Roundtable Discussion Held by the New York State Senate Bipartisan Task Force for "Hurricane Sandy" Recovery

1 ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION HELD BY

THE NEW YORK STATE SENATE 2 BIPARTISAN TASK FORCE FOR "HURRICANE SANDY" RECOVERY 3 -------------------------------------------------- 4 Freeport Recreation Center

130 East Merrick Road 5 Freeport, New York 11520 6 January 3, 2013 7 8 PRESIDING: 9 Senator Malcolm A. Smith

Co-Chair 10

Senator Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr. 11 12 SENATE MEMBERS PRESENT: 13 Senator Philip M. Boyle 14 Senator David Carlucci 15 Senator Martin J. Golden 16 Senator Carl L. Marcellino 17 Senator Jack M. Martins 18 Senator Diane J. Savino 19 Senator Lee M. Zeldin 20

ALSO PRESENT:21

Mike Duval 22 Representing Senator James Sanders, Jr.

10th Senatorial District 23 24 25 1 ROUNDTABLE PARTICIPANTS: 2 Bill Biondi

Mayor 3 Village of Mastic Beach, New York 4 Peter Casserly

Deputy Mayor 5 Village of Amityville, New York 6 Randi Shubin Dresner

Executive Director 7 Island Harvest 8 Denise Ford

County Legislator 9 Nassau County, New York 10 Kevin Hannifan

Commissioner of Highway 11 Town of Oyster Bay, New York 12 Andrew Hardwick

Mayor 13 Incorporated village of Freeport, New York 14 Marc Herbst

Executive Director 15 Long Island Contractors Association 16 Kendall Lampkin

Executive Assistant to Supervisor Murray 17 Town of Hempstead, New York 18 Raymond Maguire

Executive Director, Freeport Fire Department 19 Freeport, New York 20 Hal Mayer

Representing Supervisor Venditto 21 Town of Oyster Bay, New York 22 23 24 25 1 ROUNDTABLE PARTICIPANTS: 2 Justin McCaffery

Commissioner of Public Safety 3 Town of Oyster Bay, New York 4 Thomas McDonough

Director of Emergency Management 5 Town of North Hempstead, New York 6 John Miller

CEO 7 American Red Cross, Greater Long Island Region 8 Ed Moltzen

Assistant to County Executive Bellone 9 Suffolk County, New York 10 Frank Nocerino

Commissioner of Parks 11 Town of Oyster Bay, New York 12 Paule Pachter

Executive Director 13 Long Island Cares 14 James Ruzicka

Mayor 15 Incorporated village of Island Park, New York 16 Jack Schnirman

City Manager 17 City of Long Beach, New York 18 Warren Tackenberg

Executive Director 19 Nassau County Village Officials Association 20 Robert Walker

