Thursday, November 1, 2012

MAJOR screw up by Bloomberg administration



From the Huffington Post:

The staff and residents of at least five nursing homes on the coastal edge of this storm-battered city were told by New York officials to stay put in advance of Hurricane Sandy, even though the facilities were in a mandatory evacuation zone and are just blocks from the Atlantic Ocean, according to accounts of those who work and live there.

As a result, hundreds of disabled, handicapped and elderly residents watched fearfully as one of the most severe storms in the city's history roared ashore, sending brackish water surging into the first floor of their buildings, flooding lobbies, basements and -- crucially -- backup power generators.

"It was like Niagara Falls," said a worker at Rockaway Care Center on Tuesday afternoon who was standing outside the building, a few feet from a huge pool of standing water. The worker, who declined to give his name, pointed to the high water mark, about four feet up the lobby door.

Inside, the water had torn apart interior walls. Sandbags that had been piled up outside were split open, their contents strewn about the lobby.

So why didn't they evacuate before the storm? "Call the mayor's office," an official at the facility said. "We were told to stay."

The New York Office of Emergency Management did not return multiple calls or emails about the condition of the nursing homes, the status of the residents, or the decision not to evacuate prior to the storm.

It's not clear what happened to the residents of Rockaway Care Center, or another nursing home in the community, Horizon Care Center. The entire community is without power, water or any other services. Shops and restaurants are closed. Phone calls to the nursing homes weren't returned.

The Huffington Post confirmed that at least two Rockaway nursing homes -- Surfside Manor and Lawrence Nursing Care Facility -- were later evacuated to Brooklyn Technical High School, in a leafy neighborhood of brownstones near downtown Brooklyn, on Tuesday night.


These facilities are all in Zone A. Why wasn't everyone evacuated, especially considering the frailty of the population? Heads should roll over this.

After the storm, Bellevue and Coney Island Hospital were also evacuated.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aw shucks, I want to see trees topple in Connecticut.

The NY media did not cover this, our elected officials were not on the scene, so it must not be important, right?

georgetheatheist said...

J'accuse!

"Heads should rolls" Whose heads?The heads of Andrew Cuomo and Michael Bloomberg. The Governor of New York State and the Mayor of the City of New York. Can you imagine calling this hurricane a "wake up call"?

You know damn well that that "wake-up call" was Irene, 13 months ago.

What have the Governor and Mayor done in the interim of those 13 months? What commissions were created? What priorities given? What official studies were made? What official recommendations?

The answer is they, the Governor of the State of new York and the Mayor of the City of New York, both were asleep at the wheel.

13 wasted months.

Anonymous said...

Bloomie hates Queens.

Jerry Rotondi said...

Emperor Bloomberg could always return after a "hard day's work"--put his feet up on the sofa in his comfy townhouse drawing room, and catch up on the daily stock quotations.
Meanwhile the more "common" New Yorkers took their hit from the "perfect storm" without servants to aid them.

Similarly--Nero "fiddled" while Rome burned.


Anonymous said...

That mother f----r Bloomberg's mother ain't there,
so why should he care?

Anonymous said...

This is criminal! Somebody should go to jail for this!
Sigh....this is Queens, so it won't likely happen.

Anonymous said...

Mayor Mike doesn't care about Queens. He only cares about Manhattan. The Rockaways aren't a priority. He doesn't care about the mass transit mess. He has a chaueffeured limo. This storm really doesn't apply to him. So all these poor seniors are displaced -- he isn't,
so he doesn't care.

Missing Foundation said...

George

It has to be more than the mayor and governor.

It has to be all of us.

Our local electeds: what the f*ck have they been doing but overriding us and putting that bastard in office, renaming streets and bridges, and playing one off against another with our taxes?

Our cultural community: what the hell museums and universities doing besides everything they can to further the mayors moronic stupidity rather than adhere to their base raison d'etre of making people think, question, and open their eyes.

Our media the offspring of the 'Cultural Capital of the World': what the f*ck have they been doing besides being a simple minded tout for the mayor and is minions, the 1% (well Dancing with the Stars and the Kardashians, too).

Our civic leadership: QCC, HDC, and all the other alphabet soup of bankrupt ideas, spineless backbones, and special limited interests that blinded themselves to the weeds and brush that grew up around them as they invoked conferences and papers that were issues of little moments.

