NYC Mayor's Community Affairs Unit: Storm Recovery Updates and Post-Storm Resources

 

Storm Recovery Updates and Post-Storm Resources

 

Post-storm resources are available online here https://www1.nyc.gov/site/em/resources/ida.page

This site contains a growing collection of resources, including the following:

- Get disaster assistance and report damage to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

- Get free emergency alerts and updates from Notify NYC

- Find a service center(s) near you

- Transportation to service centers

- Services offered

- Cleaning after a flood

- How to prevent mold growth

 - Rumor control

 

 The City is opening service centers

Service Center to provide resources to New Yorkers affected by this emergency.

The following locations will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

 

Bronx
P.S./M.S. 194: 2365 Waterbury Avenue
Bronx, NY 10462 

Brooklyn (Red Hook)
P.S. 15: 71 Sullivan Street
Brooklyn, NY 11231 

Manhattan (lower Central Harlem)
I.S. 88: 215 West 114th Street
New York, NY 10026 

Queens
M.S. 125: 4602 47th Avenue
Woodside, NY 11377 

Staten Island
I.S. 51: 80 Willowbrook Road
Staten Island, NY 10302

 

New Yorkers can now get disaster assistance and report damage to FEMA!

President Biden has approved an expedited Major Disaster Declaration that will help provide federal financial relief for New Yorkers recovering from the flooding damage caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida. The counties covered by the declaration include: Bronx, Queens, Kings (Brooklyn), and Richmond (Staten Island).

Apply for disaster assistance and report damage to your property:

Visit https://www.disasterassistance.gov/

Call 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. ET, 7 days a week:

1-800-621-3362 (711 or VRS available)

TTY: 1-800-462-7585

If you use a relay service (a videophone, InnoCaption, CapTel, etc.), please provide your number assigned to that service. FEMA must be able to contact you. Be aware that phone calls from FEMA may appear to come from an unidentified number.

 

Additional multilingual information from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regarding storm recovery can be found here.

State Resources

New York State Department of Financial Services

The New York State Department of Financial Services can provide residents and business owners impacted by the storm with insurance information regarding policy coverage for losses and suggestions on how to document their losses and safeguard their property.

New Yorkers can call the New York State Department of Financial Services' (NYS DFS) Disaster Hotline at 800-339-1759, daily, 8:30 am to 4:30 p.m. and by accessing the website at www.dfs.ny.gov.

 

Additional in-person help is available on a daily basis at the following locations:

Brooklyn: Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, Main Lobby, 1368 Fulton Street (9am-5pm)

Brooklyn: P.S. 15, 71 Sullivan Street (8am-8pm)

Manhattan: Assemblywoman Carmen De La Rosa's Office, 210 Sherman Avenue, Suite A & C (9am-5pm)

Manhattan: I.S. 88, 215 West 114th Street (8am-8pm)

Queens: Mobile unit, 24-01 87th Street, East Elmhurst (9am-5pm)

Queens: M.S. 125, 4602 47th Avenue (8am-8pm)

Queens: 79-01 Broadway (9am-5pm)

Queens: Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz's Office, 41-40 Junction Boulevard (9am-5pm)

Queens: Senator Leroy Comrie's Office, 113-43 Farmers Boulevard (9:30am-5:30pm)

Bronx: Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernández’s Office, 2018 Williamsbridge Road (9am-5pm)

Bronx: P.S./M.S. 194, 2365 Waterbury Avenue (8am-8pm)

Bronx: Assemblyman Carl Heastie's Office, 1446 East Gun Hill Road (9am-5pm)

Staten Island: Assemblyman Michael Cusick's Office, 1911 Richmond Avenue, #110 (9am-5pm)

Staten Island: Assemblyman Charles Fall’s Office, 853 Forest Avenue (9am-5pm)

Staten Island: I.S. 51, 80 Willowbrook Road (8am-8pm)

Yonkers: Grinton I. Will Library, at 1500 Central Park Avenue (9am-5pm)

Mamaroneck: Village Court House, 169 Mt. Pleasant Avenue (9am-5pm)

Draft State Historic Preservation Plan Available for Review Public Meeting on Draft Plan/Draft GEIS Set for September 28

 The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) Division for Historic Preservation today announced the release of the Draft New York State Historic Preservation Plan (2021-2026)/Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement.