Chief Deputy County Executive 21 Nassau County, New York 22 Michael Watt

Executive Director 23 Long Island Gas and Retailers Association 24 25 1 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: And welcome to the 2 village of Freeport. 3 Mayor Hardwick, thank you very much for 4 allowing us to host it here. 5 My name is Senator Chuck Fuschillo, and I 6 want to thank everybody who has attended today. 7 The members of the Task Force had gone on a 8 tour for about two hours. We visited Island Park, 9 Oceanside, and the village of Freeport, and saw the 10 destruction that "Sandy" has caused. 11 Before we start with the Task Force, I'm 12 going to ask everybody to introduce themselves. 13 To my left, is the co-chair of the 14 Task Force, Senator Malcolm Smith. 15 Malcolm, welcome. 16 SENATOR SMITH: Thank you. 17 Thank you very much, Senator Fuschillo. 18 Thank you for providing the members of the 19 Task Force with what I believe was extremely 20 educational information. 21 To Mayor Ruzicka, and to Mayor Hardwick, 22 thank you. We clearly got the message. 23 I can tell you that, Senator Fuschillo, along 24 with his other colleagues in Long Island, have been 25 extremely aggressive around the needs of the 1 response to "Sandy." 2 We are here; want to hear from you; want to 3 make sure that you understand that your interest is 4 our interest. 5 Obviously, what is occurring in Washington, 6 as far as we're concerned, has nothing to do with 7 regard to how we're going to perform in Albany, 8 New York. You can be assured, we are not going to 9 do that. We understand how important this is, and 10 that's why Leader Skelos and Leader Klein put this 11 task force together, so we can let you realize how 12 significant this is. 13 So, again, let me thank you for being here. 14 We're looking forward to hearing your comments. 15 Sorry that my colleague Senator Lanza came 16 down with the flu; he is not here. And two other of 17 my colleagues, Senator Addabbo was here, had to 18 leave, and Senator Sanders had a rep also. 19 With that, I turn it over to you. 20 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: If everybody can just go 21 around and introduce themselves. 22 Diane? 23 SENATOR SAVINO: Thank you, Senator Fuschillo 24 and Senator Smith. 25 I'm Senator Diane Savino. I represent the 1 north and east shores of Staten Island, as well as 2 the communities of south Brooklyn, hit by "Sandy," 3 Coney Island, Brighton Beach. 4 On behalf of Senator Lanza, my colleague from 5 Staten Island, as Senator Smith said, he is home 6 sick today, but many of you have seen the pictures 7 of Staten Island. You know what it looks like; you 8 know what the impact has been for us, as well as the 9 impact on Coney Island. And we had the added 10 tragedy of having twenty-four of our constituents 11 die that night, or shortly thereafter. 12 So this storm is going be. 13 With us for a very long time. 14 And we're seeing, through this tour process, 15 the opportunity to see how it's affected different 16 parts of the state, and we're all coming across the 17 same problems. 18 And, so, I think this Task Force is going to 19 help us develop solutions, that will not only help 20 people get back in their homes and get back on 21 with their lives, but also prevent some of this 22 kind of damage in the next storms. 23 So, thank you, Senator Fuschillo. 24 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you, Diane. 25 We have Senator Martins. 1 SENATOR MARTINS: Thank you. 2 Senator Martins, from northwest 3 Nassau County; from the water, down to Elmont, out 4 to Hicksville. 5 I'm looking forward to hearing from everyone. 6 A lot of familiar faces here around the room, 7 but a lot of prospectives here; a lot of lessons 8 to be learned from this storm, not only the impact 9 on our local governments, but how well our local 10 governments and first responders did respond to 11 this storm, and how quickly they did, and how 12 resilient we are as a county, and as a region. 13 We have a lot of work to do. A lot of 14 lessons learned, and a lot of coordination. 15 And, so, people around the room today are 16 going to be integral to allowing us to get on that 17 proper course, getting this region back, and putting 18 people's lives back together. 19 So, looking forward to hearing from you. 20 Thank you. 21 SENATOR GOLDEN: Senator Marty Golden, 22 Brooklyn, New York; southwest, southeast, parts of 23 Brooklyn, Garrison Beach, Sheepshead Bay, 24 Manhattan Beach, and other waterfront areas. 25 Same concerns as you have; we want to hear 1 how we can come together, coordinate those 2 efforts, and make it better for the people that 3 live around our city. 4 And this Task Force, I believe, will give us 5 some opportunities, going forward, that will help 6 the residents and the businesses here in your 7 community, as well as the communities across the 8 city. 9 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you, Marty. 10 SENATOR MARCELLINO: I'm State Senator 11 Carl Marcellino. I represent the Fifth Senate 12 District on Long Island, which is the north shore, 13 between the towns of Oyster Bay and Huntington, and 14 the small city of Glen Cove. 15 I also chair the Committee on Government 16 Operations and Investigations, and this 17 Committee will be holding, on January 17th, in the 18 Nassau County main building where the Legislature 19 holds its meetings, we're going to be holding a 20 hearing on what is in the future. What should we be 21 doing to prevent, to protect against the ravages 22 of a hurricane like this? 23 You're not going to stop the hurricanes, but, 24 what can with do to harden the sites? 25 What can we do with the utilities? 1 What can we do with the services and 2 placement of infrastructure? 3 How do we build? 4 What's the zoning? 5 Do we allow building in certain areas that 6 constantly flood? 7 Do we change the materials that we use to 8 construct homes in these areas? 9 Things like that. 10 We're going to be meeting with these -- with 11 the local communities and local expertise, to see 12 what can be done, moving forward. 13 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you, Senator. 14 And to my right is the Chief Deputy County 15 Executive Rob Walker. 16 To his right is Senator Zeldin, 17 Senator Carlucci, and Senator Boyle. 18 Thank you very much. 19 What we'd like to do now is -- 20 And, Ray, we'll start with you. 21 -- just introduce yourself, your affiliation, 22 and then we're going to go back and ask all of you 23 to just give us a -- just in the essence of time, a 24 two-to-five-minutes brief on what you're looking 25 for from the State of New York. 1 So, Ray, if you could introduce yourself, and 2 then we'll come back you to. 3 RAY MAGUIRE: Thank you, Senator. 4 I'm Ray Maguire. I'm the executive director 5 of the Freeport Fire Department. 6 I also serve on the board of directors of the 7 Vocational Education Extension Board, which is 8 responsible for the training of the firefighters in 9 Nassau County, both fire and EMS. 10 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you. 11 JOHN MILLER: Thank you, good morning. 12 John Miller, chief executive officer of the 13 American Red Cross on Long Island. 14 ED MOLTZEN: I'm Ed Moltzen. I'm here on 15 behalf of Suffolk County Executive Bellone, and 16 Commissioner Joe Williams who is heading up our 17 recovery effort. 18 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you. 19 PAULE PACHTER: I'm Paule Pachter. I'm the 20 executive director of Long Island Cares [inaudible]. 21 MAYOR JAMES RUZICKA: I'm Jim Ruzicka. I'm 22 the mayor of the village of Island Park. 23 DENISE FORD: I'm Denise Ford. I'm a 24 Nassau County legislator. I represent the 25 Fourth District, which is the Long Beach barrier 1 island, which was completely flooded, the whole -- 2 from west to east. 3 I also represent Island Park and Oceanside, 4 which was severely impacted by "Hurricane Sandy" as 5 well. 6 PETER CASSERLY: Peter Casserly, deputy mayor 7 of the village of Amityville. 8 KENDAL LAMPKIN: I'm Kendall Lamkin. I'm the 9 executive assistant to Supervisor Kate Murray in the 10 town of Hempstead, for intergovernmental affairs. 11 TOM MCDONOUGH: My name is Tom McDonough. 12 I'm director of emergency management for the town of 13 North Hempstead. 14 Supervisor Kaiman will also be here shortly. 15 FRANK NOCERINO: Frank Nocerino, deputy 16 commissioner of parks, town of Oyster Bay. 17 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Would you pass the mic 18 and speak into it. 19 KEVIN HANNIFAN: Kevin Hannifan, deputy 20 commissioner of the highway department, town of 21 Oyster Bay. 22 JUSTIN MCCAFFERY: Justin McCaffrey, 23 commissioner of public safety, town of Oyster Bay. 24 MICHAEL WATT: Michael Watt, on behalf of the 25 Long Island Gasoline Retailers Association. 1 MICHAEL DUVAL: Mike Duval, representing 2 Senator James Sanders, Jr., Tenth Senatorial 3 District, who was unable to be here today because of 4 the transition team. 5 Thanks. 6 HAL MAYER: Hal Mayer, representing 7 Supervisor Venditto from the town of Oyster Bay. 8 JACK SCHNIRMAN: Jack Schnirman. I'm the 9 city manager in Long Beach. 10 RANDI SHUBIN DRESNER: Hi, Randy Dresner, 11 president and CEO, Island Harvest. 12 WARREN TACKENBERG: Good morning, 13 Warren Tackenberg, former mayor of the village of 14 New Hyde Park, and currently the executive director 15 of the Nassau County Village Officials Association. 16 MAYOR BILL BIONDI: Mayor Bill Biondi; one of 17 the newest villages formed on Long Island. 18 MARC HERBST: Marc Herbst, executive director 19 of the Long Island Contractors Association. 20 MAYOR ANDREW HARDWICK: Andrew Hardwick, 21 mayor of the village of Freeport. 22 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Good, thank you. 23 We're going the start with you, 24 Mayor Hardwick. That mic does work. 25 We did have the pleasure of your company 1 today, and taking a tour of the village of Freeport, 2 where we saw the massive destruction, and visited a 3 homeowner that, like many homeowners, thousands in 4 the village of Freeport, are facing right now. 5 So, if you could give the panel and 6 Task Force a brief overview, we'd appreciate your 7 comments. 8 MAYOR ANDREW HARDWICK: Certainly. 9 I'd like to start off with welcoming everyone 10 to the village of Freeport. We are honored to have 11 you here; and, certainly, we want to thank you, 12 Senator, for choosing Freeport to host this meeting. 13 I said earlier today, during the tour, that 14 "Sandy" has not left. She's still here. 15 In essence, I feel like I'm the mayor of a 16 propaganda village, because you see something that 17 isn't really what it appears to be; and that is, 18 multiple homes that appear to be occupied, but yet 19 they're empty. 20 We have thousands of them. I can tell you 21 that we have more than 3,000 homes that are in need 22 of moderate to major rehab. 23 We have 4 1/2 co-ops that are completely 24 empty. We're talking about residents that are now 25 living all over the country, all over the 1 metropolitan area; some in basements, some in 2 attics, some in other's living rooms, are 3 sharing bedrooms with family or friends. 4 We're still in trouble. 5 We need Washington to do the right thing. 6 We need our insurance companies to be brought 7 to the table. They're still running our residents 8 around in circles. 9 We still need help. 10 And last night, standing on the streets of 11 Freeport in our southern tier, I felt like a 12 foreigner, I felt like I was in a different country, 13 because after watching, as so many of us have, the 14 acts of our Congress letting us down. 15 We have people that don't like our country 16 that get treated better than we have been. 17 And so, today, I'm sending out a loud cry to 18 Washington: You've got to do better by us. We're 19 yours. 20 And to my colleagues here today, our names 21 will be all over this. This is our history. 22 "What will we leave our children to work 23 with?" is my question that I leave with all of you 24 folks today. 25 We are in trouble, folks. Many people need 1 a sense of promise that we're going to do the right 2 thing by them. That we're going to do something 3 about elevation. 4 To just simply put it back the way it was is 5 not good enough. 6 "Sandy" has set the standard. 7 Will we meet "Sandy"? Will we defeat 8 "Sandy"? 9 Because she's still here and she's still 10 wreaking havoc. 11 She's throwing lefts, she's throwing 12 rights; "Are we in the ring yet?" is my question. 13 Do we realize we've a fight on our hands? 14 And so, today, I got to tell you, I'm pleased 15 to see so many of you, to take this tour with us, 16 and to really understand that we are truly in this 17 together. It's not over, and we've got a ways to 18 go, and we've got too many people that are crying 19 for help. 20 And, quite frankly, if we don't give them 21 some sense of promise that we've got a handle on 22 this, Why should they stay? Why should they fight? 23 Just a week ago, we were threatened with 24 another tidal flood. 25 We were in a home today, and you've seen it 1 for yourself, Senator, along with all the other 2 travelers with us, water came into this home again. 3 They haven't put it back together yet. 4 And, just, can you imagine, if they had the 5 money and they had done the right thing, and 6 everything was done? 7 Here we are again, couple of weeks later, 8 boom, all over again. 9 So we've got to handle this a different way. 10 I end this by saying: "Sandy" has set a new 11 standard. Our names are on this history. 12 How will it be, folks? 13 How will it be? 14 Thank you for being here. 15 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you, Mayor. 16 Appreciate your comments. 17 We're going to hear from the chief deputy 18 county executive, Rob Walker. 19 ROBERT WALKER: Senator, thank you so much 20 for allowing the County to be here. 21 And, Mayor, for hosting us here in lovely 22 Freeport, which we're going to continue to make it 23 even into a better and more beautiful Freeport. 24 But let me just say this, on behalf of 25 County Executive Mangano; and, obviously, our great 1 legislator, Denise Ford, who saw the effects of this 2 storm firsthand, right from her home, and 3 continues to see it daily: 4 You know, the Mayor mentioned that Sandy's 5 still here. And, really, that is true. 6 And the real work -- so much work has been 7 already done, probably in the form of Nassau County, 8 over, between all the municipalities, probably 9 300 to 400 million dollars have been already spent 10 on recovering from the aftereffects of this storm, 11 but the real work's going to begin now. 12 It is putting the people back into their 13 homes, but it's also giving them the sense that 14 we're going to do things right; to build bigger and 15 build better, to build smarter, and stronger. To 16 look at everything that we have suffered, and take 17 that into, you know, putting it all together -- 18 hopefully, the federal dollars will come down -- 19 and figuring out how to build together as one. 20 So we welcome the State Senate delegation. 21 We thank you for coming here today, because, 22 obviously, the work is not going to be able to be 23 done just by Nassau and our partners, with 24 Suffolk, with County Executive Bellone, who, both, 25 the County executives have worked so well together, 1 our town supervisors who are represented today, 2 our city managers and village officials and village 3 mayors -- everyone really has worked so well 4 together up to this point. 5 And now it's putting everything together 6 again, with the dollars that are necessary, with 7 the legislation that will become necessary, from 8 both the state and the federal government, on how we 9 could move forward in the most smartest, the most, I 10 should say, expedited, but at the same time, we do 11 not want to rush to do something that we'll come 12 back and regret, but, to move forward right, and to 13 move forward smart, and to move forward together as 14 one. 15 I think, you know, something that we have 16 learned from this storm, and the County Executive 17 has said it over and over again, is, sometimes, the 18 miscommunication or the inaccurate information that 19 is presented to people, that we only have maybe 20 1,000 homeowners that can't get back into the 21 homes, when we really -- we really don't know that 22 number yet. That may be 30,000, may be 5,000, may 23 only be 500. 24 But we need to start assembling the right 25 information so everybody could come forward and make 1 that plan, and develop that plan, together. 2 Businesses are affected differently than 3 homeowners. We have so many of our communities 4 that really do not have a problem with the 5 homeowners, but they have no business to go into. 6 And in Freeport, where you seen, we don't 7 know if businesses are gonna come back. 8 So, those are the type of things that we need 9 to look at again, taking a very distinct program for 10 each individual need; from residents, to 11 infrastructure, to business, and figuring out the 12 best ways that we can come together to improve on 13 all of those type of situations. 14 I'd be remiss if I didn't mention, you know, 15 the problems with our sewer-treatment facilities. 16 Suffolk, to a lesser extent, I know had some minor 17 difficulties, but, with Nassau County, Bay Park, and 18 Long Beach, we did see a tremendous problem. 19 540,000 residents would have been infected if it 20 were not for getting those sewage-treatment 21 plants, you know, back up and working again. 22 And I want to thank Marc Herbst, and so many 23 of his contractors, that came to the rescue. Many 24 of them still have not gotten paid, I know, but 25 we're gonna make sure that they do, but they came -- 1 [Laughter.] 