All of us: for letting the above suck the air out of the civic politic and in your torpor, became too lazy to think, to spineless to state the obvious, and to venal to only stir yourselves to slit the throats of those Casandras who saw the nakedness of the Empire City's lack of clothes - in exchange for pennies and farthings and the glancing smiles by those pigs glutting themselves at the trough of your taxes.

Anonymous said...

Mayor Mike doesn't care about Queens. He only cares about Manhattan.
--------------------
Really?

Then ask your councilman why they overturn term limits - and ask yourself why you verify this action by sending them back to office?

Anonymous said...

Come the revolution....

Yeah, Manhattan (and parts of Brooklyn) are beloved. But it's not just that - it's also PEOPLE without money, PEOPLE with disabilities, aged PEOPLE: vulnerable PEOPLE who get the shaft. It would be so, so convenient if they all just dropped dead - but then who would run the parking lots? and all the other crap work these jerks need to support their way of life.

Anonymous said...

People in Queens need to come together and stop re-electing the same shit over and over again. Instead of voting party lines, people need to elect the best people regardless of party. Until this happens, we will have the same leftovers again. Term limit them all and get people that will improve our communities. Vote people in that LIVE in these communities, not the suburbs.P.S. That goes for all the Joe Crowley lovers -- Joe lives in Virginia and has no idea what his constituents need.

Anonymous said...

That goes for all the Joe Crowley lovers -- Joe lives in Virginia and has no idea what his constituents need.

It doesn't matter, he stays in power for one reason.

A sprinkle of fairy dust from you taxes and the second stringers that think they are competent and run things in the boro will gladly cut the throat of anyone that disturbs the torpid goo that goes for politics in these parts.

Just pick up the weeklies and look at the same few dozen page after page week after week.

When you go after them he and 'tha boys' will be like a glacier before the topic sun.

Anonymous said...

The Mayor screwed up so i believe that the money should come out of HIS deep pockets instead of the tax payers money! Like someone already mentioned, he doesn't care about anyone but catering to the other deep pocketers and a few speeches for publicity. The only reason this dumbo is still in office is because he gets paid $1 a year.

Anonymous said...

Bloomberg screwing up - shocking!

Anonymous said...

Bloomberg screwing up - shocking!

i have a funny feeling a lot of the anti-Bloomberg comments are from trolls working for the pols who are keeping their heads low and are embarking in a whispering campaign against him every chance they get.

We got our eyes on you guys so it ain't gonna work.

Anonymous said...

i have a funny feeling a lot of the anti-Bloomberg comments are from trolls working for the pols who are keeping their heads low and are embarking in a whispering campaign against him every chance they get.

We got our eyes on you guys so it ain't gonna work.
__________________________________________________________

Speaking of trolls...

Anonymous said...

I'd say that Bloomberg is giving them a lot of material to work with, Anon. No. 15. I'd also say that anyone defending him is doing some trolling as well.

Joe in Richmond Hill said...

Now is not the time for NYC Marathon. Have support personnel and runners help out the storm victims.

Email reps and news.

Boycott the NYC Marathon.

Protest at marathon.

NYC marathon causes multiple street and bridge closures. Getting around is hard enough. Detoures waste scarce fuel. City should conserve fuel.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
I'd say that Bloomberg is giving them a lot of material to work with, Anon. No. 15. I'd also say that anyone defending him is doing some trolling as well.
----------------------------------------------------------
AGREED!!!

Anonymous said...

THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS BLOOMBERG IS THERE BECAUSE CITY COUNCIL PUT HIM THERE. ALMOST TO A MAN, EVERY POLITICIAN SCRAMBLED TO HAVE THEIR PICTURE TAKEN WITH HIM. IF YOU CRITICIZE HIM, YOU CRITICIZE THE WHOLE LOT.

BTW, WHERE IS JOE CROWLEY?

Anonymous said...

Joe Crowley is MIA because he couldn't get a flight out of Virginia. He's home with the wife and kids.

Anonymous said...

Joe Crowley is MIA because he couldn't get a flight out of Virginia. He's home with the wife and kids.


THEN GET IN A GODDAMN CAR AND DRIVE UP HERE.