in full flight and not in a good way.</p>
<p>^^ sounds like you are beginning to understand what can happen 
my work is done for the day.</p>
<p>Funny, in a good way: What group has recent experience organizing people in lower Manhattan, in situations with not much power where a lot of people have to be fed and kept warm? Occupy. Now Occupy has set up a relief effort, Occupy Sandy. </p>
<p>[Occupy</a> Sandy Relief | InterOccupy Hub](<a href=“http://interoccupy.net/occupysandy/]Occupy”>http://interoccupy.net/occupysandy/)</p>
<p>Raising my hand to say that as healthy adults living in suburban CT, the loss of power, water, heat and even cell phone for some time was an inconvenience. We had plenty of room to store water, logs for a fireplace and a gas grill to cook once the rain and wind stopped. Could not drive out of the house due to downed power lines for several days, but we could get past that. Still no power and closed schools. However, with many friends in the tristate area, with a H who works in Manhattan, I am acutely aware that we are among the lucky ones. I cannot imagine being a city apt without elevator service, public transportation and that is not even the devastation in SI and other outer boroughs. We also have a house on Long Beach Island, NJ which has areas that are simply devastated. Friends have been accounted for, so again a relief. As another poster stated above, we cannot access the island by bridge or by boat to asses our damage. With apologies for length, here is a copy of post by the pastor of the Episcopal priest in Beach Haven, on Long Beach Island, who is ministering to the relief workers. This wonderful gentleman (not in his youth) has been hauling bay water to flush his toilet to stay and minister. If looking to donate to a specific church, his is Holy Innocents Episcopal Church, Beach Haven, NJ 08008
Here is his latest missive (he has been posting of FB if you wish to “friend” them):</p>
<p>Friday, 2 November 2012
All Souls</p>
<p>I cried a lot today. A part of that is, I am sure, being tired and having a narrowed emotional margin, and another part is joy at seeing pieces put in play at the beginning of the week finally fall into place…a day when several strands found their connections, and unmerited Grace of God emerged in an ancient familiar context- police work.</p>
<p>About 1030EDT, a young US Supreme Court officer and a medical student friend of his arrived to help unload 196 cases of water canned by Anheuser- Busch in their Cartersville, Georgia brewery…that’s 4704 cans neatly stacked in the kitchen. As we worked, we talked:</p>
<p>“I was on the job for awhile.”
“Yeah? Where?”
“Memphis. 1974-1879”
“W-h-o-a.”</p>
<p>The amazement clearly was not about cop-become-priest, but rather that there were police officers at all in the 1970s.</p>
<p>With increased deference toward the living fossil he had uncovered, he asked when we’d finished: “Can I get you anything before we go?” I said, “What are the odds that I can get 3 volt batteries for a Surefire two-cell?” He smiled and said “Pretty good,” and he withdrew his working light from his gun belt, unscrewed the butt of it and pitched the batteries I’d described to me. I said, “That’s your working light.” He smiled again and said, “You got the right light. Father, and I got more batteries.” This young man gifted me with respect I had no claim to, nor had I anticipated- a respect I’d shown to older cops when I was young…,and from a man unborn when I left police service.</p>
<p>A bit later a box truck with its own forklift arrived and set off three pallets 8 rows high of large cans of soup. A DC Transit officer picked up the can and tossed it to a Captain in the Saint Charles Parish, Louisiana Sheriff’s Office, who put it down on one end of a four-table long slide, where the hand of a US Air Force Special Investigator swept it hard down the table-ramp, guided as needed by the hands of two Beach Haven officers and a DC undercover officer toward a DC uniform Sergeant and a Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County, Tennessee detective, who tossed the cans to Beach Haven officers stacking them under a line of five tables in Martin Hall. This went on for over an hour as visiting members of the Fraternal Order of Police supported fellow members here in Beach Haven…a typical practice among law enforcement officers when one department could easily be overwhelmed by a natural disaster of the magnitude of Hurricane Sandy. </p>
<p>They finished and I thanked them and we said our good byes.</p>
<p>Ten minutes later the Saint Charles Parish deputy returned and said " I have something for you," and he handed me a gold pocket piece bearing an image of Saint Michael the Archangel, the patron of police officers, on one side, and a meteorologist’s hurricane symbol on the other bearing the legend “Hurricane Katrina Response Team” …a piece reserved for officers who served along the Gulf Coast during and after the Katrina disaster. I said, “I don’t deserve this- I wasn’t there, and I haven’t been sworn for a long time.” He looked at me and said “We both know you can leave the job but the job will never leave you. Cop-to-cop, hurricane-to-hurricane.” We embraced, he left, and I was a mess for quite some time, and I am again as I write this.</p>
<p>As the afternoon progressed, it finally started to feel that we really were open for business- the place where folks could come and rest, and hava cuppa, and pick up things they needed. We had a couple drop-ins, and I returned a call from the Rector of Saint Martin’s, Metairie, Louisiana- a fine guy with whom I’d shared the slate in an episcopal election several years ago. </p>
<p>He said he’d been thinking about me, and knew what I was facing, since he’d done ministry during and after Katrina. He is sending aid from his parish to Holy Innocents- to be used in meeting the suffering of storm victims…the Church crossing long distances to alleviate human misery. </p>
<p>It was a day staggering under the weight of Graceful blessings…a day of completion and a beginning. I am so grateful.</p>
<p>Love you. See you in Church.</p>
<p>^ sounds like you are beginning to understand what can happen my work is done for the day.</p>
<p>I don’t know what you are talking about, to be honest. I have said all along that the image of the marathon being run was bad. Unfortunately, what I’m taking about are images being created which are really diverting critical resources from those in need as we speak.</p>
<p>Trying to get gas on Staten Island: [A</a> Letter From the Gas Station Line](<a href=“The New York Times - Breaking News, US News, World News and Videos”>Hurricane Sandy: Covering the Storm - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com)</p>
<p>CF - Thank you for the Occupy link. They look very well organized in their effort. Excellent list of items most needed.</p>