2 ROBERT WALKER: You know, we tried to save 3 money that way, without paying. 4 -- but, that came to the rescue of so many 5 Nassau County residents that would have been 6 highly impacted if not that sewage that were 7 running, that would continue to run through our 8 sewage-treatment plant. 9 You know, we think about all of what people 10 see on a daily basis. You don't think about what 11 you don't see. And 540,000 residents that could 12 have had a sewage-treatment nightmare, literally, 13 was prevented by the work of so many people: 14 contractors, County employees, Senator Skelos, 15 Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Cuomo. 16 We actually had pumps that came as far away 17 as Virginia and Maryland, under police escort, 18 within 12 hours were operational to diffuse the 19 situation. 20 And that's what it is, rallying together. 21 So if there's one thing that can be said, it 22 is now the most important time that us in 23 Nassau County, Suffolk County, all the villages and 24 townships and the state -- and that's why we are so 25 grateful that all of you are here -- that we put our 1 minds together, the brightest minds together, and we 2 make sure that we spend any dollar that we get 3 wisely, for the betterment of Nassau County for a 4 long time to come. 5 Stronger, smarter, bigger, better. 6 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you very much. 7 Thank you, Rob. 8 One of the missions of the Task Force, and 9 so we're all reminded is, what New York State can 10 do. 11 And we need to know, as we proceed in the 12 2013 legislative session, which starts next week, is 13 what we can do to help you, legislatively, obviously 14 with money. 15 We're pleased with what we heard, that 16 Congress is going back. They need to keep to their 17 commitment. A lot of those funds will come directly 18 through the State, but we really need to know what 19 we as a task force can do to help you. 20 Senator? 21 SENATOR SMITH: Yeah, no, Mayor Ruzicka, if 22 we could hear from him, and then we'll open up the 23 roundtable. 24 MAYOR JAMES RUZICKA: Okay, thank you. 25 First of all, I'd like to thank this 1 Task Force, the State, for organizing it. It 2 gives our residents a ray of hope for the 3 future. 4 "What the State can do for us?" is the 5 question. 6 First of all, the insurance companies have 7 been holding up funds, trying to get our residents 8 back. They're at a point right now where they have 9 maybe put in some boilers, maybe put some 10 insulation -- some sheetrock up, but they can't go 11 any further because they don't have the money. The 12 funds ain't coming in. We need the State to push 13 that. 14 Flood mitigation: 15 In our village, we had 1,100 homes. Out of 16 the 1,100 homes, 95 percent of them were under 17 3 foot of water on the first floors. 18 So, a lot of our residents are asking: Can 19 we raise our homes? 20 We need the funding to do that. 21 They want to stay, but they're going to need 22 some help. 23 Grant writing: 24 We're a small village. One of the problems 25 we find, is that we don't have the talent in our 1 village to write these grants that have -- are 2 filled with red tape, that are filled with different 3 obstacles, to write. 4 We need some help from the State to progress 5 that; to get us on the right track with these 6 grants, and especially in the flood-mitigation 7 areas. 8 So, that's what we're looking at in the 9 village. 10 Again, I thank this Task Force for 11 organizing, and we're going to see some hope in the 12 future. 13 Thank you. 14 SENATOR SMITH: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and 15 thank you for the time and effort you put forward 16 with us today. 17 Can we hear from Jack Schnirman, from the -- 18 city manager of Long Beach. 19 JACK SCHNIRMAN: Thank you, and thank you for 20 having us here. 21 I'm going to get -- I'm going to get into the 22 long-term recovery issues, I think for us. 23 You know, real briefly, I think, as most 24 know, Long Beach had catastrophic impact. The ocean 25 met the bay, the city was flooded, and many places, 1 including the legislator's street, had, you know, 2 up to six feet of sand, several feet into the 3 city -- I'm sorry, several blocks into the city. 4 So, really, it was -- it was, obviously, a 5 very intense situation. 6 And thank you to so many who are here, who 7 were so helpful in helping the emergency response 8 and the immediate recovery phases go so well. 9 And thank you to the County, 10 County Executive Mangano, and Deputy County 11 Executive Walker, State Senator Skelos, to 12 Legislator Ford, to the Governor, and the federal 13 government -- everyone was so wonderful in pouring 14 resources in, in the immediate aftermath. 15 And now, as we reflect back, and we go 16 through a more longer-term piece, this is where it 17 gets more difficult. 18 And, so, we're so happy to have the 19 opportunity to make a few recommendations as to what 20 we are seeing in terms of longer-term recovery. 21 And on the personal level, I would say that 22 Mayor Hardwick really framed the issue that 23 residents are facing, quite well, and we're seeing 24 the same sort of things in Long Beach as I know that 25 you're seeing as well. 1 So, thank you. I couldn't possibly put it 2 more eloquently than that. 3 But there's -- there's six things that I 4 identified as -- that we're looking at, that we 5 think are major issues that the State Senate and the 6 State can take up, and we've already begun to 7 discuss them with State Senator Skelos, and we're so 8 thankful for his help with them. 9 And the first is, really, you know, and it's 10 obviously the big megillah, is the financing. We 11 look at a potential match with FEMA. 12 To give you a sense of orientation, 13 Long Beach is looking at over $200 million in 14 damages from the storm. That's compared with about 15 $2 million of damages from "Hurricane Irene." 16 So we're talking about 100 times larger. 17 And on an annual budget of, approximately, 18 $85 million. So we're talking about significantly 19 more than twice our annual budget. 20 If you look at the match, the 12 1/2 percent, 21 that becomes extremely daunting. And we're going 22 to need assistance with that. 23 You look at a 26 to, ultimately, 30 million 24 dollar match, we need to have a longer conversation 25 about what that looks like, you know, on the 1 financing side. 2 You know, obviously, our request is 3 100 percent, but that match has to be looked at as a 4 crucial issue for municipalities like us, who are 5 small municipalities, already facing difficult 6 budgets, and looking at that enormity of coming up 7 with that money. You know, that's -- that's a 8 non-starter, really. 9 So that's Issue Number 1. 10 Issue Number 2 is, as it was said by the 11 Deputy County Executive, rebuilding stronger, 12 smarter, safer. 13 So what does that mean? 14 That means mitigation money, hardening 15 infrastructure; working together, with other 16 municipalities and with the County, to figure out 17 how do we get to a place where our critical 18 infrastructure is where it should be, physically 19 located where it should be, elevated where it needs 20 to be. We don't have -- you know, we don't have 21 generators on the first floor. 22 So we'll need assistance with that, both 23 technical assistance and financial assistance. 24 Third, I think all of us have learned the 25 value of emergency response, and having a true 1 proper emergency-response capability. 2 Small cities need things like grants to 3 have those equipment, to send and receive 4 information in a time of crisis, and coordinate 5 first responders in ways that we haven't been 6 able to do before. 7 Fourth, coordination and planning with other 8 levels of government, joint training and 9 coordination, and really having -- making sure that 10 everyone works together. 11 It worked well this time, it truly did, 12 and -- but more preparation would be helpful in the 13 future. 14 Fifth, community development block-grant 15 funding for businesses who are affected by the 16 storm, and facilities, to really pump adrenaline 17 into municipalities right now, when the businesses 18 need it, and the City needs it, especially before we 19 go into our summer season. It's something that 20 we're going to need to really increase that, going 21 into the summer. 22 And then, finally, something that we haven't 23 heard too much talk about, it's something that was 24 quiet, and worked well, but probably needs to be 25 expanded, is the 211 program, which is a -- you 1 know, to take a real regional approach to be able to 2 deliver information and referral services to 3 residents. Something that's important within our 4 municipality, but within -- on a regional basis, 5 that when something happens, there are people by the 6 phone, who are going to answer that call, whose 7 infrastructure and technology did not go out, but 8 they'll be able to refer residents, always, to 9 what they need, and take those requests. 10 And, so, those are things that are important 11 to us, and recommendations that we would make to be 12 considered by the Task Force, going forward. 13 Thank you. 14 SENATOR SMITH: Thank you. 15 I think that Senator Fuschillo has a question 16 for you, Jack. 17 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Do you have a reverse 911 18 system? 19 JACK SCHNIRMAN: We do. We use a Swift911 20 system that we used after the storm, and it was 21 really one of the only ways to get a message out 22 in the immediate aftermath, after the storm. 23 However, you know, about a week in, it became 24 the lifeblood -- or, four or five days in, it 25 became the lifeblood. 1 Immediately, our technology was out as well, 2 and we had a -- residents who couldn't receive -- 3 who didn't have home phones to receive anything on, 4 or cell phones to receive anything on. 5 So while it was crucial and really helpful 6 before, and then after the storm, there was a gap 7 there. 8 But it is -- we believe that it was one of 9 the keys to success in maintaining public order 10 and getting information out. It was so important. 11 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: What are you experiencing 12 now? 13 How many homeowners are out of their homes, 14 homeless? 15 What is the residential toll, as it is -- as 16 it stands today? 17 JACK SCHNIRMAN: Right now, it's almost 18 impossible to really estimate, you know, accurately, 19 the numbers on that. We're looking at, still, a 20 significant percentage of the city that is not in 21 their homes. Approximately 100 to 200 homes that 22 were so substantially damaged that it's going to 23 take some real time before they can move in. 24 And now there's a -- you know, through the 25 FEMA process, there's that checking on the homes 1 of -- to determine, is a home, what's called, 2 substantially damaged, over 50 percent, the ICC 3 Program. 4 But the short answer is, it's impossible to 5 estimate. It's still a significant number are going 6 to be out of their homes for quite awhile. 7 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: What's the -- what's your 8 assessment on the infrastructure, transportation 9 wise, your roads and bridges there? Walkways? 10 JACK SCHNIRMAN: The roads, obviously, you 11 know, are taking a beating, and have taken a 12 beating, and are going to need some -- an additional 13 look. 14 You know, you had, obviously, a lot of sand. 15 A lot of heavy equipment coming in and out of the 16 city. 17 I think we won't know for some time, what the 18 ultimate impact of the amount of heavy equipment 19 coming in and out of the city will be on the roads. 20 I think, you know, it's a fair point to say, 21 the bridges in and out of the city probably will 22 need, you know, another look. 23 Our critical infrastructure is what we know 24 is in dire need of attention: The sewer plant, the 25 water plant, which went out during the storm, which 1 are up and running now, but that shouldn't fool us 2 into thinking that they're in good working order. 3 It's, like, on a larger scale, they're like 4 that car that was damaged by the storm, or that -- 5 you know, or that boiler, that you're going to have 6 a problem down the road. You're just buying 7 yourself some time. 8 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Jack, long range, you're 9 rebuilding the boardwalk now. We've all heard that. 10 What's different about rebuilding it? 11 What precautionary measures are you taking, 12 to plan better for the future? 13 JACK SCHNIRMAN: I'm glad you asked that 14 question. 15 To be determined. 16 Right now, we've -- we're starting the 17 demolition of the boardwalk, you know, and we've 18 really expedited that, to tear it down, so we can 19 rebuild it back. 20 We've asked, we've put an RFP out, to get 21 recommendations, and best practices, as to how to 22 rebuild it, stronger, smarter, safer. 23 But the answer is solely dependent on the 24 amount of mitigation money that we'll be able to get 25 with FEMA. 1 The way we look at it, you know, to boil it 2 down to the easiest, is, we need to know how much 3 we're pre-approved to spend at the boardwalk store. 4 And once we know that answer, we'll be able to look 5 over the options and determine what seems the most 6 feasible, and go from there; and then, obviously, 7 rebuild as fast as possible. 8 SENATOR SMITH: Thank you, Jack. 9 I think Senator Golden has some questions for 10 you. 11 SENATOR GOLDEN: Yes, Senator Fuschillo, 12 Senator Smith, the -- there's a number of towns and 13 villages here today that are going around with 14 information that they believe would best help their 15 communities. 16 If we could have a draft of that, somewhere 17 over the next week or so, so that we can take a look 18 at that. 19 The second portion of this, I believe there's 20 a certain expectation from the towns and the 21 villages when it comes to, not only 22 infrastructure, but with the Army Corps of Engineers 23 and with the waterfront. 24 And, is that being coordinated with 25 Nassau County? 1 And, are the expectations being -- 2 "Is everybody on the same page?" is my question, 3 towns, villages and the county, so that we know, 4 going forward, that your expectations are somewhat 5 met and, obviously, understood? 6 ROBERT WALKER: Senator, just in with working 7 with the Governor, the submittal that went to 8 Congress, which really is the dollars that we're all 9 talking about, mitigation dollars that we need, that 10 went in as a -- as a, basically, as a Nassau County 11 $6.6 billion request, that went to -- that went to 12 the President, and then was part of the President's 13 supplemental appropriation. 14 That included all -- basically, all the input 15 from all the townships, the villages, as to what 16 they needed to see, infrastructure wise, dollars and 17 cents. 18 We, at that time, once those dollars come 19 in, we've already started the process, and the 20 City Manager said it pretty well, is: We're working 21 in conjunction with both, FEMA, the State Office of 22 Emergency Management. They're putting together the 23 Army Corps of Engineers professionals, where 24 they will start looking at what we consider the most 25 critical infrastructure needs of the county, in 1 conjunction with all the townships, the villages, 2 and the cities. And then they will assign staff to 3 work on that immediately. 4 They're going to, obviously, take up what 5 they believe is the most critical as well, and they 6 will look to advance dollars to us so we can get 7 moving in the process. They would then actually 8 open up other coffers that they have available, 9 dollars that they have available, in the federal 10 government, should this supplemental not go as 11 quickly as we would all like. And then, again, work 12 together, looking at those needs, making sure that 13 we build it, you know, bigger, better, smarter. You 14 know, looking at all of those areas, by working in 15 conjunction with those municipalities that are 16 involved. 17 But the bridge -- I mean, I can give you a 18 list. It's probably, critical infrastructure, over 19 $2 billion in the county alone. 20 When I say "county alone," including the 21 village roadways, city roadways, town 22 roadways, parks. 23 We have bridges that cannot open. We 24 actually had to manually open them in 25 Senator Marcellino's district in Bayville, just to 1 get out our boats, from one side to the other. We 2 can't open that again. 3 So we want to make sure it's opened, you 4 know, for the season, so we don't lose another 5 economic engine for those people that have jobs to 6 do. 7 So, Long Beach Bridge, the same way. 8 Parks that, literally, are underwater. We 9 don't know what they -- if they're going to be able 10 to open or not. 11 You know, critical buildings, lights. 12 We, literally, have some county- and 13 town-owned facilities that do not have power to 14 date, and cannot, until we actually make some major 15 investment in the dollars. 16 So, we are working together with all of them, 17 and that's the way the supplemental appropriation 18 went from the State, was vis-a-vis the County 19 taking -- 20 SENATOR GOLDEN: So if we could get a report 21 to Senator Fuschillo and the co-chair -- 22 ROBERT WALKER: We'll be glad to do that. 23 SENATOR GOLDEN: -- Malcolm Smith, not only 24 from the individual towns and villages, but from 25 the County as well, so that we can be helpful, and 1 wherever we can be helpful, in getting assistance to 2 you in the future. 3 Your health-care system, any of your 4 hospitals go down, or any of your -- 5 ROBERT WALKER: Yes. I mean, Long Beach -- 6 Long Beach still is facing critical issues. 7 We've also had them around the county. 