Opinions Split On Severity Of Hurricane
By Jason Banrey
On Monday, Queens slowly came back to life.
At 9 a.m., along Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City, restaurants and shops were receiving their regularly scheduled deliveries while residents slowly hobbled towards the 7 train to begin their work week.
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| A two-story tree in Jackson Heights was among a handful of larger trees that were knocked over in Western Queens. Tribune photo by Jason Banrey |
As a slice of the western half of the borough was ordered to evacuate, some remained divided about Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s order while others applauded his initiative.
“[Bloomberg] made the wrong call,” said Andrew P. who fled his apartment in Long Island City. “He made it seem like it was the end of the world and nothing really happened.”
After succumbing to the serious nature of the Mayor’s message at his press conference on Friday, Andrew grabbed his bulldog and headed for higher ground at his girlfriend’s place on 64th Street in Manhattan.
Though the evacuation was mandatory for his neighborhood, he would have rather stayed on his side of the East River than making the trek west.
“He inconvenienced me again,” Andrew said, still bitter about the Mayor’s botched snow job after last December’s blizzard. “What a disappointment.”
Gerardo Delgado stayed put with his wife in their seventth floor apartment overlooking the city as the storm neared.
“We weren’t worried at all,” said the three-year Long Island City resident. “Hurricane Gloria was worse.”
In Astoria Park, all major flooding subsided and all major debris was already cleared. Runners, tennis players, skaters and walkers filled the 65-acre park, flooding the track, tennis courts and skate park.
On the northern side of the RFK Triborough Bridge, Parks Dept. crews and lifeguards worked steadily to remove the leaves and limbs that rustled free from overhead trees and fell into the crystal clear water of the Astoria Pool during the hurricane’s pass.
“All we got was a bit of leaves here and there,” said one Parks official who was helping coordinate clean-up efforts at the 75-year-old pool, which reopened Tuesday. “We’re ready to go now it’s too bad we can’t.”
In Jackson Heights, Irene Javors surveyed her neighborhood’s streets for damage while walking down 80th Street past 35th Avenue.
“This hurricane was far worse than Gloria in 1985,” said the 27-year resident. She stopped next to a two-story tree that had toppled over the day before. “Besides this, I think our neighborhood did fairly well.”
Councilman Danny Dromm (D-Jackson Heights) echoed his constituent’s analysis of the storm’s damage and applauded the Mayor.
“As opposed to the blizzard last December, this was a different situation,” said Dromm of the Mayor’s efforts. “This time around, Bloomberg and city’s officials should be commended for their efforts.”
Across Northern Boulevard in East Elmhurst, one resident sat on his porch waiting for his power to be fully restored at his house on 102nd Street after a tree knocked power lines down two blocks away.
After spending nearly 24 hours with only partial power, Howard Cunningham joked about the hurricane’s lack of intensity.
“What hurricane,” asked the former Navy officer while staring off at planes taking off and landing at LaGuardia Airport. “Listen, I’ve seen some big time hurricanes in my life and that was not one of them.”
Despite Cunningham’s reaction, Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras (D-East Elmhurst) took the hurricane very seriously as it approached. She cancelled her scheduled trip to Washington D.C. for the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial.
Comforting constituents who were without power, Ferreras handed out dry ice and bottled water.
“We were able to preserve lives,” Ferreras said of the City Council’s reaction to the hurricane, which began as early as Friday morning. “Although not all of Queens was in Zone A, we were able to make everyone in the borough understand how serious this could get.”
Reach Reporter Jason Banrey at jbanrey@queenstribune.com or (718) 357-7400, Ext. 128.