The State Historic Preservation Plan (SHPP) guides preservation efforts at the local, regional, and state levels. It serves as a blueprint for identifying and preserving New York's historic and cultural resources and is periodically updated to address current needs, issues, and opportunities. Statewide plans are the product of collaboration within OPRHP and broad-based professional, partner, and public involvement from across the State.

A public meeting on the Draft Plan/DGEIS will be hosted online, Tuesday, September 28, 2021, at 6:00 pm. This meeting will be recorded and made publicly available.

During the meeting OPRHP staff will make a presentation about the Plan and be available for a question-and-answer session after the presentation. Free registration in advance of the online meeting will be required in order to attend. To register, please e-mail SHPP.plan@parks.ny.gov no later than Friday, September 24, 2021 at 5:00 pm.

This meeting is accessible to people with language differences and/or disabilities. Any person who needs an interpretive or disability-related accommodation or modification to participate must make a written request no later than close of business on Tuesday, September 14, 2021. The written request must be addressed to the Agency Contact below.

OPRHP encourages the public to participate in the online public meeting for the Statewide Plan and welcomes all comments on the draft documents. An online version of the draft Plan/DGEIS is available at the following publicly accessible website: https://parks.ny.gov/inside-our-agency/master-plans.aspx

A non-digital copy of the documents can be provided by the Agency Contact listed below.

Written comments on the Draft Plan/DGEIS will be accepted until close of business on Friday, October 15, 2021, and may be submitted to SHPP.plan@parks.ny.gov or mailed to the contact address below.

Following the comment period, OPRHP will prepare and post a Final State Historic Preservation Plan (2021-2026)/Generic Environmental Impact Statement. 

Governor Hochul Joins President Biden to Visit Storm Damaged Neighborhood

Governor Hochul: "Ladies and gentlemen, that is the definition of a climate crisis. We're experiencing a climate crisis as we speak, but more than talking about that, it's a humanitarian crisis. And you only have to walk down this street, as I have many times with our elected officials who care so deeply about the people who live here and throughout Queens and all the other effected communities, to know that people that we represent, who put their faith in us, are in pain right now. They're hurting. They look into our eyes and they ask us to help and we will not abandon them. Every one of us here, our elected leaders down from our President, to our Senators, our Congress members, our Assembly members, our Mayors, everyone, including our Council Members, we are here to help."

Hochul: "I'm so proud to say that we've never seen a response like we've seen from President Biden and his administration and our leadership in the Senate and the House of Representatives. They acted so quickly and as a result we have deployed teams on the ground to get immediate assistance to people, but this is a short-term solution, getting them housing, getting them shelter, getting them rental assistance, giving them money to help clean up, giving them food on the table - and that's what President Biden has enabled us to do to help support those efforts." 

Good afternoon. I'm New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, and this is my second week on the job. And my third visit to this street, because we had extraordinary circumstance, which happened just over, less than a week ago. And it's ironic to me because one week ago today, as I saw the path of Hurricane Ida, I called the governors of Mississippi, Louisiana to offer the help from New York. And they were grateful. Little did I know that just one day later, we'd be the ones asking for help, that we would have experienced a cataclysmic weather event of proportions, the likes of which have never been seen in our state, the volume of water that came down in a one-hour period from 8:51 p.m. to 9:51 p.m. last Wednesday night broke all the records, and literally the records had been set 10 days before.

