Business

Red Hook residents suggest post-Sandy projects for funding

February 26, 2014 Heather Chin

BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/Photo by Heather J. Chin

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The modest Realty Collective storefront at 351 Van Brunt Street in Red Hook was packed with people from across the neighborhood and borough, all united once again behind the desire to improve and strengthen their community following the devastation that Superstorm Sandy wrought on the waterfront neighborhood where they live, work and shop.

They were there to participate in the Red Hook NY Rising Community Reconstruction Program Open House, held on Saturday and Sunday, February 22 and 23, to get people to choose which post-Sandy storm preparedness/climate resiliency projects should receive $3 million in state funding.

There are eight possible projects ranging from support for community centers ($1-3 million) and ferry enhancements ($750,000-over $1 million) to a feasibility study for creating a locally powered energy grid for the Red Hook Houses ($300,000) and a drainage study (cost TBD).

Judging by the proliferation of green stickers on the project voting board, the most popular projects among voters were “resiliency construction workforce training” ($500,000-$1 million), emergency back-up generators ($200,000), solar-powered emergency lights for Red Hook Houses stairwells ($20,000 per building), and partnerships with local groups to provide financial assistance for housing and business retrofits ($500,000-$1 million).

Together, the estimated cost for those four projects could reach around $7 million.

“The number one thing I really want [us] to have is workforce training and emergency backup generators,” said Rhesa Benn, a mom of three young girls who was stranded in her Red Hook Houses apartment for two weeks without light and with little heat. “We don’t know what kind of storm will come, but at least if electricity knocks out, we’ll have a generator and won’t wait two, three, four weeks for electricity.

“Another good idea is solar lights in [our] stairways because a lot of people end up using candles which can’t always be safe,” Benn added. “I also like the idea of workforce training because after the storm, a lot of people were out of work, but this way they can be trained not just for work but to build their community back.”

Resident Gloria McWilliams, who helped house Benn and her daughters for part of the storm’s aftermath, agreed.

“I didn’t even know what the concept was, but I was drawn to that poster,” she said. “I believe that will tear down barriers and build up communities where one can make an honest dollar and reinvest in their community. As humanitarians, that’s really a plausible venue to have, to be a part of the uplifting and continued success of Red Hook.”

Popular opinion voted the least important project to be ferry enhancements, judging by the mass of red stickers next to it.

The open house also featured “focus sessions” about Infrastructure and Coastal Resiliency, and Social Resiliency and Economic Development. The weekend was the latest in a months-long effort by NY Rising and its local volunteer committee of Red Hook stakeholders to get citizen ideas and feedback.

Next, the local committee will review the votes and craft a short list of recommendations about projects and timeframes to the state. There will be at least one more public meeting in the spring to discuss those recommendations before they are submitted for Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funding.

As Carolina Salguero, founder and director of Portside New York and committee member, noted, “Three million dollars is not enough money to address all the things that we’ve discussed, but if we put it all on the record, if there’s more funding down the road, you have a guide.”