8 Part of that request to the President is 9 about, I think, $60 million for critical needs in 10 our health-care facilities. Many of them, you know, 11 have some infrastructure issues. Some of them look 12 to have some hardening and some mitigation needs to 13 be made. 14 We also, obviously, have a need, and, you 15 know, the work that the Red Cross has done, and 16 Paule Pachter and Randi Dresner are here. 17 I mean, outside the realm of, also, just the 18 hospitals and our health-care providers, is what 19 they have provided; the critical needs, to our 20 county residents, from, you know, just providing 21 social work; and, you know, in many cases, that, you 22 know, mental-health advisers, that they've been in 23 the field; food. 24 I mean, you can go on and on, the work that 25 our not-for-profits have provided. 1 I mean, it's -- we sheltered over 2 1,600 people at various times throughout the 3 storm. 4 And, obviously, as it gets colder, people who 5 still do not have power, that are living there now, 6 are looking for shelters again. And all of these 7 agencies have provided for it. 8 So there's also dollars that we've 9 requested on their behalf as well, to get them 10 either replenished, more importantly, but also be 11 able to keep delivering the service. 12 So both the hospitals and our health and 13 human-service providers have some massive 14 undertaking. 15 SENATOR GOLDEN: My last question, and I'll 16 move on: 17 The towns and villages, do you have an 18 expectation when your homes will be up and running 19 with the electricity, those that don't have it, 20 those with boilers and hot-water heating 21 systems, and not only the residential buildings, 22 but your small businesses? 23 Do you have a number on that? 24 Do you have an estimated date that you 25 believe, or an expectation, that this will be back 1 up and running? 2 If you could put that into your memo, we'd 3 appreciate it. 4 MAYOR ANDREW HARDWICK: [Inaudible.] 5 SENATOR SMITH: He just -- you want to 6 respond? 7 Because we want to try to get everybody, 8 there are a few people on the list. 9 Just, quickly, give him a response, if you 10 want to talk to him, that would be helpful. 11 MAYOR ANDREW HARDWICK: Okay, I just want to 12 remind everyone that, you know, if we're not able to 13 mitigate through community block-grant funding, much 14 of our needs will not be answered by FEMA. 15 You know, we just got to remember that, 16 because we were told so many times -- for example: 17 We have a waterfront park. Its bulkheading is shot. 18 FEMA will not answer the call with mitigation 19 for that bulkheading. We cannot afford it. It's 20 well over a million dollars now, because when it 21 was just a half a mil, we couldn't afford it, and 22 now it's wrecked completely. 23 So, just remember, without community 24 block-grant funding, this will not work, in terms of 25 mitigation. 1 SENATOR SMITH: Okay, I think, 2 Senator Marcellino, you had a question? 3 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Yeah, Rob, you mentioned 4 the north shore and the Bayville, and your closing 5 that bridge. 6 That road which crosses that bridge, 7 Shore Road, has been undercut, and a good portion of 8 it sunk, and has not been useable since. 9 Do we have an updated time frame on that? 10 ROBERT WALKER: Thankfully, the weather has 11 assisted in the endeavor of having that road open, 12 but, you know, we're so -- everybody is so 13 concentrated on the south shore, because of, you 14 know, the -- I guess, the lack of damage, in 15 people's minds, that the north shore have faced. 16 But, you know, the Senator has seen in his 17 district, the north shore, you know, Bayville, 18 Oyster Bay, have suffered tremendously. 19 We actually -- as you mentioned, it suffered 20 a breach in two spots of West Shore Road, really, 21 the main access point into Bayville. 22 That -- the project is currently underway. 23 The County Executive issued an emergency contract. 24 They are moving forward in the -- the plan, by the 25 latest, is to have July -- July 4th weekend, that 1 that road will be opened both ways. 2 What we're looking at right now, is to 3 actually figure out the way to start opening up 4 quicker, during weekends and other prime times for 5 the community. 6 Obviously, both Oyster Bay, east Norwich 7 businesses, and Bayville bridges, from people 8 going both directions have suffered tremendously. 9 I'm sure you hear it as much as we do, if not 10 more. 11 But, the contractor, thankfully, with the 12 weather, has made tremendous strides already. 13 We're already opening up, I believe, a 14 portion within the next two weeks, I think up to 15 Cleft, I believe, if I have it right. And, you 16 know, we will continue on that process. 17 But right now, the outside target which we 18 gave to the residents was 4th of July, because we 19 also didn't want to say Memorial Day, and then know 20 that that's not going to be the case. 21 But our goal is, we're going to hit it much 22 quicker. 23 SENATOR MARCELLINO: And just a quick 24 reminder, because you mentioned the north shore. 25 The north shore, the devastation was wind, a 1 lot of tree damage, lines down, power down; 2 house, where a tree landed on it. You had much of 3 that. 4 But we also had areas like Asharoken, which 5 is in my district, which has been -- the road that 6 goes through there has been overrun and breached on 7 a number of occasions. 8 That roadway is the sole access to 9 2,000 residents in Eaton's Neck, and the only way in 10 and out. 11 Bayville at least has another alternative to 12 go through it. 13 But areas like Asharoken, is the only road 14 that can go into Eaton's Neck, which is, as I said, 15 has 2,000 residents up there. 16 So, the north shore should not be forgotten 17 with respect to damage. 18 While we didn't suffer the flooding and 19 the -- the major flooding damage as you see on the 20 south shore, we do have serious damage up on the 21 north shore, and a lot of infrastructure repair has 22 to be done up there and taken care of. 23 So, this is a concern of everybody's. 24 SENATOR SMITH: Thank you very much, 25 Senator Golden, Senator Marcellino. 1 And, Senator Marcellino, know that the 2 Task Force will not allow any part of the state or 3 anybody's district to be forgotten. 4 And [inaudible] we'll hear from 5 Mayor Bill Biondi, and then we'll hear from 6 Nassau County Legislator Denise Ford. 7 MAYOR BILL BIONDI: Good afternoon, and thank 8 you for allowing me the opportunity to come down and 9 speak, and on behalf of the 5,800 residents, 10 homeowners, in Mastic Beach. 11 We went through two major storms already: 12 "Hurricane Irene," and "Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy," 13 in the village that was established 2 1/2 years 14 ago. 15 So, we're trying our best to do what's right 16 for the people. 17 A couple of main issues we had, I guess, 18 before the storm, we set up our evacuations, we 19 set up everything right, but once the storm hit, one 20 of the major problems was dealing with the 21 lighting company. 22 From one storm to the next, we had no problem 23 with the lighting company during "Irene," but 24 something happened with -- when "Sandy" came ashore. 25 I don't know if their systems changed, or 1 maybe they were just overwhelmed with the work, but, 2 it was a lot of headaches for, especially 3 Mastic Beach, because there was constant fighting 4 back and forth: Don't turn power on when they 5 turned power on. And then, when we wanted the power 6 on, they didn't turn the power on. 7 The other thing is, the STEP program. It's 8 worked in a few houses. 9 We have a major problem with two floodings in 10 the last three weeks. The outer breach, the outer 11 beach of Smith Point, there's nothing left of the 12 sand there. That's our barrier wall that prevents 13 us from flooding out. 14 So people actually are trying to fix their 15 houses back up, and they've got flooded out again, 16 two or three more times. 17 During the storm, we have -- we don't have 18 sewer-treatment plants; we have sesspools. 19 So during the storm, we've picked up -- DEC 20 picked up over 6,000 gallon of fuel oil -- No. 2 21 fuel oil -- along with the sewage that rised from 22 the sesspools. 23 So, we have a major problem with, every time 24 this flooding occurs, we have the same problem 25 with the flooding, with the sewer damage, and the 1 oil is still in the grounds. 2 DEC told us that it will dissipate within 3 two weeks. 4 It's 2 1/2 months, and you can still go on 5 people's property, the oil is still there. 6 Insurance companies, they've been going to 7 people's houses and telling them that their house 8 was not built properly; but, yet, the local 9 municipality that was in charge at the time signed 10 off on the house. 11 Insurance companies are giving us a hard 12 time. 13 FEMA, in the beginning, we've gotten -- I 14 kind of say, that the people that came in the 15 beginning were the -- not -- not the group that was 16 familiarized with how to deal with FEMA. 17 Perfect example: My deputy mayor, he lost 18 his business and his house. He had five different 19 FEMA inspectors there; gave him five different 20 stories. And he's still looking for the right story 21 today. 22 The -- one thing that I think we all need to 23 work on, communications is the biggest thing. 24 Most of the cell towers, we deal with 25 Sprint. Most of the fire and EMS is back to the 1 "Direct Connect" days. 2 They don't have a generator for backup. They 3 use battery backup, which lasts, on a normal day, 4 8 hours of backup. 5 We need to tell the cell-tower people that 6 they -- they need to put a generator in, because 7 once we lose communications, we're in big trouble. 8 Communications is a key to everything. 9 Again, the biggest thing is, again, we have, 10 maybe just a little under 100 house that have to 11 come down. About 350 that are unlivable. 12 We'd like to get some word to the residents 13 there, that the money is coming, the insurance 14 company is paying, FEMA's got some money for us; 15 because, right now, they're living in a house with 16 no heat, no electricity. They refuse to leave their 17 houses. It's their livelihood, they raised their 18 families there, and they just will not leave. 19 And, really, we can't force them to leave 20 either, so we try to do our best to make them as 21 comfortable as possible. 22 SENATOR ZELDIN: Mayor Biondi, thank you for 23 being here. 24 Now, part of -- part of what this Task Force 25 is discussing today, is dealing with recovering from 1 "Sandy," but I think there are some very valuable 2 lessons from the hours and days right after the 3 storm, which I saw firsthand in Mastic Beach. 4 Mayor Biondi called me up, maybe about 5 10:00 the evening the storm was hitting, and, you 6 know, dozens of calls were coming for people who 7 wanted to get rescued, but there was, literally, one 8 or two water-rescue vehicles that would be able to 9 respond to these calls from dozens of people who 10 need to get evacuated. 11 There was only one heavy vehicle, provided by 12 the National Guard, that was big enough and strong 13 enough to travel into flooded waters for these 14 rescues. 15 So, for hours, over the course of the 16 night, there was no way to get to dozens of people 17 who we knew about, because they still had a phone or 18 a cell phone in order to make the connection. 19 So, I think, coordinating resources in the 20 hours leading up to, and after, the storm hits 21 is important, because Mastic Beach, unfortunately, 22 did not have enough of what it needed. 23 Secondly, in the days afterwards, a lot of 24 resources -- Mayor Biondi mentions LIPA -- a lot 25 of the resources were given to the towns, which was 1 different than "Irene." And the villages had to ask 2 the -- lobby the towns, to get the -- like the 3 heavy-debris-removing equipment. It was a huge 4 problem for a place like the village of 5 Mastic Beach, because the towns were prioritizing 6 other assets outside of the village, even though 7 the village of Mastic Beach was the strongest in 8 need. 9 I just want to highlight one point, if you 10 don't mind, and Senator Smith and Senator Lanza, 11 when you develop the report for the Task Force, one 12 of the -- and for all of the -- all my Senate 13 colleagues, to please keep in mind in the -- in, 14 literally, the days and weeks and months ahead, 15 there is a very urgent need in a place like 16 Mastic Beach, where, in the last two weeks, you 17 have homes that were flooded out during the storm, 18 that have been flooded out multiple times again. 19 You know, Senator Savino, when we were on the 20 tour, we were at one house in Freeport, and she 21 said: Well, you know, this house rebuilds, what 22 happens the next time the storm hits? Now we're 23 going to have to rebuild the home again. 24 But, right now, we have people in 25 Mastic Beach, where every time there's a flood, the 1 homes are going to be destroyed again, and again, 2 and again, because Fire Island is turning into a 3 sandbar. 4 So, our federal representatives, the 5 Army Corps of Engineers, working with the State 6 and towns and the villages, we have a very urgent 7 problem because of that flooding which is taking 8 place every time we get hit, which has happened 9 twice in the last week and a half. 10 SENATOR GOLDEN: I just want to add to that, 11 Senator Zeldin, what he's just pointed out, it's the 12 inventory that the towns, the villages, and the 13 counties have, and where that inventory is. 14 You know, sanitation trucks, 15 deuce-and-a-halfs, they can go in and do the support 16 that they need, but nobody had those trucks 17 available in a lot of the townships and a lot of the 18 counties. 19 That should be made available in the future. 20 It should be an inventory, where, you know, your 21 police department, your fire trucks, so that 22 they're not subject to any type of damage, or severe 23 damage, and where you can put equipment in, I 24 believe is something that you'd have to study here 25 at the towns, the villages, and, of course, at the 1 county level, for future emergency and future 2 responses. 3 But very -- thank you for pointing that out. 4 SENATOR SMITH: Senator Savino? 5 MAYOR BILL BIONDI: If I could also add, we 6 do have 2 1/2-ton military vehicles, but when the 7 water is 5 to 6 feet high on your main roads, 8 it's -- it doesn't really matter, the equipment will 9 not get down there. 10 Many years ago, our local town, they had 11 what they called "a duck," and they're not around 12 anymore, so we're basically dealing with today's 13 technology, which is a 2 1/2-ton Army vehicle or a 14 5-ton vehicle. 15 We even have a hovercraft in Mastic Beach, 16 that was -- we couldn't use it because, the wind, 17 instead of you going straight, it was just blowing 18 you all over the place. 19 We have the resources, but we can't control 20 the flooding. 21 Once we get, five, six feet of water, it's 22 impossible to do anything. 23 SENATOR SMITH: Senator Savino? 24 SENATOR SAVINO: Thank you. 25 Those -- by the way, those "ducks" are now 1 tourist -- 2 MAYOR BILL BIONDI: In Baltimore, yes. 3 SENATOR SAVINO: -- and in Albany too. 4 "Amphibious vehicles," they call them. 5 It's interesting that many of the communities 6 that we're all describing here have just barely 7 recovered from "Irene," and now they're hit again. 8 And then, last week, in the -- in the -- I 9 don't know, we didn't have name for this storm, as 10 Mayor Hardwick called it, it was just rain, but 11 almost two inches of rain. 12 A lot of the people who had flooded in 13 "Irene" and didn't recover, then were damaged 14 tremendously in "Sandy," and have not even begun to 15 have this discussion about recovery, we're again 16 flooded last week. 17 A lot of our barrier -- storm barriers have 18 been washed away in "Sandy." 19 What we're seeing in Staten Island is a 20 rising cry for the government to come in and buy out 21 some of these homeowners. To just, basically, buy 22 them out. That they're done, that they can't do it 23 again. They can't rebuild one more time. 24 And a lot of these communities are probably 25 in areas where we never should have allowed them 1 to build to begin. They're up against coastal 2 wetlands. 3 And so, I'm wondering, are you seeing the 4 same things in your towns? 5 Are people coming in, saying, "Buy me out, 6 I'm done. I can't do this again"? 7 MAYOR BILL BIONDI: Not that many. 8 There are a couple that would like to go. 9 We have a 92-year-old gentleman, his house 10 was wiped out, and he can't wait to rebuild. He 11 loves Mastic Beach. He lived there all his life. 12 You know, it's a tough situation; you live 13 there all your life. 14 I mean, I -- I'm not an expert, but I think 15 if you fix the barrier beach, we probably wouldn't 16 suffer the consequences we're having now, with just 17 a normal storm. 18 I have some pictures here that I'd like to 19 share with yous at the end, showing you there's, 20 literally, nothing left of the barrier beach. It's 21 as flat as this table. And every time you get 22 two- to three-foot waves in the ocean, they're 23 coming right across, I called it "a breach." I've 24 been politically corrected. It's called a 25 "wash-over." 1 SENATOR SAVINO: Uh-huh? 2 MAYOR BILL BIONDI: Whatever it is, 3 Mastic Beach gets flooded every time the ocean -- 4 SENATOR SAVINO: But that begs the bigger 5 question then, Mayor, as Lee and I were talking in 6 that house there: How many times do we rebuild? 7 How many times do we pay the cost for people 8 to rebuild their home, when, quite frankly, the risk 9 is not theirs; the risk is ours. 10 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: [Inaudible.] 11 SENATOR SAVINO: Yes. 12 MAYOR BILL BIONDI: It's a tough discussion 13 decision. I mean, you know, it's -- I'm hoping to 14 get the answers today, or in the near future. 