Ladies and gentlemen, that is the definition of a climate crisis. We're experiencing a climate crisis as we speak, but more than talking about that, it's a humanitarian crisis. And you only have to walk down this street, as I have many times with our elected officials who care so deeply about the people who live here and throughout Queens and all the other effected communities, to know that people that we represent, who put their faith in us, are in pain right now. They're hurting. They look into our eyes and they ask us to help and we will not abandon them.

Every one of us here, our elected leaders down from our President, to our Senators, our Congress members, our Assembly members, our Mayors, everyone, including our Council Members, we are here to help.

And I'm so grateful to President Biden for being so responsive. He called me immediately, he had our great FEMA administrator call me, he called again, "what do you need?" And after I used to the emergency declaration in the crisis, we put forth a request for a major disaster declaration.

Now just about 10 years ago, I was a member of Congress. Nine years ago, we had Katrina and those of you who had experienced that understood that it took from October until December, even January before the aid came to our state. People were playing politics with people's lives back then, despite the best efforts of our leaders here.

I'm so proud to say that we've never seen a response like we've seen from President Biden and his administration and our leadership in the Senate and the House of Representatives. They acted so quickly and as a result we have deployed teams on the ground to get immediate assistance to people, but this is a short-term solution, getting them housing, getting them shelter, getting them rental assistance, giving them money to help clean up, giving them food on the table - and that's what President Biden has enabled us to do to help support those efforts.

But my friends, we are in this for the long haul. This is not a situation that's going to go away and the way I operate, I'm acting as if this same event could happen again in 10 more days. That's the preparedness that we need to have so this street, this alleyway does not become a raging river destroying the lives of people, their homes and their futures.

It's an emotional day for all of us to see this, but the chance to see these resilient people, and Junior right here, who's the mayor of the streets, Junior, how are you my friend? Junior is here. Junior is in the house. We are here to help you and mark our words here today, the President and none of us believe that we just show up to take pictures and walk away. We are committed to you and the resiliency of this community and this neighborhood. I want to thank every one of you for having the strength.

I don't know where you get it from, because this is one of the hardest hit streets and communities because of COVID as well. Our hospitals were overflowing with people from these neighborhoods just a year ago. So my friends we're not abandoning you we're here for you and we'll continue to be here when you need us.

And with that, I'm going to give a quick introduction to our Senator, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Who's been on the ground constantly. And I want to thank her for her leadership as well. She'll be introducing Senator Schumer and Senator Schumer just from the bottom of my heart as well. Thank you. We walked many streets.

The three of us walked Mamaroneck, other communities as well. The two of you have just an incredible team and we're blessed to have you representing the state of New York. Thank you.

LEGAL ABORTION BEGAN IN TEXAS AND WILL END UP IN TEXAS

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

By Councilman Rev. Ruben Diaz 18 District, Bronx 

 You should know that on January 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court approved “Roe Vs. Wade” which made abortion legal throughout our nation. 

 

A woman named Norma McCorvey, under the pseudonym "Jane Roe" sued the State of Texas and its Attorney General Henry Wade, bringing about the infamous case known as "Roe-vs-Wade. 

 

Ms. McCorvey (Jane Roe) was represented by 2 female attorney’s Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee.

 

The Supreme Court in 1973 was in its majority composed of liberal, left-leaning justices which resulted in a 7–2 decision in favor of Norma McCorvey ("Jane Roe").  These justices were of the opinion that women in the United States have a fundamental right to choose whether or not to have abortions without excessive government restriction, and they struck down Texas's abortion ban as unconstitutional.

 

You should know that in recent years, U.S. President’s, George Bush and Donald J.Trump have appointed more conservative, and moderate judges to the Supreme Court. This has resulted in a Supreme Court that is composed of justices that lean conservative.  The view and fears of the liberal left are that the court now is prolife and anti-abortion and that it puts Roe vs Wade at risk of being overturned.

