Lower Manhattan Update – 11-7-12

11/07/2012

Now that the recovery process has made significant strides, the Downtown Alliance will produce a daily email (instead of twice-a-day) to provide you with all of the updates that could affect your home or office in Lower Manhattan with information from various agencies including New York City, New York State, MTA, Port Authority, Con Ed and more. If you would like to subscribe, please click here.

Remember, you can also get the latest updates and retail openings from Facebook and Twitter.

 

IMPORTANT LINKS

 

GOVERNOR CUOMO BRIEFING, 5:30 PM 11/5/12

Progress has been made, but still significant problems. Still outages in Westchester and on Long Island. Conditions in SI, Queens, Brooklyn pose great challenges. People are still in peril.

State issued directive to insurance companies that allows inventory or photographs to prove property loss. Local governments must pick up debris to prepare for approaching storm. Additional sanitation costs will be reimbursed by FEMA.

Hoarding gasoline is compounding the fuel situation and making it worse. Asked Obama to help facilitate fuel from other states.

Complications on election day may arise from displacement. We want everyone to vote. Just because you are displaced, you should not be disenfranchised. Signing executive order to allow affidavit voting for displaced voters. Your vote will not be eligible in district specific races if you vote outside of your district. We want everyone to vote and are trying to make it easy as possible. But it is a difficult situation. Will apply to federal government for reimbursement for cost of affidavit voting.

Thanks to volunteers from around the country and region.

Some local governments may want FEMA trailors. Will depend on the community.

If you have to evacuate in upcoming storm, people MUST take it seriously. It is not worth the risk.

 

GOVERNOR CUOMO BRIEFING, Noon 11/6/12

Can only vote for races you are registered to vote for. Some sites had to be moved due to power, generators etc. Important that you vote.

350k NYers without power. Until every family has power back, will work 24/7, Nassau has 103k without power, Suffolk has 89k w/o power, 63k in Westchester without power, 66k in NYC without power. Asking utilities not to release out of state crews.

Fuel conditions are getting better – delivery system is coming back on line slowly. Problem now is “panic buying” of fuel. Storm could complicate fuel system.

Home Depot donating 5 truckloads of cleaning supplies to NY, in addition to $1M contribution to NY and NJ.

 

MAYOR BLOOMBERG BRIEFING, 1PM 11/6/12

City recycling is suspended until further notice.

Wednesday morning’s temperatures will be in the mid-40s, but the wind chill will make it seem about 10 degrees colder. City is on high wind watch and coastal flood watch for tomorrow’s storm. 1pm tomorrow and midnight Wednesday is when coastal flooding is most likely (high tide). 2 to 4.5 foot surge predicted. Well below Sandy but could still flood low areas. Without sand on the beaches, coastal areas will be more likely to flood. Some very low areas that would get normal flooding, may be evacuated for tomorrow’s storm.

Effective noon tomorrow through noon Thursday all parks and beaches will be closed.

New warming center opening in Red Hook.

Con Ed continues to make progress. As of 11AM 91k, without electric. 30-40k of these have to do with the buildings they are in, not the utility service.  Many require wiring or other inspections.

Now only 47 schools will need to be relocated. Visit www.nyc.gov/schools. John Jay High School is closing due to stomach virus in shelter space.

Tomorrow distribution centers will be open 9A-12P because of storm.

There are long lines at the polls. Please be patient. And please vote. Board of Elections has had late deliveries of machines and late openings of poll sites. City is providing food at poll sites that do not have food options.

 

CHANGES TO GARBAGE COLLECTION

The continued redeployment of personnel to meet storm cleanup needs will result in reduced refuse collection services in areas of the City that were not, or only slightly, impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

Areas normally receiving three times a week collection may only receive two collections per week, while areas that receive two times per week collection may only receive one collection while the emergency debris removal work continues.

Heavily-impacted areas will continue to receive collection and debris removal around the clock.

In addition, the Department will not be collecting curbside recycling, until further notice. Department of Sanitation enforcement agents will not be writing violations for refuse left at curbside throughout the city during this emergency operation.

Residents of priority areas should separate appliances, perishable garbage and general debris to expedite clean-up operations. To help prevent future flooding issues, residents should also keep debris away from storm drains

Sanitation crews are currently working 12-hour shifts – 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM and 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM – and since the storm more than 55,000 tons of refuse and debris has been collected. A total of 728 pieces of sanitation equipment are dedicated to storm debris removal citywide including 270 collection trucks, 234 mechanical brooms, 114 front end loaders and 110 cut down dump trucks.

 

MTA Restores Additional Transit Services

Sections of A, B and C Trains Reopened For Tuesday Morning Rush.

