By Sarina Trangle
One Far Rockaway woman worried about where her family would stay during the months-long repairs slated for her Hurricane Sandy-damaged house.
A second stressed the struggle of affording rent and making mortgage payments after being displaced by the October 2012 storm.
And a third peninsula resident chastised the city for letting mold, rust and paint chips deposited by the storm in public housing complex parks keep children from playing.
One by one, families rose to share how the Oct. 29, 2012, hurricane wreaked havoc on their lives at the Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral in Jamaica Tuesday evening and how hiccups in the city’s response has left them stranded. More than 1,000 filed into the cathedral, with a packed first floor pushing a few dozen into the sanctuary’s second floor, to support a coalition of city religious institutions called Faith in New York as it unveiled a recovery platform.
Various religious leaders urged City Council members and Amy Peterson, director of the mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery, to press for 30,000 New Yorkers to get jobs in their communities doing Sandy-related construction work.
To date, Peterson said four Far Rockaway residents have been hired.
As the city acquires land through Build It Back, Faith in New York would like to see at east 50 percent of units built on it set aside for “deeply affordable housing,” which the coalition defined as reserved for those making below 30 percent and 50 percent of the area’s median income.
Anthony Perez, from Our Lady of Sorrows in Corona, called for reform of the city’s temporary disaster relief program serving immigrants affected by Sandy.
And Mavis Hall, of First Baptist Church in East Elmhurst, urged the city to pass the Fair Chance Act, which would ban employers from asking job applicants about their criminal history. She and Faith in New York contended the standard hiring practice puts people of color at a disadvantage and the city owed it to lower income communities recuperating from Sandy to level the playing field.
Citing the plight of speakers Teresa Surillo, Aracelis Cabrera and Cheri Jackson, Peterson committed to hosting a job fair promoting Sandy rebuilding work openings within 60 days.
Surillo said her family met with Build It Back architects to plan how to elevate their Far Rockaway home from the wrath of future storms, but now she is facing the prospect of not having a home for three to six months during construction.
Cabrera, also of Far Rockaway, said her family relocated to Brooklyn while waiting for Build It Back to repair their house, but was financially on edge because of a break-in, a court fight with construction contractors and the onslaught of rent and mortgage bills.
“All of our trust is in them,” she said of Build It Back. “We’re asking for help.”
And Jackson said the city must prioritize public housing developments plagued by spotty heat and hot water, mold, leaks and playgrounds still closed because of Sandy debris.
Peterson said the city had secured more than $640 million for Sandy aid and was focused on bolstering temporary assistance to cash-strapped Sandy victims, hiring locally and breaking ground on 500 sites and writing 500 reimbursement checks by Labor Day.
She was less committal when asked if the mayor would meet with Faith in New York leaders within 30 days.
“I don’t control the mayor’s schedule,” she said. “Certainly, you have access to the mayor, the mayor’s office … he hears your priorities, so yes.”
Reach reporter Sarina Trangle at 718-260-4546 or by e-mail at strangle@cnglocal.com.