 

Thanks to those appointments by Presidents George Bush and Donald Trump, people of faith who support the sanctity of life and oppose abortion have seen a change in the decisions made by the Supreme Court.

 

The (9) Supreme Court justices this month upheld the Texas abortion Law that bans abortions after 6 weeks, known as the “Heart Beat Bill”. The Texas liberals were defeated and the Texas abortion bill stands. 

 

It is important for you to know, that this Supreme Court decision now begins a new fight of titanic proportions in the State of Texas and it will affect the future of abortions in America. In the near future, one way or another you may notice that the appointments of President George Bush and Donald Trump have opened a path for the Right to Life and Abortion to be decided once and for all that, therefore this infamous decision which began in Texas in 1973 will likely end in Texas. "

 

I am Councilman Rev. Ruben Diaz and this is What You Should Know.

State Senator Gustavo Rivera - New York’s Cannabis Leadership Confirmed

 

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Dear Community Member, Last week, New York took a critical step towards establishing a legal cannabis market in our state. I was proud to vote in favor of Governor Kathy Hochul’s nominations for the Cannabis Control Board Chair and Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) Executive Director. The Marijuana Regulation & Taxation Act (MRTA), which we passed earlier this year, created the Cannabis Control Board and the OCM to oversee New York’s adult-use cannabis program, existing medical cannabis program, and existing cannabinoid hemp program. I want to congratulate our confirmed appointees, former Assemblymember Tremaine Wright, incoming Cannabis Control Board Chair, and Christopher Alexander, incoming Office of Cannabis Management Executive Director. I also want to thank Governor Hochul for recognizing the need to act on these previously delayed gubernatorial nominations after her predecessor neglected them and to our Majority Leader, Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, for leading our house to an expeditious confirmation. At my first virtual webinar in my series on Marijuana in New York, we discussed how you can be part of the business opportunities that the new law will create and the need to appoint leadership for the board and OCM to initiate the regulation-making process. Regulations will outline how to apply for licenses to participate in the retail sales and other cannabis-related businesses, set to begin in April 2022. I’ll keep you updated on the regulations and opportunities for public input as we follow developments regarding the cannabis market. When we passed MRTA this spring, we sought to ensure that communities impacted by decades of marijuana criminalization would have opportunities in the legal market. The law immediately decriminalized consumption and possession of marijuana in most places. Make sure you know your rights under these new laws by checking out the virtual webinar I hosted in August featuring legal experts.

Help me decide what our next webinar in my Marijuana in New York series should be!

What should be the topic of our next webinar? Cannabis Financing Select Medical Marijuana Select Licensing Part 2 Select

Submit your idea for consideration!

I hope this information is useful to you! My team is available if you need assistance by contacting 718-933-2034 or grivera@nysenate.gov. Sincerely, Gustavo Rivera New York State Senator 33rd District, The Bronx

Send me updates on Marijuana in NY

The Hemispheric Institute and BAAD! Present Naked Vanguard: The Arthur Avilés Archive in Motion

 

Streaming Live - September 13, October 13, and November 16, 2021 at 7 PM EST

  The Hemispheric Institute at New York University and the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD!) proudly present Naked Vanguard: The Arthur Avilés Archive in Motion — a series of conversations and performances in September, October, and November 2021 that will celebrate the publication of the Arthur Avilés Collection in the Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library (HIDVL). The Institute is excited to welcome Arthur as Artist in Residence at NYU for Fall 2021. The Naked Vanguard series honors and recognizes the aesthetic and political legacies of this ground-breaking dancer and choreographer.

The Arthur Avilés Collection has been digitally remastered and includes video documentation spanning Avilés’ decades-long career. This invaluable choreographic archive will be preserved and made freely and permanently available to researchers, artists, and the broader public by New York University Libraries and the Hemispheric Institute.