Subway service in the Bronx and on Manhattan’s Upper West Side was restored for this morning’s rush hour.

  • In Upper Manhattan, A service is now operating to 207th Street.
  • C service has been extended to 168th Street.
  • B service is operating between Bedford Park Blvd in the Bronx and Kings Highway in Brooklyn.
  • Q service has been extended to Brighton Beach.

All service is operating with very limited capacity due to ongoing work to restore full service. There was significant crowding Monday morning on the 1-2-3 trains on the West Side of Manhattan. MTA New York City Transit is studying ways to adjust signals for the 1 train in lower Manhattan that will allow them to turn around faster, improving the frequency of service and reducing crowding.

The top subway priority is now restoring service on the G and L trains through northwest Brooklyn, where alternate service on the J and M trains was extremely crowded. The G tunnel under Newtown Creek has been pumped out but extensive work remains to repair the signal system. The L tunnel under the East River is still being pumped. NYCT will run extra buses on the B62 route to offer additional service through the area. The Z and Rockaway Park S remain suspended.

Updated subway map is here: http://alert.mta.info/sites/default/files/pdf/hurricane_recovery_map_bw_Nov6am.pdf

The following stations remain closed:

Manhattan

•         Rector St 1, South Ferry 1 (South Ferry closed indefinitely)

•         Fulton St J, Broad Street J

•         City Hall R, Cortlandt St R, Rector St R, Whitehall St R

•         All L stations from 8th Avenue to 1st Avenue.

 

Brooklyn

•         All G stations from Greenpoint Avenue to Church Avenue.  However, Hoyt-Schermerhorn is serviced by the AC and stations from Bergen Street to Church Avenue are serviced by the F

•         All L stations between Bedford Avenue and Bushwick Ave-Aberdeen Street.

•         All N stations along the Sea Beach line between 8th Avenue and Coney Island.

•         25th Avenue D, Bay 50th Street D, Coney Island D

•         Neptune Avenue F, West 8th St-NY Aquarium F, Coney Island F

•         Ocean Parkway Q, West 8th St-NY Aquarium Q, Coney Island Q

 

Queens

•         Court Square G, 21st Street G

•         All A stations between Howard Beach and Far Rockaway-Mott Ave and Rockaway Park-Beach 116th Street

 

 

Queens Midtown Tunnel Opens For Rush Hour Buses

MTA Bridges and Tunnels will open one lane of the Queens Midtown Tunnel for buses only during rush hour Tuesday. One lane of the south tube will be open for Manhattan-bound buses from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., and for Queens-bound buses from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. The tunnel will be closed to traffic at all other times.

The Queens Midtown Tunnel was flooded with storm surge and sustained significant damage to its mechanical systems that must be repaired. No timetable has been established to reopen the tunnel to general traffic.

The Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, formerly known as the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, was also flooded by storm surge. Pumping operations continue at the tunnel and there is no timetable for reopening it.

 

 MTA Voter Shuttle

The MTA will provide special “MTA Voter Shuttle” buses Tuesday on Staten Island, in Coney Island and in the Rockaways to carry voters from damaged polling places to alternate sites established by the Board of Elections.

The free MTA Voter Shuttles will run in 15- to 20-minute intervals from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. to help voters, particularly those displaced by the storm, get to polling stations. They are in addition to other scheduled bus service in the affected areas.

MTA buses will also be dispatched to carry Board of Elections polling station workers from the Queens headquarters in Kew Gardens to their newly assigned polling stations in the three areas.

 

 Long Island Rail Road

The MTA Long Island Rail Road will restore train service between Ronkonkoma and Riverhead on Tuesday, with connecting bus service from Riverhead to Greenport. The LIRR continues to operate a modified schedule on all branches except the Long Beach branch, and east of Speonk on the Montauk branch.

The LIRR’s modified service is required since two of Amtrak’s four East River tunnels are out of service from flooding associated with Hurricane Sandy. Modified service will be restored to Hunterspoint Avenue and trains will be added between Freeport and Atlantic Terminal.

Because service will be limited, waits will be longer and trains will be more crowded.  In the evening rush hour, customers should expect crowded conditions in Penn Station.  Customers are advised to stagger work hours and travel in off-peak hours, if possible, to help reduce crowding in the peak periods.

 

PATH PARTIAL SERVICE RESTORATION

Following Hurricane Sandy, PATH will resume limited rail service on Tuesday, November 6, beginning at 5 a.m. Trains will run from Journal Square in Jersey City to 33rd Street in Manhattan and in the return direction until 10 p.m.