15 It's -- I don't know what to tell you. 16 SENATOR SMITH: County Legislator Ford, 17 please. 18 Thank you, Senator Savino, and 19 Senator Zeldin. 20 DENISE FORD: Thank you very much, 21 Senator Fuschillo and Senator Smith, for putting 22 this task force together. It's very, very 23 important, and I thank you. 24 And I also want to extend a thank you, 25 publicly, to County Executive Ed Mangano, because I 1 have to say that, immediately after the storm, the 2 County did come in and provide us with a great 3 number of resources, whether or not through the 4 County itself or through New York State. You know, 5 sharing, I guess, ownership with them, with a lot of 6 the assistance that they gave. 7 For me, I'm going to be very, very brief. 8 You know, I know that we were all 9 disappointed with the fact that there was a delay in 10 getting the much-needed $60 billion, but, according 11 to FEMA, they do have -- they say they have money 12 that can fund us right through February. 13 And I'm urging the State lawmakers to take a 14 look at that money and immediately try to secure 15 that, bring it down into our communities. 16 I represent an area of over 17 60,000 residents. I would say 90 percent of them 18 were hit by "Hurricane Sandy." Many are still not 19 in their homes, they're probably hundreds of 20 families. 21 The impact on the family life in my whole 22 area has been severely impacted, especially, not 23 only for the parents, but most especially for our 24 children, that are going through undue stress. 25 So I urge you to ask FEMA, but let's release 1 that money, let's not wait. We don't have to wait 2 for the $60 billion. Let's get money that's right 3 here. That's something that's easily accessible. 4 We need that funding. You know, not loans. 5 We need funding, not only for our residents, many 6 who are on fixed incomes, but we also need it for 7 our small businesses. Many of our small businesses 8 are residents as well. These people have lost 9 their source of income. They cannot -- their houses 10 were impacted. Their businesses were impacted. 11 They don't have the money, they're not 12 earning money, to be able to restore their homes, 13 to restore their businesses. They can't afford 14 anymore debt. 15 We're looking -- we're asking you to help 16 them out; to try to come up with some sort of a 17 funding source, some sort of a grant source, so that 18 they can at least start putting something back 19 together and to get their lives. 20 We need these small businesses to come back, 21 we need them to make sure that they open as soon as 22 possible. 23 What's even hurting them is that, even with 24 unemployment that the State has graciously offered 25 to many of the employees of these small businesses, 1 those owners are not entitled to unemployment. 2 The only recourse they have is to borrow more 3 money, to pay themselves, and to pay for any 4 repairs. 5 This is something that must be stopped. We 6 have to -- I urge the State, please, come together, 7 and take a look at the needs of these small 8 businesses. They need all the help that we can give 9 them. 10 We also need, and I agree with Mayor Ruzicka, 11 the insurance companies have been a roadblock. 12 They're hurting, they're keeping much-needed money. 13 And what's happening now is, that because FEMA is 14 giving money to those who opted not to be insured, I 15 find that a lot of people are getting upset, 16 wondering, Why is it that people who don't have 17 insurance are getting money? How come we, who have 18 been responsible and paying insurance, are not 19 getting anything? 20 This is something that the State, I urge you 21 also, this is a very, very important issue. 22 And I also ask that you look at the banks, 23 because many people are fearful that the banks are 24 going to start holding up the insurance payments. 25 That, even a lot of people who have even gotten 1 advances have not been able to secure that money to 2 do the necessary repairs. The banks are holding 3 this. 4 This falls under your jurisdiction. I'm 5 asking you for help on this. 6 We also need, with FEMA, we need an extension 7 of the housing subsidies. As I said, too many 8 people are still relocated. The fact that 9 they're -- you know, they're going to confirm that, 10 they'll agree till January 12th, is not acceptable. 11 This is something that has to be open-ended. 12 We have to make sure there's no -- unnecessary 13 stress for those who have been relocated, who don't 14 have homes, that have to worry now, that in about 15 two more weeks, where are they going to be? Are 16 they going to join the homeless? 17 I'm asking you to, please, use your power to 18 go after FEMA on this. 19 We also need, with communications, you know, 20 right after the storm, we had no cell phone service, 21 we had no Internet. We didn't even have mail 22 delivered for ten days in our city. That, we had 23 no papers being delivered. 24 We were totally cut off from the outside 25 world. 1 There has to be a better system in place. 2 You know, Jack Schnirman, our city manager, 3 was correct. And, originally, when we did the 4 Swift911 calls, it worked, but only to a limited 5 few. 6 There were too many people who had no idea, 7 who did not know what the resources. 8 Very oddly, we had somebody who came to a 9 City Council meeting, and one of the recommendations 10 was, that, why can't we, in the center of certain 11 areas, put up like 100-inch TV set, streaming 12 public service messages, as well as news, so that 13 even people would know that there is a place that 14 they can go to, to be able -- to just be able to get 15 broadcast to them, news, and what is happening in 16 their communities, and maybe telephone numbers, or 17 places where they can go for help. 18 We also need, we still have a problem with 19 debris removal. You know, whether or not it's in 20 the city, or even in -- I don't know if it's in the 21 Island Park, but I know it's in Atlantic Beach, and 22 in certain other areas as well. 23 I'm asking that we take a look at this, and 24 maybe set up a date, two weeks from now, to say, 25 that by the end of that date, everybody must have 1 their debris. And, to ask FEMA, or whoever it is 2 that can give us additional funding, to be able to 3 then, come out, without adding the cost to the 4 taxpayers as well, by having them to have to pay 5 for a private person to remove their debris. 6 We need to make sure -- and I'm asking, once 7 again, the State, I'm also asking that you help us 8 with rebuilding. That, when we take a look at 9 either residential or businesses trying to rebuild, 10 that you help them expedite the process, that 11 they're not mired down. 12 I know that any licensed contractor can work 13 throughout New York State, or down in the areas that 14 were affected by "Sandy." 15 I'm asking, also, that if anybody meets with 16 any roadblocks, that you step in on their behalf. 17 And the last thing is, also, that, like, we 18 need a concise message on guidance. We need to 19 have, like, basically, a one-stop shop, so that 20 people will know that, you know, whether or not it's 21 with flood damage, or if they need something with 22 FEMA, instead of five different messages from FEMA, 23 one message from FEMA. That they know whether or 24 not, if there is any place where they could go for 25 assistance, whether or not it's -- even for 1 emotional support, you know, to be able to reach out 2 and to find other people that they could go with, as 3 a family, maybe to go for counseling. 4 I that we really need to start getting this 5 message, and just show that we are joined together, 6 we are unified, whether or not in the work that we 7 do, but also in the message, and everything that we 8 can give to our residents. 9 And I thank you very much. 10 SENATOR SMITH: Thank you for that exhaustive 11 list. 12 To much of your dismay around the table, once 13 we finish with County Legislator Ford, we have no 14 money left. So -- 15 [Laughter.] 16 SENATOR SMITH: -- sorry, guys. 17 DENISE FORD: It's all right with me. 18 SENATOR SMITH: Sorry, guys. 19 But, we have one of our new senators, good to 20 you have here, Senator Boyle. Congratulations on 21 your election as well. 22 Senator Philip Boyle. 23 SENATOR BOYLE: Thank you, Senator, and thank 24 you for your leadership. 25 [Inaudible], where you have -- we have banks 1 that are -- insurance companies that are sending 2 checks. We saw today, a lot of this is completely 3 inadequate in the policy. 4 However, for those that are getting checks 5 that are good enough, they're being written to the 6 homeowner and to the bank, and they can't use them. 7 They're laying out tens of thousands of 8 dollars, and what the bank and some of the 9 insurance companies are saying: Well, you need a 10 general contractor. 11 Meanwhile, the homeowner says: Well, I want 12 to fix my floor, and I want to fix the bedroom, and 13 I want to fix the kitchen. 14 "But, no, no, you need a general contractor." 15 Who knows a general contractor, and -- that 16 you can get on three days' notice and get going? 17 What's one thing the Task Force really needs 18 to look at, how we can make sure that these monies 19 are available to the homeowners so they can get 20 going. They may know someone that can fix their 21 floor and fix their kitchen, and they can work as 22 the general contractor. 23 But, if we're waiting for general 24 contractors for all of these thousand of homes 25 that need to be fixed, it's going to be a very long 1 time before anything gets done. 2 SENATOR SMITH: Thank you, Senator. 3 Deputy Mayor Peter Casselli [sic] [ph.]. 4 PETER CASSERLY: Yes, that's "Casserly," and 5 I do appreciate the -- 6 SENATOR SMITH: Casserly. 7 PETER CASSERLY: Casserly. 8 -- and I do appreciate -- 9 SENATOR SMITH: [Inaudible] how much money 10 you're going get to. 11 Next. 12 [Laughter.] 13 PETER CASSERLY: Thank you. 14 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Not necessarily. You are 15 from my Senate district, Amityville. 16 PETER CASSERLY: Thanks, John. 17 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Let me remind you where 18 you're from. 19 PETER CASSERLY: I didn't really know what to 20 expect when we came today, but this has been 21 extremely helpful, getting everybody in the same 22 room together. 23 A lot of what I'm going to say has been said 24 already, but I think it's important enough to 25 mention it. 1 The insurance companies, I know 2 Governor Cuomo, who did an outstanding job from day 3 one of the storm, had said he was going intercede on 4 behalf of the State Insurance Department. 5 And, again, I think everybody is experiencing 6 the same thing, depending on who your insurance 7 company is. 8 I have -- I had a good insurance company and 9 I was very well taken care of, and I can't complain, 10 but, a lot of complaints from my constituents, 11 that they're being harassed, being asked for all 12 kinds of documentation, bills. 13 And, again, this is delaying them getting 14 back in their homes. 15 Also, FEMA; FEMA was very good with most of 16 the residents I talked to about initial funds 17 going out, checks to the residents, but, the 18 settlements have not been there, and there's -- a 19 lot of these people do not have the money to fund 20 these, you know, $100,000, $150,000 repairs 21 themselves. So, that has created a little bit of a 22 roadblock in terms of them returning to their 23 homes. 24 If you drive around Amityville at night, 25 there's still a lot of dark homes. There's a lot 1 of people that have not been able to return. 2 And it's not a question of, you know, lack of 3 electricity. They just don't have the funding to be 4 able to go back into their homes. 5 Raising of homes: 6 A lot of misinformation about homes, 7 depending on you who talk to, how much it costs, in 8 terms of FEMA. 9 There should be some kind of a packet that we 10 can mail to residents, that lets them knows: This 11 is what you have to do. These are the requirements. 12 Some people, they call FEMA, and FEMA says: 13 You have to have been flooded two times, and 14 documentation of two floods, in order for them to 15 consider funding. 16 Somebody else called, and they said they 17 got -- that somebody told them they had to be 18 flooded five times. 19 I don't know what the answer is to that, but 20 we need to be able to get -- because, again, 21 somebody had mention: How many times do you 22 rebuild the homes in their present condition? 23 And people will, you know, I think they've 24 gotten the message, some of these homes have to be 25 raised. They have to be. 1 And, you know, people are seriously 2 considering that, but they need the information 3 about it. 4 On a Village level, you know, we need to get 5 some determination from FEMA as to what the level of 6 reimbursement of funding is going to be from FEMA, 7 in order for us to take action to rebuild our 8 infrastructure, the parks, our beaches, so that, 9 you know, you have to provide some kind of a 10 semblance of sanity back to the residents again. 11 You know, I think most people need some 12 encouragement too. 13 I mean, everybody's been great; the 14 Red Cross, Island Harvest. I mean, there's been so 15 many things that have been going on that have been 16 very positive. 17 We got help from the Town of Babylon. We got 18 help from the Town of Huntington, that sent, you 19 know, 30 garbage trucks down on a Saturday to help 20 us out. I mean, it was great. 21 And, so, we can't complain. The 22 intermunicipal help has been outstanding. But, we 23 just need, you know, some help with FEMA, some help 24 with the insurance companies. And then, on a 25 municipal level, just to find out what -- what we're 1 going to get funded for, so we can take action and 2 begin to rebuild our infrastructure. 3 Thank you. 4 SENATOR SAVINO: I just -- 5 SENATOR SMITH: Senator Savino has a question 6 for you, Peter. 7 SENATOR SAVINO: Are you seeing in your area 8 some of the same things we're seeing; people who 9 were given FEMA assistance last year, in "Irene," 10 and they didn't have flood insurance, told, that as 11 a condition of future assistance, that they would 12 have to secure flood insurance -- 13 I see you're shaking your head. 14 -- and a lot of them didn't get it? 15 PETER CASSERLY: Yeah. 16 SENATOR SAVINO: Yeah, that is -- that is 17 going to be a critical problem, because FEMA is not 18 going provide assistance to them now, and they 19 didn't have insurance. We're going have to figure 20 out what to do with these families who are going to 21 wind up in all of our offices. 22 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: The challenges 23 [inaudible], faced, even last week, with the 24 rainstorm, I couldn't even get down some of your 25 blocks down south. I mean, even the residents 1 couldn't get down there. It's just the challenges 2 they're facing. With every storm, every change in 3 tide, change in moon, it's becoming a serious 4 problem. 5 PETER CASSERLY: Yeah, I think everybody 6 thought that this was a 100-year storm, and they had 7 another 99 years to go. And couple of weeks later 8 [inaudible] again. 9 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Talking about -- in 10 dealing with your mayor, Peter Emberg, just talk 11 about the issues you faced with the garbage also. 12 You had a temporary site at the old Brunswick 13 hospital, and I know that became a problem, because 14 the residents in the new development there. 15 Where are you at with that, in moving the 16 garbage? 17 PETER CASSERLY: That's -- we've completely 18 cleaned it up. It's been clean for a couple of 19 weeks now. 20 The DEC was very helpful. They allowed you 21 to set up these temporary sites all over the 22 island, with little or no paperwork. And, we did 23 have some complaints from residents; but, again, 24 there was no MSW in there. There was nothing that, 25 you know -- and it was cleaned up in a matter of 1 weeks, so, that's all been returned to normal. 2 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: And I appreciate you 3 saying that, but that's something I wanted, just to 4 bring to the Task Force here, in most 5 municipalities, you had no place to put the garbage, 6 because the resource recovery took a limited amount 7 of tons each day, and the amount of garbage that was 8 being produced. 9 I know the town of Hempstead, they set up in 10 the parks areas, Long Beach. 11 And, Peter, you had temporary places in a 12 construction site at a former hospital. 13 Freeport, was doing the same thing. 14 It was a major issue that the Task Force 15 should be aware of. 16 Municipalities on Long Island had no place to 17 put their garbage. 18 And I know, in the town of Oyster Bay, we saw 19 many parks in the back of John Burns, where they 20 became dumping sites. And, obviously, you run into 21 issues with the DEC and environmental issues. 22 But, it's something that the Task Force has 23 to think about as we prepare the report now, from 24 going forward, you and Senator Lanza, because it is 25 a major issue that many municipalities had faced. 1 SENATOR SMITH: Okay, thank you. 2 Let me ask you, just a question to the 3 mayors, and the county executives, reps, here. 4 For instance, the $200 million that you 5 talked about earlier, in your budget, is that 6 included in the 6 billion that they're asking for? 7 And I don't know if anyone is here from 8 Suffolk. I know somebody from Steve Bellone's 9 office. 10 And I think your numbers are somewhere around 11 1.6 billion? 12 Is that a compilation of villages and 13 towns, or is this, you guys have separate -- your 14 200 million is within there? 15 Mayor Hardwick as well, Mayor Biondi, all you 16 guys are all in one? 17 MAYOR BILL BIONDI: [Inaudible.] 