Post: #1

So Sandy is over and done with, the news is dissipating and life goes on. Life will certainly go on, no doubt, but I want to provide many of you with a first hand account of what I've seen, and heard about that might not be shown via mainstream media.

Over the past ten days, I've volunteered out in the Rockaways, the barrier islands of NYC located in southern Queens, and lived for a few days in lower Manhattan. To a casual eye passing through the city for a few days, things seem back to normal. Subways are running, people are bustling about, and gas can be found. However, you peel back the onion with a trained eye, and you'll notice that this city is in disarray.

To start, lower Manhattan is still very much a disaster. Walking around, it seemed there was almost an invisible line between places that were open for business, and places that were flooded out and shuttered. Down here, MANY places have no hot water, no working elevators, or no heat. While it's convenient for the power company to say that electricity has been restored, the reality is, is that many businesses and residents are going to be displaced for weeks and months. Down at some Financial District bars, employees were facing the reality of losing their jobs because of the reality that thousands of people who would normally frequent those bars, would not be coming in for a drink anytime soon.

An even more stark, and in your face reality of the storm's destruction comes when you enter outer boroughs. Additionally, I'm sure much of what I'll say can be applicable to Long Island, as well as the Jersey Shore. The southern coast of Brooklyn, Queens and much of Staten Island consists of low lying land that faces directly out into the Atlantic Ocean. From what I saw volunteering last week out on The Rockaways the devastation was far beyond anything I could ever imagine. Entire neighborhoods no longer exist. There is a beach in the middle of the road blocks from where the beach once existed. Houses, blocks, communities are gone. Nothing is open. Access to these locations is limited at best. Heat is off. Power is off, or spotty at best. Access to basic prescription drugs is limited. FEMA, power companies, volunteers are working hard, but...

This post is becoming a bit of stream of conscious, but when you see people crying, wondering what to do with their lives, people from the city you were born and raised in, it eats you up inside. It makes the $25k in damage suffered to my property almost comical. What worries me is the untold deaths that won't be accounted to because of the storm, but from a lack of basic medical care, a lack of life preserving prescriptions, from a lack of power to run home medical equipment.

Equally as worrying, though in hindsight necessary, is a fundamental rethink of the viability of building a first world infrastructure in an area so vulnerable to disaster. It's unsustainable to rebuild an entire neighborhood in an area that was in many ways wiped off the map. Having been to post Katrina NOLA, leaving Burbon St. and having seen the way neighborhoods were destroyed and never rebuilt, I worry the same will happen to many of these destroyed neighborhoods.

What I've said is without a political agenda, a racial agenda, a class agenda, but it's something that deeply disturbed me, and humbled my brazen NYCish personality. I am not here to quibble about how I should get used to this, how this happens elsewhere, how well government organizations did or did not respond. I am in no mood to hear your backhanded political agenda in your response to this thread either.

I simply want you to be aware of what I've seen and what I feel is going on here. I don't want you to like this post. I don't want rep points. I want you go get your fucking ass in this city, spend some money, bang some girls, volunteer if you have some free time and remind yourself why this is such an awesome city. NYC always gets lots of love from the forum. It's your turn to get here and love it back for a day, a week, a month, a year, a lifetime.

Post: #2

I'm due for a trip to NYC. I'll make sure to blow a couple hundred

Post: #3

How significantly has it affected areas a little north of FiDi, like the Village? Also, post some pics if you can.

Post: #4

How has this effected women? Are they more down to earth? Do they want more beta guys in a time of disaster?

Is life slower paced as they rebuild?

I will have to visit, haven't been there for a long time now.

Post: #5

(11-13-2012 11:04 PM)RandalGraves Wrote:  How significantly has it affected areas a little north of FiDi, like the Village? Also, post some pics if you can.

I did not take pictures. I simply didn't feel comfortable taking pictures of another person's despair. It just didn't feel 'right' for me to be documenting what I saw.

I was over in Alphabet City and got as far as avenue B. I heard Avenue C and D were in far worse shape however. The village is up and running close to normal.

Post: #6

(11-13-2012 11:11 PM)kbell Wrote:  How has this effected women? Are they more down to earth? Do they want more beta guys in a time of disaster?

Is life slower paced as they rebuild?

I will have to visit, haven't been there for a long time now.

I mean the thing is, is that you're dealing with multiple realities here. You've got girls new to the City who I'm sure were unhappy about not having power for a few days. Like I said, it's very location dependent and takes a bit of a local's knowledge and eye, especially in Manhattan to understand the potential long lasting affects.

I'd say the outer boroughs and native residents are more likely to be humbled by this whole experience.

Post: #7

Depending on my friends work schedule, I may be heading down to Union Beach, NJ on Thursday. Living in Miami, all of the hurricane veterans said that it's not so much the storm that is difficult, but the aftermath. I know that I dodged a bullet with this storm because my area didn't get that much rain. It breaks my heart to see what happened to Seaside Heights. I have so many memories there going all the way back to kindergarten. That place, and many areas will never be the same.

Post: #8

Bay ridge, Brooklyn here.....We didn't get hit that bad, I was actually out at a bar during the storm. But that next day I drove down to Coney Island and they got rocked.

My work building in the financial district is out of commission until early 2013! Been working in a conference room near times square...

We need a NYC meet up soon....

Captain Power...

Post: #9

(11-13-2012 11:26 PM)TheCaptainPower Wrote:  We need a NYC meet up soon....

Yes, let's make it happen

Post: #10

Quote:Equally as worrying, though in hindsight necessary, is a fundamental rethink of the viability of building a first world infrastructure in an area so vulnerable to disaster.

While I agree, I think a better idea would be to make sure to plan for the worst possible scenario you think you can afford. Because really, how many habitable places in the world aren't vulnerable to a natural disaster? The only places that come to mind have some serious drawbacks (floods or drought in Africa, extreme cold in Canada and Siberia)

Post: #11

(11-14-2012 12:58 AM)ronsaur Wrote:  

(11-13-2012 11:26 PM)TheCaptainPower Wrote:  We need a NYC meet up soon....

Yes, let's make it happen

Im down for that.

Post: #12

Due to recent weather patterns and the earth shifting New York is basically going to become the new Florida as far as hurricanes go.

I'm forecasting a couple tropical snow hurricanes this winter for the tri state area