Stops will include:

  • Journal Square
  • Grove Street
  • Newport
  • 14th Street
  • 23rd Street
  • 33rd Street

 

 

CON EDISON CONTINUES RESTORATION WHILE MONITORING NOR’EASTER

Con Edison crews and thousands of outside utility workers continue to work around the clock to restore customers knocked out of service, while also monitoring the Nor’easter expected to hit the New York area Wednesday.

The coming storm is expected to pack rain and heavy winds. Those winds could topple trees into overhead power lines, causing customers to lose electricity. The conditions could also cause a delay in the utility’s restoration of customers out of service due to Hurricane Sandy.

As of 11 a.m. today, Con Edison said approximately 118,000 customers were without electricity, out of about 980,000 affected by the hurricane. Con Edison has restored power to about 88 percent of the customers affected by the hurricane. The customers out of power include approximately 1,400 in Manhattan, 26,000 in Queens, 22,000 in Brooklyn, 12,000 in Staten Island, and 5,500 in the Bronx.

In Westchester County, the company reported approximately 51,000 customers out of service.

Con Edison continues to urge customers in Mid- and Lower Manhattan who were affected by Hurricane Sandy outages to conserve energy as much as possible while crews work to reinforce the underground electric system.

 

The company says customers can help by refraining from using non-essential appliances, such as washers and dryers. The company also is in contact with building owners to encourage limiting use of certain elevator banks or other equipment.

Customers can report downed power lines, outages, and check service restoration status by computer or mobile device at www.conEd.com. They also can call 1-800-75-CONED (1-800-752-6633). When reporting an outage, it is helpful if customers have their Con Edison account number available, if possible, and report whether their neighbors also have lost power. Customers who report outages will be called by Con Edison with their estimated restoration times as they become available.

Lower Manhattan Museum Updates

  • 9/11 Memorial: Note update below from our website as of today (11/6/12).  The Preview Site at 20 Vesey St. remains open with modified daily hours of 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.  The Visitor Center remains closed. The 9/11 Memorial is open to visitors after closures because of severe weather Sandy caused. While recovery efforts continue, please be aware of the following temporary changes:
    • The Memorial will operate under modified daily hours of 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
    • Previously reserved passes for dates and times affected by closures will be honored during temporary operations.
    • New passes will temporarily be unavailable online or at the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site. Visitors will be accommodated on a first-come, first served basis at our entry.

•             Skyscraper Museum: The Skyscraper Museum stayed dry through the storm. Without power, however, we will remain closed to the public until our electricity is restored. While some of Battery Park City does have power, our building has a flooded transformer which continues to affect our lights, phones, Internet, etc. We expect this situation to last several more days. Until we have power, the gallery remains closed. Please check on this page or our twitter account for updates, or call 212.945.6324 during normal business hours. (Please note we currently only have one line and no voicemail). At present, we have no new predictions as to when our base building’s power will be restored.

•             Wall Street Walks:  The Wall Street walking tours are resuming on Monday and take place Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 11am and 1pm starting at 55 Wall Street.

•             Anne Frank Center:  Returned to their regular operating hours (Tues-Sat 10-5).  Currently, they are rescheduling programs cancelled due to storm. Willing to help organizations recover in any way by providing workspace, wifi, etc.

•             Fraunces Tavern:  The Museum is still without power as they had significant damage to breakers in the basement.  The current plan is that power will be restored by Saturday and they hope to be open to the public again by Monday, November 12th.

•             Museum of Jewish Heritage:  The Museum of Jewish Heritage had some flooding in the basement and by the classrooms, but, incredibly, no major damage. The first floor galleries had been de-installed as a precaution. The Museum re-opened on Sunday, November 4. The artifacts have been re-installed on the first floor, and the Museum is back to its regular schedule. The phones are out of service (as of 10:30 A.M. on 11/6). We are happy to make our offices available to colleagues effected by Hurricane Sandy, and the public is welcome to come to the café and use our WiFi (no fee to go to the café). As always, the Museum offers free admission on Wednesdays from 4 P.M. to 8 P.M.

•             National Museum of the American Indian: NMAI lost electricity, steam, and phones, but the collections are fine.  They are still closed, but will give word when they reopen.

•             Museum of American Finance: Still closed but they are awaiting word when the building will reopen. They are still deciding on the opening of a new exhibit scheduled to on the 7th. They are waiting on news so that the exhibit team can finish the setup.

•             Free Great Tours:  All FiDi Walking Tours are up and running.

  • South Street Seaport Museum: The Museum will remain closed until power in restored to the Seaport District. The Museum’s escalator and elevator are out of service as a result of flooding and will take weeks to repair, once the venue is deemed safe for occupancy. It has a yellow restricted use sticker outside and no power at this time.

 

 

 

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