18 SENATOR SMITH: I don't know. Mayor Biondi 19 is, like, "Well, I don't know. I'm not sure." 20 MAYOR ANDREW HARDWICK: We're at half a 21 billion. 22 SENATOR SMITH: See, I'm getting the sense 23 that there's still some separate battles. 24 So it's all in there? Okay. 25 Let me turn the dialogue over. 1 Marc, from your perspective, as a contractor, 2 I mean, everybody here is talking about, we know 3 what the needs and challenges are, but, there's a 4 big challenge out there, from your perspective; not 5 only from availability, but also payment. 6 And I think we need to hear that because, as 7 Chuck said earlier, I think this is important for 8 all of us. 9 The Governor will be submitting his report to 10 us within days. They're probably finalizing it 11 today as we speak. 12 And then we had hoped that you guys would go 13 online, read it, see if you agree with some of those 14 recommendations. Make sure Senator Fuschillo and 15 the other colleagues that are here, that represent 16 your area, you put that information to us, because, 17 from his report, we're all going to then take this 18 information that you give us, put together a final, 19 not only to the legislative initiatives, and also 20 determining how the appropriations side of what 21 we're going to be doing from the money from 22 Washington, is as directed. 23 So, Marc, if you could just -- 24 MARC HERBST: Well, thank you, Senator. 25 Thank you all, all Senators, for putting this 1 event together. We truly appreciate it. 2 As far as the infrastructure industry is 3 concerned, the immediate response was very 4 successful. 5 The interrelationship between the 6 governments and our private-sector companies, in 7 responding, seemed to work very well. 8 We had advanced planning, and, conversation, 9 lines of communications were open. And I think 10 everyone was up to the task and handled it well for 11 the immediate response. 12 Our concern now is the long-term recovery. 13 Before the storm hits, the infrastructure, 14 on Long Island particularly, has been in a series of 15 deferment because of the budgetary crisis that each 16 and every level of government has been facing for 17 quite some time; so, the necessary repairs were 18 not taking place. 19 Now the storm hits, the immediate response, 20 essentially, what we're concerned with, villages, 21 like Freeport, the city of Long Beach, they spent 22 everything they had. And if they get the recovery 23 for the money, just what was already expended, where 24 do they go after the fact? 25 So a lot of the repairs that are necessary, 1 that were being deferred, they're going to be 2 deferred even longer, because the money will not be 3 there. When you try to get back to normal, getting 4 back to normal was not being done in the first 5 place, because you weren't taking care of the 6 necessary repairs. 7 So now we've had the storm. 8 Now, what's the most important thing as far 9 as infrastructure repairs? 10 And I've heard repeatedly, the theme of 11 "build bigger, better, stronger," which we 12 wholeheartedly agree, but I would also like to add 13 that, what we should do is, also look at setting 14 priorities. 15 What type of infrastructure is the first 16 thing we should address? 17 And by what we saw by the response and the 18 needs of the storm, is the sanitary system and the 19 water systems should be priority number one. 20 So if you're going to build them better, 21 stronger, what you have to do is, ensure that the 22 operational needs are taking place, the elevations 23 are proper. The money must be spent there. 24 We need water and sewer systems first. 25 That's paramount. 1 Next would be telecommunications and 2 utilities, other utilities. But, we have 3 communication needs that we've also heard the 4 concern. That should be in the next. 5 Finally would be the roads and bridges. 6 Overall, we've had some damages of the -- 7 we've heard some of the bridges and the washouts 8 of the roads; but, overall, most of them maintained 9 and were operational, that we could get in and out 10 for emergency response, other than flooded areas. 11 Now you're talking about bulkheads and 12 raising/elevating roadways. 13 And most of significant flooding that we've 14 seen in Mastic Beach and other communities, that has 15 taken place before, not at that level, but we knew 16 where those problems were. The money has not been 17 available to raise those roads and improve the 18 drainage systems of those highway systems. That 19 must be done. 20 And, finally, I would say housing would be an 21 area that is -- we've heard a lot about, that we 22 should look at. 23 So those are the needs. 24 As far as funding going, of course, I always 25 want to get paid, my members want to get paid, and 1 that's obvious. But the allocation of money, when 2 it's coming to the federal government, we've to find 3 a way, a mechanism, to make sure it flows as 4 quickly as possible, so it doesn't get hung up in 5 departments. 6 If you have money that's coming from the 7 federal government, please, do everything possible 8 to make sure it doesn't get stuck in some pocket for 9 DEC or DOT before it gets down to the municipal 10 level. 11 The municipal level, the villages and 12 towns, want to get the work done, they want to get 13 it done as fast as possible. They have to have the 14 stream of funding go directly to them, or as fast as 15 possible. 16 And I think that's what's probably most 17 important as far as the funding stream. 18 SENATOR SMITH: Marc, could you do me a 19 favor, personally? I mean, we've got a good 20 relationship, but I've known your intellect, and 21 what the Island contractors have been doing. 22 Could you provide us with a one-pager, or a 23 document, of that nature? 24 MARC HERBST: I can get it to your office 25 before you get there. 1 SENATOR SAVINO: Good. 2 SENATOR SMITH: Okay, very good. Thank you. 3 Senator Carlucci? 4 SENATOR CARLUCCI: Yes, Senator Carlucci, 5 from Rockland and Westchester Counties, and this is 6 just to piggyback of what Marc was talking about. 7 Marc, could you address some of the issues 8 that we saw when we were just out touring earlier 9 this morning, the problem of just mold, and what we 10 can do, when we talking about housing, some of the 11 things that we can make sure that mold mitigation is 12 taken into effect when we are rebuilding? 13 MARC HERBST: The mold mitigation is a major 14 problem. And I think that, you know, a lot of the 15 contractor -- we've had some contractors from 16 Long Island actually went down to "Katrina" and did 17 work, and they had extensive education. 18 And one of the things we talk about, 19 particularly the Long Island Builders Institute, 20 has been involved in training. 21 And so what we need is to train a lot of our 22 workers, the general contractors, who are doing 23 that type of work, of how to mitigate it. 24 And a lot of the companies that have been 25 here, I think, have done an excellent job. I don't 1 want to mention particular firms, but what we've 2 seen is, a lot of the people who are doing this type 3 of work really have done a professional job. 4 But what we've seen is a lot of the 5 homeowners have decided to do it themselves, and 6 they don't understand the issues that are involved, 7 and they try to rebuild, and then it's going be a 8 problem down the road. And that should be a 9 concern. 10 So, as far as on the town level and the 11 villages, when you're issuing permits, that's 12 something, as part of the process, that we probably 13 should want to ask, and make sure that's taken care 14 of, to address the potential health concerns down 15 the road. 16 SENATOR CARLUCCI: Right, so maybe as a task 17 force, we can work together to develop best 18 practices, so when with there is rebuilding, that 19 we make sure that that is addressed, so we're not 20 paying the consequences of health effects down the 21 road. 22 MARC HERBST: Okay, sure. Okay. 23 SENATOR CARLUCCI: Great. 24 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: You want to speak on 25 behalf of -- yeah, why don't we hear from 1 Suffolk County. 2 ED MOLTZEN: Senator, thank you, and thank 3 you to all the members of the Task Force, for taking 4 the time today to gather this information. 5 We've heard a lot of good detail and 6 information already, so far, and I don't want to go 7 back over a lot of things that have been covered. 8 On the -- I do want to say that, on the 9 flood-insurance issue, we met very early on in the 10 recovery. I met also with -- some of my colleagues 11 from Nassau County were in the same meeting, with 12 the director of NFIP, who told us that the initial 13 claims process was slowed down incredibly because 14 insurance adjustors were having difficulty getting 15 hotel rooms in affected areas. 16 And we looked into it further, and they 17 couldn't get hotel rooms because there were 18 displaced residents in the hotel rooms, waiting 19 for adjustors to come, so they could get the 20 claims process started. 21 You know, on the issue of Fire Island, and, 22 you know, we've been working in Suffolk County to 23 facilitate a joint effort. 24 "Sandy" did not observe jurisdictional 25 boundaries, and it's been very heartening, in light 1 of all of the damage, and all -- everything that was 2 done during the storm, to see, on Fire Island, how 3 communities have come together. 4 And I know Senator Zeldin must be aware of 5 this as well. 6 The towns of Brookhaven and Islip, the 7 villages of Ocean Beach and Salt-Air, and even the 8 Fire Island Association, you know, private 9 homeowners, are joining on the Fire Island Debris 10 Removal Task Force, with the U.S. Army Corps of 11 Engineers, with FEMA, with New York State, various 12 departments, and with, you know, recovery 13 personnel in Suffolk County. 14 So we're working on that, and, you know, it's 15 so vital, that we address the issues of 16 wash-overs, that we address the issue of cleaning up 17 Fire Island and rebuilding it. 18 Because, it's not just the fact that 19 Fire Island is so incredibly important to 20 Suffolk County and the region, in its own right, but 21 Fire Island is a barrier island; it does protect 22 tens of thousands of homes on the mainland. 23 So, we continue to work on that. We're very 24 close to beginning the first stage of the recovery, 25 which is the debris cleanup, which is going to be 1 led by the Army Corps of Engineers. 2 We're hoping that this cleanup will be done 3 well in advance of the Memorial Day kickoff to the 4 season. 5 And I do think that -- and I would echo what 6 Chief Deputy County Executive Walker said about 7 communities and villages and municipalities coming 8 together and working. And maybe this is an area 9 where the Task Force can take a look, and that is, 10 finding ways to assist communities, town, 11 villages, to work together. 12 There has been absolute collaboration and 13 cooperation on Fire Island, with the Fire Island 14 Debris Removal Task Force. And this was sort of a 15 design that County Executive Bellone and 16 Governor Cuomo, I guess, set out, when we first 17 began to examine how to fix Fire Island. 18 And, to the extent that the legislature can 19 work to maybe reduce barriers, however small they 20 are, whether it's making it easier for villages and 21 towns to enter into intermunicipal agreements, 22 you know, every minute that's spent on legal 23 mechanics is one minute not spent on recovery 24 mechanics. 25 So, if you can -- you know, if you can take a 1 look at that, that would be -- that could possibly 2 be a tremendous help down the road. 3 Talking about some other issues, mold 4 remediation. Senator Carlucci brought it up. 5 We're continuing to look at that. That is 6 not an easy issue for anyone to get their arms 7 around, but we're working on it. 8 I think the Department of Health -- the 9 New York State Department of Health, on 10 December 5th, put out an advisory to health-care 11 providers and local health departments on mold 12 remediation, and the public-health impact of mold. 13 You know, they suggested, and we -- you know, 14 I'll leave it to the other professionals to talk 15 about it -- they suggested that, where there's 16 severe flooding, that professionals come in and 17 take a look at mold remediation. 18 And we're working to address that. It's not 19 an easy process to get our arms around, and I'm 20 not sure whether they're having any more success in 21 Nassau County on this issue, but it's been difficult 22 for us, but we're working on it. We're working on 23 it with the towns and villages and communities. 24 And, you know, I just -- I would leave it at 25 that for now. 1 I think that "Sandy" was an event, the 2 recovery is a process. 3 County Executive Bellone has stated that 4 we're going to be working with the communities, 5 working with the villages, like Mastic Beach, and 6 try to move this train forward. 7 And, you know, we thank you for any work that 8 you can do to help us down the road. 9 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you very much. 10 Ray, we're going to go back and start with 11 you. 12 We all are very aware of the integral part 13 that the volunteer fire services in Nassau County 14 and throughout Suffolk County played in recovery 15 efforts, as well as Freeport. 16 So thank you so much for being here. 17 RAY MAGUIRE: Well, thank you for inviting me 18 to join you today; and thank you, Senator Smith 19 also. 20 It's a very unique dynamic in New York State, 21 with the fact that the overwhelming majority of the 22 households and businesses are protected by 23 volunteer fire departments. 24 And the -- I could tell you, in the 35 years 25 I've involved in the volunteer fire service, I was 1 never more proud than after this storm. 2 You had situations, you take my own 3 department in Freeport, we had 80 firefighters whose 4 houses were severely damaged by the storm. 5 You take Mayor Ruzicka, who's the former 6 chief of Island Park, his whole entire town, every 7 member of his department, had impact. 8 Mayor Bill Biondi, he's an ex-chief of 9 Mastic Beach. Every single firefighter's house in 10 his town. 11 Yet these guys and girls still stayed 12 steadfast, stayed the course, and still went out and 13 took care of their residents, as they were sworn 14 to do, which is an unbelievable thing. 15 Mayor Hardwick, acting member of the 16 Freeport Fire Department, 80 of his members have had 17 devastation. 18 And I also have to say, Senator Boyle, who's 19 also a member of the volunteer fire service, too. 20 All of these folks stepped up to the plate 21 and did not turn back at all. You had an 22 unprecedented situation that took place here. 23 Senator Zeldin pointed out about the fact 24 that the proper equipment wasn't there. 25 I don't think that, even nationally, people 1 can wrap their arms around the fact, and I'll just 2 talk about Nassau County alone, we have 1.3 million 3 people here. That is larger than 16 states in the 4 nation that the volunteer firefighters in 5 Nassau County have to protect. 6 And, because of the dense population, because 7 of industry, and everything else that goes along 8 with it, we have all the same problems that entire 9 states have, in the county of Nassau. 10 One of the things that we're very blessed 11 with, is that we have a very, very dedicated force 12 of volunteers who are there. 13 They're -- they -- I will tell you that, you 14 know, Senator Smith protects his district as the 15 FDNY. The New York City Fire Department is the only 16 career fire department -- "the only career fire 17 department" -- in the country that has proper 18 manning. 19 And I know that I'm not getting into a union 20 issue; they, of course, would like more 21 firefighters. But, for the most part, you look at 22 most career fire departments, they're driving 23 around with two or three firefighters on an 24 apparatus. 25 If we had career firefighters on Long Island, 1 the devastation would have been far more worse than 2 it was. 3 We were able to put out hundreds and 4 hundreds of volunteer firefighters at the snap of a 5 finger, to go out and get into these communities, 6 and go out and be able to rescue, and do what they 7 had to do. 8 If it was career on Long Island, we would 9 have had a problem, because two or three 10 firefighters in a fire truck were not going to cut 11 it. 12 The thing that we have, and the thing we need 13 to do, we saw it in "Tropical Storm Irene," we had 14 firefighters that responded up to Upstate New York 15 after they were hit with the devastating storm. 16 "Tropical Storm Irene" came through here, and 17 as Senator Savino mentioned, the number of 18 constituents were hit with damages from that 19 storm, but nowhere near the dramatic impact that 20 they had with "Sandy." But, Upstate New York, they 21 got hit a lot worse. 22 In fact, ironically enough, there were folks 23 that evacuated Long Island, went upstate, and wound 24 up getting in more peril upstate than they were if 25 they had stayed here for "Tropical Storm Irene." 1 But what we saw in the volunteer fire 2 services, that there was a lot of unique challenges 3 that were put forth. 4 I know that we have Deputy County Executive 5 Walker here. Through him, and especially 6 County Executive Mangano, we put initiatives in 7 place in Nassau County, to start using large venues, 8 so that we could get a significant amount of 9 training out to the firefighters. 10 But that's where the problem is. 11 We do need funding from the State, through 12 the Department of Homeland Security Emergency 13 Services, to push money down to the fire academies 14 on Long Island and the fire academies in 15 Westchester, and otherwhere, locally, so we're able 16 to do this training. 