By Howard Koplowitz
“I'm hanging in there. I'm just going to take it one day at a time,” said Gerald Smith, 58.Smith told the TimesLedger one week after the blaze that he was frustrated that the city had put him up at the Westway Motor Inn near LaGuardia Airport. Smith works for JetBlue at Kennedy Airport, where he needs his Port Authority ID card to get to work. He said earlier this month that he was not able to get to his job because his ID card was lost in the fire, which rendered 168 tenants homeless. No residents were seriously injured in the blaze.Although he is still without his ID card, Smith said he has been able to go to work for the time being.Smith said he shuffled between families members' homes for shelter after a brief stay at the Westway.But Jacqueline McClean, Meeks' district administrator for his St. Albans office, said Friday the office was able to relocate Smith from the Westway to the Jamaica YMCA and had contacts at JetBlue that can provide him with a new ID card.Smith said he filed paperwork to obtain a new Social Security card, which he expects to get later next week. He said he still has to get a new passport.The former resident of the destroyed six-story apartment building at 10-56 Neilson St. also told the TimesLedger that he was being charged for local calls and had to get his own food while he was staying at the Westway.A woman who answered the phone at the Westway and identified herself as the manager denied Smith's claim that the hotel charged local calls to the fire victims, who she said were “in and out” of the establishment for “a couple of days” following the blaze.She confirmed that the Westway did not provide food for the victims but claimed that was not the hotel's responsibility.”We don't feed people from the Red Cross,” she said.The Red Cross handled food for the victims shortly after the fire. Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 173.
