By Tien-Shun Lee
A week after the massive blackout in Queens and the rest of the city caused tons of refrigerated food to spoil, state Assemblyman Jose Peralta (D-Corona) called upon Gov. George Pataki and President Bush to use emergency funds to help businesses recover from economic losses.
“After hearing from many small-business owners who have been seeking compensation for their financial losses because of the power outage and finding that no one, not Con Edison, Gov. Pataki or Mayor (Michael) Bloomberg is stepping up to the plate for New Yorkers, I decided that we must send a strong message to our executive leaders and hold them accountable in good times and in bad,” said Peralta, who spoke in front of an Associated Supermarket on 103rd Street off Roosevelt Avenue last week.
Peralta said he had left two messages at the mayor’s and governor’s offices, but so far no one had responded to him, and he had been getting the run-around.
“We have called upon Gov. Pataki to create an emergency fund and also on President Bush to declare New York a disaster zone so that it can be eligible to receive Federal Emergency Management Agency funding,” the assemblyman said. “We’re going to continue to put pressure on the governor, the president and the mayor. Someone has to take responsibility for ‘Blackout 2003’.”
On Sunday, Bush announced that FEMA would allocate $5 million to New York state to help cover the costs of the blackout, a figure which Peralta’s staff members said was close to nothing, given that the Associated Supermarket on 103rd Street alone lost $60,000 worth of goods.
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) dismissed the $5 million as completely inadequate and also blasted cell phone companies for failing the city during the blackout.
Enrique Lugo, a community leader in Corona, said that at least six small businesses in the area were ready to close because of the losses they had suffered from the blackout which, when added to difficult economic conditions, made them no longer viable.
Many small businesses met at the Estrella Latina restaurant in Corona a few days after the blackout and decided to join a class action lawsuit that Councilman Hiram Monserrate (D-Corona) filed last week against electric companies, state power authorities and grid operators on behalf of those who suffered extreme financial consequences from the blackout, Peralta said.
Forty-six organizations and small-business owners, including the Asociacion de Bodegueros, the Korean American Small Business Service Center of New York and the New York State Restaurant Association, joined in the lawsuit, Monserrate said.
“National officials and corporate spokespeople talk about investigations and commissions, but we can’t wait days or weeks for answers,” Monserrate said. “In the middle of the finger-pointing and posturing, we are issuing a call for action.”
According to Luis Salcedo, the executive director of the National Supermarket Association, an organization of about 400 supermarkets throughout the city, including about 75 in Queens, each supermarket lost between $35,000 and $50,000 due to the blackout.
Borough President Helen Marshall’s economic development staff estimated that in total Queens small businesses lost about $50 million due to the power outage.
While no funds to help businesses recover from the blackout have been established, according to Corona leaders, the Queens Legal Services Corp. announced last week that food stamp and Medicaid recipients who lost perishable foods or medicine due to the blackout could receive replacement food and medicines if they reported their losses promptly.
Food stamp recipients who threw out food after the power outage could be eligible to receive half of their monthly food stamp allotment if they fill out a two-page form to report losses and return it by Sept. 8, said a representative of the Queens Legal Services Corp.
Anyone who has questions about replacement food stamps should call the corporation’s Benefits Hotline at 718-482-8133 on Mondays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. or the Senior Law Line at 718-937-7542 on Wednesdays from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., the representative said.
To receive authorization to have refrigerated medications that are covered by Medicaid reissued, people should call 518-486-3209.
Reach reporter Tien-Shun Lee by email at Timesledger@aol.com, or call 718-229-0300, ext. 155.