17 We don't need to pay personnel to go to these 18 classes, because any volunteer firefighter that goes 19 is on their own time. 20 We need to have instructors, though, so 21 that we can get this important training out there. 22 The other thing we need to do is seriously 23 consider pre-positioning assets here. 24 To have stuff coming down from the 25 National Guard, from up in Albany, or even on the 1 other side of the bridges, is just not working. 2 If we pre-positioned equipment here, even 3 partner with the volunteer fire departments on 4 Long Island, to maintain that equipment, and utilize 5 it, so that it doesn't run dormant, I think will be 6 a very significant help. 7 Even Senator Golden, you know, you have 8 volunteer fire departments in your area also, who 9 are in dire need. 10 I think the training aspect, though, is the 11 biggest thing, because we are -- we're taking these 12 firefighters and we're putting them in peril, 13 ultimately, in a lot of these cases. 14 You know, just simply going down the street 15 in a flooded area, somebody might say: Well, it's 16 three feet of water, it's not that big a deal. 17 But if manhole cover is missing, that's a 18 very, very big deal. 19 You know, you've got a lot of debris, you've 20 got a lot of things that are happening, and it's not 21 things that our firefighters face every single day. 22 And I think that we could partner with the 23 fire academies, and try to get that training out 24 there as much as we possibly can, and as quickly as 25 we can. And, obviously, you know, funding is the 1 key for that. 2 Ultimately, like I said before, I am 3 extremely proud to serve as a volunteer firefighter 4 in this county, and on Long Island. And I know that 5 I speak for all of the firefighters. 6 The Senate delegation from Long Island, and 7 throughout the whole state, is very, very 8 supportive, but, I think we need to fine tune it a 9 little bit, and try to get some funding into these 10 training initiatives, because, as I mentioned 11 before, the county -- County Executive Mangano 12 worked very closely with the fire academy in getting 13 us the venue at the Morelle Center, where we're able 14 to put 150 firefighters in a room, to do training. 15 So rather than paying an instructor to teach 16 20 firefighters, we're using didactic training, and 17 we're able to put 150 firefighters in a room, to 18 better use -- to make better use of that money. 19 However, we need to do that more. We need to 20 do that more with Suffolk, we need to partner more 21 that way, and throughout the state, so that all the 22 firefighters are trained to that same level. 23 SENATOR SMITH: Thank you, Ray. 24 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Senator Zeldin? 25 SENATOR SMITH: I think Senator Zeldin has a 1 question, and then we'll go to Senator Savino. 2 SENATOR ZELDIN: One additional request for 3 Senator Smith and Senator Lanza to include into 4 their report, we hear a lot of discussions today 5 with regards to communications in the hours 6 leading up to, and after, while doing all of these 7 rescues. 8 Once, again, in Mastic Beach what we saw, I 9 know it was a problem on Fire Island, big time, is 10 that people are not getting -- they're not heeding 11 the order to evacuate. 12 And then as soon as the storm hits, they 13 decided that, the last storm they were okay. 14 "Well, I'm not leaving my home." 15 And then they call at the height of the 16 storm, and it's the volunteer firefighters and other 17 first responders -- I mean, in terms of lives 18 being lost, it's really the first responders who are 19 at the most risk, because of those idiots that don't 20 leave when they should. 21 And in many cases, what we saw in 22 Mastic Beach, were, the first responders would get 23 to their house, and then they changed their mind and 24 decide, "I'm not leaving." 25 So they didn't call -- they didn't heed the 1 first warning to evacuate. Then they call for an 2 evacuation, and they don't really leave. 3 And that puts first responders' lives in 4 danger. 5 And I just feel compelled to add, that the 6 work that John Miller, at the Red Cross, with your 7 shelters; Paule Pachter, Randi Dresner, with 8 Long Island Cares, Island Harvest; I mean, really, 9 the silver lining of what was good about what 10 happened, was watching the leadership within 11 Long Island, from civilians stepping up. And 12 that's the real strength of New Yorkers, the way 13 we come together in times of need. 14 So, I just want to give you -- I feel 15 compelled to a give shout-out to you three, because 16 you did so much to help us to recover. 17 SENATOR SMITH: Thank you, Senator Zeldin. 18 Senator Savino? 19 SENATOR SAVINO: Yeah, thank you for sharing 20 with us. 21 I'm curious; of the volunteer firefighters on 22 Long Island, how many of them are professional 23 firefighters in the city of New York in their 24 regular job? 25 RAY MAGUIRE: Well, every firefighter on 1 Long Island is a professional. 2 You're asking if they're a career -- 3 SENATOR SAVINO: Oh, I'm sorry. 4 A career firefighter. 5 [Laughter.] 6 RAY MAGUIRE: I just want to make sure we get 7 that clear. 8 [Laughter.] 9 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: You clarified that. 10 SENATOR SAVINO: [Unintelligible], as opposed 11 to, you know. 12 RAY MAGUIRE: The career firefighter -- 13 SENATOR SAVINO: The career. 14 RAY MAGUIRE: -- yeah, there are a number of 15 them, the number of firefighters from the FDNY, 16 NYPD, you know, Nassau County Police, police 17 organizations, that make up the volunteer 18 firefighters in their home communities. 19 SENATOR SAVINO: So I'm wondering if, 20 perhaps, one of the things we can also request of 21 the New York City Fire Department and the NYPD, is 22 that they incorporate some of this training in their 23 own training, which will then benefit the volunteer 24 companies on Long Island. 25 Would that something that would be helpful? 1 RAY MAGUIRE: Yeah, it would be, but we do -- 2 we do work in concert with the FDNY with a lot of 3 our training. 4 Our firefighter do -- they have firefighters 5 come to our academy, and we go to their. 6 It's, just, we have to kick it up to a notch, 7 to be able to make sure that we push out as much 8 as -- especially, the special ops training, which is 9 what they were faced with through this event. 10 SENATOR SAVINO: Right. And one of things we 11 found on the night of the storm, especially in 12 Breezy Point, which was a volunteer company -- 13 RAY MAGUIRE: Yep. 14 SENATOR SAVINO: -- there was this concern 15 about the rigs; that they could not go through a 16 certain level of water, and they had to wait until 17 later, when some other trucks came from somewhere 18 else. 19 Should there be different types of rigs, 20 depending on whether you're in a coastal community 21 or not? 22 Like, the kind of truck you need for, you 23 know, 110th Street in Manhattan may not be what you 24 need in Mastic Beach. 25 RAY MAGUIRE: Right, well, in a perfect 1 world -- that goes to what Senator Zeldin said 2 before. 3 In a perfect world, we would have as much of 4 this equipment as we possibly can. Everybody would 5 have it. 6 But that's not realistic. It's just not even 7 financially possible. 8 I think that if we look at what we actually 9 need, and that's what I mean by partnering with 10 the -- you know, all of the fire departments on 11 Long Island are municipalities, in one respect or 12 another -- whether it be a fire district, 13 incorporated village fire department -- is 14 partnering with them to get these rigs on 15 Long Island, and let the fire department utilize 16 them in training, so that they here, they're 17 serviced. 18 But the problem is, a lot of the 19 departments -- take Island Park, Mayor Ruzicka's 20 department; they're not going to be able to afford 21 to buy one of these big pieces of equipment. But I 22 would be rest assured, that if Mayor Ruzicka and 23 Chief Russio [ph.] were told, that, "Here, we're 24 going to put one of these rigs in your district. 25 You're going to take care of it, you're going to 1 drill on it, you're going to maintain it," I 2 don't -- so I'm not speaking for Chief -- for 3 Mayor Ruzicka, but I would venture to say that they 4 would definitely be interested in an arrangement 5 like that, as would other departments, so that 6 they -- you know, the thing is, you can't put a 7 piece of apparatus or an equipment and store it in a 8 garage, and then wait five years to use it. 9 When you think about it, the last major storm 10 event we had in Nassau County was December 11th of 11 1992. It was 20 years ago. That was the last time 12 we had very severe flooding which impacted the north 13 shore as badly as it impacted the south shore. 14 Senator Marcellino's area in Bayville was 15 devastated because the water crested the roadway and 16 filled up what they called "the bowl" in Bayville, 17 and those houses had eight feet of water in them. 18 That was December 11th of '92. 19 So, you know, when we're telling people they 20 have to evacuate, the problem is, it's the little 21 boy that cried wolf, because "Tropical Storm Irene," 22 they hung out, everything was cool, no problem. 23 I can tell you, that in speaking to a lot of 24 constituents, not one of them has said to me: 25 That if I'm told to evacuate again, that I'm 1 staying. 2 Most of the people are absolutely going to 3 heed that warning, and go. 4 So, I think if we can get this equipment, and 5 partner with the fire departments, to make sure 6 that it's maintained and available, that would help 7 Breezy Point, because, waiting for equipment to come 8 across the bridges, to get to Breezy Point, is an 9 impossibility. 10 SENATOR SAVINO: Right. 11 RAY MAGUIRE: But if we had something in 12 Nassau County that was pre-positioned, we could go 13 through the Rockaways and get into Breezy Point to 14 be able to render that aid. 15 SENATOR SAVINO: Did you lose any firehouses 16 in Nassau or Suffolk County, that were literally 17 lost? 18 RAY MAGUIRE: Yeah, there was a significant 19 damage. 20 You know, the firehouses are pretty robust, 21 but there's a significant amount of damage in a 22 number of firehouses, I know, in Nassau. 23 I'm not sure about Suffolk, what they lost. 24 SENATOR SAVINO: And what about their 25 equipment? 1 Because we had two firehouses in Coney Island 2 that went out. The guys lost everything. They had 3 their one pair of pants. I mean, three police 4 precincts, but they had their one pair of pants. 5 RAY MAGUIRE: Right, right. 6 SENATOR SAVINO: And then, afterwards, as 7 Con Ed was trying to reconnect people, people who 8 hadn't shut off their breakers, they were sparking. 9 RAY MAGUIRE: Yeah. 10 SENATOR SAVINO: And they were asking for the 11 firefighters to go in and disconnect. And they 12 were, like: We can't, we only have the one pair of 13 pants. 14 So, personal equipment for individual 15 firefighters may be something that we need to 16 consider as well. 17 RAY MAGUIRE: That was a big problem. 18 SENATOR SAVINO: It's very expensive. 19 RAY MAGUIRE: Yes, yes, very. 20 And the trouble is, that we're not talking 21 about, you know, fresh lake water here. We're 22 talking about salt water; there's sewage, there's 23 oil mixed in it. 24 When you think about what happened out here, 25 two weeks before this event took place, every oil 1 company on Long Island went and filled up 2 275 gallons worth of oil in everybody's tanks in 3 anticipation of the winter coming. So all of these 4 tanks became buoyant, flipped over, and we have 5 oil all over place. 6 I mean, that's another significant problem 7 that's impacting us out there. 8 SENATOR SAVINO: Who provides equipment for 9 your firefighters? 10 RAY MAGUIRE: The taxpayers. 11 SENATOR SAVINO: So they don't have to pay 12 for it themselves? Replacements? 13 RAY MAGUIRE: No. 14 SENATOR SAVINO: Okay. 15 RAY MAGUIRE: Nope, the taxpayers do. 16 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you. 17 RAY MAGUIRE: I mean -- if I just -- one more 18 thing. 19 Lieutenant Mike Chiapperilli [sic], from 20 West Webster, who was tragically killed on 21 Christmas Eve in that shooting, he was here, 22 operating as a volunteer firefighter in Mastic Beach 23 with Mayor Biondi's folks. 24 So, you know -- and we had folks that went 25 upstate. We had a lot of them come down here. 1 That's just what it is. We're very -- that's 2 where you folks really can -- you have a grasp of 3 the whole state. That's what we need, to get 4 everybody on the same page, and training is really 5 the ultimate key there. 6 SENATOR SAVINO: Thank you. 7 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you very much, Ray. 8 SENATOR GOLDEN: Thank you, I'll be brief. 9 The -- we're areas that, in my community, 10 where we were in a Level B zone, when we should have 11 been in a Level A zone, so the evacuation never 12 came. 13 So we lost the volunteer fire trucks, we 14 lost a whole host of equipment. 15 But what did become essential, were 16 deuce-and-a-halfs and 5-ton trucks, because, on 17 the ground, the water came in at 3 feet, went to 18 7 feet, subsided with the high tide two hours 19 later, and you were able to go in and get those 20 people out. They were floating their children out 21 on mattresses. 22 It was pretty -- it was one of the worse 23 scenes I've ever witnessed, and I was a police 24 officer for ten years. So it was sad. 25 We have to find a way, with these new maps 1 that are coming out, to make sure that the 2 designations are correct in the places, especially 3 along the waterfront. And they're out now, so we're 4 going to be looking at them, and taking a close look 5 to make sure that they're correct. 6 But, it was a harrowing evening. 7 And I want to thank all of your guys for 8 the outstanding job that night. All the fire 9 departments, the police departments, all the 10 emergency service units, and, of course, all of the 11 volunteers that came out that night, and 12 subsequently since, and helped to assist us in 13 getting this under control. 14 But we do have a long way to go, and I think 15 this Committee is going to go a long way in trying 16 to help these different towns and villages, and 17 counties. 18 But I would like to, if you have an idea, 19 does anybody know how many people in each one of 20 your villages are still without electricity, and how 21 many are still without boilers? 22 If you can just throw a number out, not a 23 long dissertation, but, if you just go around and 24 give us what you believe is still, no electricity in 25 those homes, no boilers in those homes. 1 Why don't we start with you, Mayor Hardwick. 2 SENATOR SMITH: A number. 3 MAYOR ANDREW HARDWICK: I won't give you the 4 sermon. 5 I would say close to 2,000. 6 SENATOR GOLDEN: 2,000 without electricity, 7 or 2,000 -- 8 MAYOR ANDREW HARDWICK: Without electricity, 9 without heating systems. 10 SENATOR SMITH: Mayor Biondi? 11 MAYOR BILL BIONDI: I would say, between 100 12 and 150 homes. 13 SENATOR GOLDEN: Without electricity? 14 MAYOR BILL BIONDI: Without electricity. 15 SENATOR GOLDEN: And what about boilers? 16 MAYOR BILL BIONDI: Have no heat also. 17 SENATOR GOLDEN: Is that, 200? 18 MAYOR BILL BIONDI: Yes. 19 SENATOR SMITH: City Manager Schnirman? 20 JACK SCHNIRMAN: I would say, approximately, 21 200 homes. 22 SENATOR SMITH: Mayor Ruzicka? 23 MAYOR JAMES RUZICKA: I would say, we're 24 looking at, probably, about 30 percent of our 25 village that does not have heating. 1 Electric, we're probably all capable of 2 having electric, but some of the homes still have 3 to be wired up, so it will be on an individual 4 basis, maybe 10 percent -- 5 SENATOR GOLDEN: And what's that 6 30 percent -- 7 MAYOR JAMES RUZICKA: -- out of about 8 1,000 homes. 9 SENATOR GOLDEN: How many? 10 MAYOR JAMES RUZICKA: Out of, about, 11 1,000 homes. 12 SENATOR SMITH: Nassau County? 13 WARREN TACKENBERG: We represent 14 64 buildings, 495,000 -- 450,000 people, but we 15 don't have that information [inaudible]. 16 But, we are representing these villages here, 17 and you're -- it's going to be the same story. 18 Probably most of the villages in the central 19 part of the island were not damaged that badly, but 20 the ones in the flood zones were just -- they're 21 all in the same boat. 22 That's -- that's a bad excuse, but that's 23 what it's called. It's the wrong place right now. 24 But, I can't give you numbers today. 25 SENATOR GOLDEN: And out of all those towns 1 and villages, on the remediation of the mold, where 2 are you in that? 3 And how many how many homes are still have to 4 be remediated with mold? 5 MAYOR ANDREW HARDWICK: I would say 6 [inaudible]. 7 SENATOR GOLDEN: So the other homes that have 8 been repaired, the mold has been remediated -- 9 MAYOR ANDREW HARDWICK: I would say, out of 10 about 3,000 homes, those 3,000 homes are in need 11 of moderate to major rehab. And, 4 1/2 co-ops are 12 empty. There's no one living in them. 13 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Marty, let me say just 14 say: In my Senate district, when you drive from 15 Baldwin Harbor to the village of Lyndonhurst, and 16 I'm in Massapequa, I spend a lot of time in the 17 village of Amityville, when you drive down south, 18 you know, you saw today, during the day, front doors 19 are open, and there's no half walls. They've cut 20 all the sheet rock, you know, from four feet, down. 21 And so you see, from front to back, in most 22 of these houses. Those are the ones that were able 23 to afford or have some kind of expedited FEMA or 24 insurance payments. 25 What we saw today here in the village and 1 Island Park, is -- and many other areas are 2 experiencing, where they don't have those expedited 3 payments, where they're not -- they haven't cut the 4 four-foot, and that's where the mold is really being 5 experienced, heavily. 