Arthur Avilés is an internationally renowned gay New York-Rican dancer/choreographer. His work utilizes aspects of theater and dance, often taking the structure of stories from existing classics and reconfiguring them in order to express the felt, actual, and fantastical lives of queer Latinxs in the city.  Avilés was born in 1963 in Jamaica, Queens, and raised in Long Island and the Bronx. After graduating from Bard College, Avilés joined the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, and toured internationally with the company from 1987 to 1995.  In 1998, alongside Charles Rice-González, he co-founded The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD!). BAAD! is a performance space that blazed a path for professional art and dance in the Bronx and has garnered local and national attention for its work. Avilés has received numerous awards and honors, including an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from his alma mater, Bard College, as well as a Bronx Recognizes Its Own (BRIO) award, and multiple New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Awards.

The Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library (HIDVL) is the first major digital video library of performance practices in the Americas. Created in 2005 in partnership with NYU Libraries, HIDVL began as an effort to preserve political performance works from the Americas, making these cultural documents available worldwide. This growing repository is a one-of-a-kind research archive that guarantees historical preservation and free access to over 1000 hours of video documentation.

 

Watch the conversations and performance on HemiTV.

Naked Vanguard: The Arthur Avilés Archive in Motion

All events are free and available to all and will be broadcast via Zoom on HemiTV.

 

Monday, September 13, 2021 at 7 pm ET

Origin Stories: A Puerto Rican Faggot from America

Join us for a conversation with Arthur Avilés, Lawrence LaFountain-Stokes (University of Michigan) and Ramón Rivera-Servera (UT-Austin) on the arc and significance of Arthur’s choreographic works, the politics of queer bodies in motion, and the relationship between community and the practice of dance and performance. Moderated by Ana Dopico.

Virtual Event

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_KeywYMckTZ2nvpsotg7Hhg

 

Wednesday, October 13 at 7 pm ET

Thinking Performance: The Maévas in Dialogue with Arthur Avilés

Listen in on an intimate conversation between choreographer Arthur Avilés and performers Elizabeth “Macha” Marrero and Rhina Valentin as they reminisce about the role of Bronx Ghetto Matriarch Maéva, a recurring character that appears across multiple dance works and whom the two performers have previously played. Moderated by Charles Rice-González.

Featured works include: Arturella (1996), Super Maéva de Oz (1998), Untitled #1 After Martha Graham (1994), 5 Star Dance (1994)

Virtual Event

Event and registration information:

https://hemisphericinstitute.org/en/events/the-naked-vanguard.html#oct-13

 

Tuesday, November 16 at 7 pm ET

Legacy in Motion: Arthur Avilés Live!

Debut of a live (this performance will be live at BAAD!) performance of A Jamaican Battybwoy in America, with Nikolai McKenzie, a piece where Arthur Avilés revisits and reframes his signal work, A Puerto Rican Faggot from America (1996). The evening will reflect the original work and its new incarnation.

This live performance will be followed by a conversation between choreographer and dancer, who will discuss Avilés’ works and their continued resonance today. Featured works include excerpts of: A Puerto Rican Faggot from America (1996), Arturella (1996), Morning dance (2000), Untitled #1 After Martha Graham (1994), El Yunque (2004), Intoxicating Calm (1992)

          Virtual event

Event and registration information: https://hemisphericinstitute.org/en/events/the-naked-vanguard.html#nov-16

The Hemispheric Institute gathers artists, scholars, writers, learners, and activists from across the Americas. We focus on social justice and research politically engaged culture and performance. We share this work in digital archives and amplify it through dialogues and public scholarship, residencies, publications, and gatherings. Our dynamic, multilingual network crosses disciplines and borders, and is grounded in the fundamental belief that artistic practice and critical reflection can spark lasting cultural change.

The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance creates, produces, presents, and supports the development of cutting-edge and challenging works in contemporary dance and all creative disciplines that are empowering to women, Latinx and people of color, and the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) community.

#NakedVanguard #ArthurAviles #ArthurAvilesDance #BAAD! #BAADBronx #NYU

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