6 SENATOR GOLDEN: Well, I'm just trying to get 7 handle on, how much do you believe the remediation 8 on the mold is still out there, and how are we 9 handling it? 10 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: I would say it's 11 expensive and pretty significant. 12 And, you know, a lot of these homeowners, 13 as you saw today, of a woman in Freeport, that her 14 low estimate was $89,000 to repair her home. All 15 the other estimates were well over $100,000. And 16 she has received, or got word from her insurance 17 company, that she would get $29,000 to repair the 18 home we were in. 19 And this is the problem, many homeowners on 20 the south shore, where the flooding devastation took 21 effect, is experiencing right now. 22 And then there's another problem, Senator, 23 that we experienced also. 24 That, homeowners are receiving checks from 25 their insurance companies, but then they have to 1 send them to their banks to get endorsed, and most 2 of these banks, because they're federally 3 chartered, are in other states. And by the time it 4 comes back here, you're looking at a three-, 5 four-week period, and it's only a portion of that, 6 maybe a third. And they got to go through this 7 entire process to get payments. 8 And Marc is shaking his head, because it's 9 most of his contractors out there that are doing 10 the work. 11 One of the things that, you know, we've 12 talked about here in the Task Force, and brought 13 this to the Governor's Office as well, we need 14 certification centers. You know, in regions 15 throughout Long Island and New York City, where, 16 when somebody gets a check from their insurance 17 company, rather have to send it to their bank where 18 they're federally chartered, maybe in South Dakota, 19 or somewhere, because the interest rates are 20 different, have a certification center, regionally, 21 where they can go and get the check certified, and 22 then they can start the process of rebuilding, 23 rather than wait three to four weeks. 24 And that three- to four-week period is for 25 every third of a payment that the bank or the 1 insurance company will release. 2 This -- this delays everything. 3 And when you have these homeowners that 4 you're talking about, in the municipalities, in the 5 metropolitan area, they have to wait for this, the 6 mold builds up, because they're not doing the 7 reconstruction, obviously, on their own. 8 I mean, we saw that house today. In the 9 crawlspace, there's still water there. Foundation's 10 cracked, the foundation's wet. How they ever 11 rebuild -- how she ever rebuilds that house, I 12 don't know. 13 I mean, some of the colleagues were saying: 14 Maybe this house should have been -- should be 15 leveled. 16 But you have, you know, 12 blocks of that, 17 from canal to canal to the water then, that's all 18 surrounded. And just in that -- 19 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: [Inaudible] -- 20 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: -- just in that one 21 particular zone of housing here. 22 SENATOR GOLDEN: Well, here's our problem -- 23 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: It just gets multiplied, 24 so it's not just, you know, how are we dealing the 25 mold issue? how do we deal with getting them money? 1 how do we deal with the banks? how do we deal with 2 insurance companies, you know, to get these 3 homeowners the money in an expedited manner? 4 It's happening for some, the majority it's 5 not. 6 SENATOR GOLDEN: Well, I think that's the 7 reason, we're trying to move, obviously, is to get a 8 prioritization, I believe, and how we can help. 9 Just in the handful of villages that we have 10 here right now, we have over 3,000 that are without 11 electricity. Then that's just a handful of the 12 villages. 13 So if we have that number of people in 14 Nassau County, and, in Brooklyn, has the similar, 15 and so does Queens and Staten Island, we have a 16 major problem. 17 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Let me quantify this for 18 you. 19 SENATOR GOLDEN: Okay. 20 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: From Rob Walker, the bulk 21 of the $6 billion they've requested, 4 billion of 22 that is for housing: rebuild, raising, repair. 23 Rob, do you want to talking about that 24 briefly? 25 SENATOR GOLDEN: And if you could have it, 1 how would that be distributed, if you could? 2 ROBERT WALKER: Yeah, the bulk -- and I know 3 the Mayor mentioned $500 million. 4 You know, the bulk of the problems that we're 5 facing in the county now are infrastructure, 6 housing, and business. 7 Business, there's about $400 million they've 8 requested for business relief. 9 You know, the businesses right now, you know, 10 do not want to take advantage of any of the SBA 11 loans. Some of them won't qualify if they're even 12 in the flood zone. 13 So, how are they going to reopen when they 14 don't even qualify for a loan program by which they 15 have to repay, they don't qualify? 16 There's no grants really available to them. 17 So, a major portion of it was asked, about 18 $400 million, goes directly to businesses in the 19 form of some grant subsidies by which we can get 20 these businesses back open. 21 At the same time, the $4 billion that is 22 requested of Congress, in the supplemental, is 23 for -- specifically, for housing needs. 24 And in some areas, as all of you mentioned 25 today, and some of the mayors have mentioned, 1 maybe there's some areas we don't rebuild those 2 homes there, but we look to go build them somewhere 3 else. 4 Maybe there is -- in many of the regards, 5 we visited homeowners, the County Executive 6 visited, that, literally, just got approved, after 7 "Hurricane Irene," to have their house raised. 8 The great $30,000 they were going to get to 9 have the house raised, only to have it flooded 10 ten times worse under this storm. 11 Now they're questioning it: Do I even want 12 to spend the $30,000, or do I want to move, 13 relocate, or possibly raise it double of what I was 14 going to raise it later? 15 And then, obviously, the building codes, and 16 things of that nature, gets brought in. 17 So, we also have, in certain parts of the 18 community, where we have condo complexes that have 19 100 to 200 people that can't get in because they're 20 boilers and all their switch gear are downstairs 21 in the basement. 22 Obviously, that needs to be raised. 23 So, the bulk of the money is looking at how 24 do we put -- we want people to go back into the 25 homes they live. I think that's what everybody's 1 desire is. That's community they lived in. 2 SENATOR GOLDEN: Sure. 3 ROBERT WALKER: I think all of us here share 4 that belief, but let's do it, if we can, let's make 5 sure we do it right. Right? 6 Without these dollars, I think, let's -- we 7 have to be blunt about it. 8 Without the dollars from both, you know, 9 the State, the feds, the County, all of the 10 villages and towns, without the dollars, and the 11 brains behind it, we're living a pipe dream. 12 We need to have the money, and then to go in 13 and really look at these people, and say: What do 14 you do? How do you plan right? 15 And one of this things that we've done with 16 FEMA, just yesterday, with the County Executive, I 17 know, then, he met with Long Beach, and we're going 18 to put these programs together throughout 19 Nassau County into each hamlet in the town, and the 20 townships, is, he says: Look, we can go in, bring 21 in planners. Let the planners look at what 22 happened, let them look at what caused these 23 problems, and how do they better plan for the 24 future? And what is their goals? What would they 25 do? What would they recommend? 1 We brought people in from Galveston. You 2 know, Texas, had a major problem with the storms. 3 We brought people in from "Katrina," Louisiana, that 4 have a lot of experience in dealing with this; and 5 how could we plan for a better tomorrow, without 6 wasting money? 7 Because the last thing we want to do is, have 8 this money, with no exaggeration, you know, just 9 float away a year from now. 10 Let's do it right, let's spend it right, and, 11 you know, use the right people to do it. 12 And that's where, you know, the bulk of these 13 resources will, in fact, go. 14 MAYOR ANDREW HARDWICK: I might add, because 15 no one has brought it up, Senator, a third of the 16 folks that have been affected this time, this is 17 their first time. 18 This is their first time, so they don't know 19 what to do, many of them. I mean, they've never had 20 to deal with this before. 21 So, we got to be mindful of that. 22 We have more than 400 properties, no one's 23 turned the key. These properties are still growing 24 with mold, as we speak. 25 SENATOR GOLDEN: Well, that's one of the 1 reasons we're having this meeting, is to come up 2 with some answers and, hopefully, help the towns and 3 villages and the counties that are in trouble. 4 But I got to tell you, we're going into 5 sub-degree weather. We have these people living in 6 this mold. It's going to get worse. 7 We have to find a way of getting the people 8 out of these homes, if, in fact, we can't get them 9 up and running, so we get them into safe 10 conditions. 11 That's a priority of this Committee, and a 12 priority, obviously, of the counties, to make sure 13 that we do what's right in those areas. And that's 14 why we're asking some of these questions. 15 But, you pointed it out, Mayor, how, you 16 know, it's freezing out there, and people still have 17 water in their pipes. Those pipes are going to 18 start to break, that the people are no longer living 19 in. They have no boilers, and you're going to see 20 far more damage than that's already there. 21 I think the last time I seen water in the 22 districts in Garrison Beach was in "Donna." That 23 was in 1960. So -- and that was only six inches of 24 water. 25 So, just to give you an idea of some of the 1 communities around the city of New York, and around 2 the state, that have been impacted by this storm. 3 So, we're there, and we're going to continue 4 to be here, until we get the answers and, hopefully, 5 the dollars to make this happen. 6 SENATOR SAVINO: One question. 7 You mentioned about, there were 400 houses in 8 your incorporated village that no one's turned the 9 key. 10 Do you have any idea how many foreclosed, 11 bank-owned properties are in your town? 12 Or, does anybody? 13 Because we -- we enacted legislation a few 14 year ago, it's the law in the state of New York, if 15 a property is taken over by a bank pursuant to a 16 foreclosure, they are obligated to maintain that 17 property. 18 Well, they seem to think they can ignore that 19 law. 20 So I'm wondering -- 21 Yeah, you're shaking your head. 22 -- how many of these homes; because, the 23 experience we've had is, where a bank owns the 24 property, or a real estate company, an REO, has the 25 property, they're not pumping out the basement, 1 contributing to, you know, an even bigger problem. 2 Are you seeing that in your towns and 3 villages out here? 4 MAYOR ANDREW HARDWICK: Absolutely. I can 5 tell you that -- 6 SENATOR SAVINO: We need to get on top of 7 that. 8 MAYOR ANDREW HARDWICK: -- we're in an area 9 between 200 and 300 homes that are in foreclosure 10 now. 11 I've been working diligently to reverse that 12 number. We've saved more than 200 homes in the last 13 2 1/2 years. 14 We've been working on, in fact, 15 Senator Fuschillo and I, have a program in effect, 16 where I actually held the banks hostage with 17 government funding. 18 "You don't work for us with our money the 19 right way, we take our money out and we move our 20 money." 21 And I got to tell you, when you tell banks 22 that you're going to go to Albany to a conference of 23 mayors, or you're going to go to Washington to a 24 conference of mayors, and tell them, that, "Maybe 25 we should join forces, because the banks are not 1 working for us," the banks want to work all of a 2 sudden, in the right way. 3 We've had -- we have to turn it around. 4 In many cases, the modification wasn't hard 5 for them at all. It wasn't as if the residents 6 didn't have the means to pay their mortgages. 7 They just needed to pay less, by a few hundred 8 dollars, which would change their worlds. 9 They could actually pay for their utilities. 10 They could not be threatened to make a choice 11 between prescription drugs and a meal. 12 So, there's so much that we're going to have 13 to do because of "Sandy," because there's so many 14 people that are going to take advantage. 15 And with that, we're going to have to have 16 some controls in place, because the gouging is here, 17 with "Sandy." 18 SENATOR SMITH: Okay, let me -- first, let me 19 thank Senator Fuschillo and his staff for putting 20 together what I believe is a very good roundtable. 21 To our other staff, Dana and Meredith and 22 others that are here, I thank them as well; all of 23 my Senate colleagues. 24 I'll let Senator Fuschillo have the last 25 word, but, for all of you that are around this 1 table, let me just say, thank you, on behalf of the 2 Senate. 3 I'm quite sure, not knowing anything you did 4 during the "Sandy" crisis, each and every one of you 5 did something very special for someone in a very 6 voluntary capacity, and we want you to know that we 7 noticed that, we know it, and we appreciate it. 8 We're going to work expeditiously. This is 9 not a task force that's going to be working on this 10 for the next three years. We expect to work on it 11 over the next month or two. 12 We really want you to take a look at the 13 Governor's report that he will be issuing, probably 14 in the next day or so. Let us know how you feel 15 about that. 16 We have to respond with some legislation, and 17 also deal with the appropriations side of what 18 comes from Washington. 19 Your input today is very important, 20 specifically from the mayors, around some of the 21 costs that you have. 22 But know that this is a significant task 23 force that has a very significant charge. We don't 24 believe it's too big for us to handle. We think we 25 have the mindset, the capacity, and the will to get 1 something done. 2 We like to look at ourselves, similar to our 3 first responders, who we know put their lives on 4 the line, and we appreciate that. 5 And we're going to do the same, as we heard 6 you, loud and clear, Mayor Hardwick, Mayor Biondi, 7 Mayor Ruzicka. We know that your people are 8 suffering, and we plan on moving, and moving 9 quickly. 10 So, with that, I want to thank all of you 11 again. 12 Thank the staff that is here. Thank you, you 13 have been helpful. 14 We thank the Recreation Center staff as well. 15 And, I would like to have Senator Fuschillo 16 just close us out. 17 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Thank you, Senator Smith. 18 Let me thank Mayor Hardwick for your 19 leadership, and for allowing us to be here today. 20 I thought it was critically important to 21 bring this Task Force to Long Island, to hear all of 22 your concerns. 23 So I want to thank all of the leaders we have 24 here today. You have played such an integral part 25 in getting people's lives back, to the extent that 1 they can be back. 2 I also wanted to recognize: 3 Randi, from Island Harvest; 4 And, Paule, from Long Island Cares; 5 And, John, from the American Red Cross; 6 The three of you, your efforts have been just 7 outstanding. 8 To those of you on the Task Force that aren't 9 from Long Island, without them, individuals 10 wouldn't have food. 11 You're from Brooklyn. 12 SENATOR GOLDEN: Long Island. 13 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: You're not from 14 Long Island. 15 [Laughter.] 16 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: You may want to move to 17 Long Island, but you're not from Long Island 18 [unintelligible]. 19 You know, everybody says, once in our 20 lifetime, some way back, we're all from Brooklyn, 21 Marty; so, I thank you for being here. 22 SENATOR GOLDEN: [Inaudible] married a girl 23 from there [unintelligible]. 24 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: Right. 25 But, John, Paule, and Randi, thank you so 1 much for all of your of efforts. There isn't a 2 place in Nassau or Suffolk County where the 3 American Red Cross, Long Island Cares, or 4 Island Harvest has not been, handing out food. 5 I spent a lot of time with Paule Pachter. 6 Thank you very much for your leadership. 7 You think I'm on your staff now, but, we do 8 spend a lot of time. 9 [Laughter.] 10 SENATOR FUSCHILLO: You know, one of the 11 reporters during the -- when we had an 12 availability before this, had asked the question, 13 what we thought of Washington. 14 If Speaker Boehner was here right now, they 15 would have never played the politics with the lives 16 of the people who need the recovery efforts so 17 much. His actions were disgraceful and 18 deplorable. 19 Fortunately for us, we have a very strong 20 congressional delegation in New York and New Jersey. 21 I started off by complimenting our own 22 Congressman, Peter King, for his efforts. He's a 23 true fighter. 24 And it's a shame that he had to embarrass the 25 Speaker to bring Congress back this Friday and next 1 Friday. 2 But all of your concerns are critically 3 important to this Task Force. 4 And, the money coming from Washington is key. 5 It's key to the rebuilding efforts, it's key to 6 the success of Nassau and Suffolk County, and the 7 municipalities within that. 8 So your input, it was greatly appreciated. I 9 thank you so much for the time that you've given us 10 today. 11 Thank you very much. 12 [Applause.] 13 14 (Whereupon, the Roundtable held before the 15 New York State Senate Bipartisan Task Force for 16 "Hurricane Sandy" Recovery, concluded.) 17 18 ---oOo--- 19 20 21 22 23 24 25