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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer, on WNYC. Well, the weather around here is gorgeous today. Makes it hard to believe what we were dealing with on Friday, right? For anyone who waded through the waters, spent hours trying to get home, or had their home or car flooded, it was all too real. To talk about the cleanup and what went right and wrong, we're joined by the presidents of the two hardest-hit boroughs, Donovan Richards, Queens Borough President, and Antonio Reynoso, Brooklyn Borough President.

Welcome back to WNYC, both of you, Mr. President and Mr. President.

Antonio Reynoso: Good morning, Brian.

Donovan Richards: Good morning. Happy to be here.

Brian Lehrer: Let's start with where we are today. Are things in your boroughs back to normal this morning? President Reynoso?

Antonio Reynoso: Weather-wise, absolutely. Obviously, we're now dealing with the aftermath of what we saw. We have businesses and homes that are looking to clean up, seeing if they can register or just fill out some forms put forth by the city of New York, to see if they could get some assistance. Weather-wise, obviously, everything is back and running, but the lives of those that were affected that day, more challenges for them over the next coming weeks and months.

Brian Lehrer: Well, such as what?

Antonio Reynoso: Right now, insurance takes a significant amount of time for a lot of these small businesses to be able to get money to start repairing the damages that were done by the flooding. We have a huge issue in Brooklyn, specifically southern Brooklyn, with combined sewer overflow, which means that sewage gets into your home, especially in the basement, during floods. Then we have basement apartment issues or basement issues.

We don't have legal apartments yet, but basement issues in many of the smaller homes in Brooklyn as well. In all those cases, they were going to move forward with insurance requests to repair. Also, we're going to be speaking to the state, city, and federal government to see if there's funding that will be made available, because it was an emergency, an executive order was made for it to be an emergency in the city, state.

That's the next phase of the work that we have to do, is make sure people know where to go to apply for these things, and see if we can give them some relief in the interim, while they await the responses from their insurance.

Brian Lehrer: President Richards, how back to normal in Queens?

Donovan Richards: Well, I hate to say it, Brian, but it's not our first time at the rodeo, and I don't want to do Monday morning quarterbacking, but certainly, a lot of work to be done to make sure that those, once again, who unfortunately have endured flooding, are made whole or as whole as possible. I think the Brooklyn Borough President, Antonio Reynoso, raised some good points around insurance.

Certainly making sure that the federal government, because the governor did declare a state of emergency, which does open up resources from the feds. Now, we need to ensure that that money is reaching into the pockets and it does take a while, and it's unfortunate. Really, it's about putting together and working with our community-based organizations, like Neighborhood Housing Services, who've done tremendous work with us in the past, and then also ensuring--

Today, we'll have a briefing with all of the Queens electors and community boards, to grapple with where we're at in every corner of the borough, to make sure that the agencies are doing what they need to do, in terms of supporting us as we rebuild once again.

Brian Lehrer: Listeners, help us report this story three days after this storm. Especially if you're in Queens or in Brooklyn, which were the two hardest hit boroughs, but really, anywhere else. What aftermath of Friday storm are you still dealing with, that you would like these two borough presidents, or anybody else who's listening, in a position of power, to know about?

Do you think Mayor Adams handled it well enough? There's been a lot of criticism which, we'll get into, or anything else you want to say or ask, but help us report on how much things are back to normal and how much you need help to prevent this from happening again the next time there's a very heavy rain. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, or you can text us at that same number, or tweet @BrianLehrer.

President Reynoso, I saw one very serious situation in Brooklyn that was emerging over the weekend, that Woodhull Hospital, in Bed-Stuy, had to be evacuated so Con Ed could make repairs to the storm-damaged electrical system. Do you know the status of that and of the patients from there?

Antonio Reynoso: Yes. Every single patient has safely been moved out of Woodhull Hospital. There are no more patients in Woodhull Hospital. They've been entered into public hospital systems across the city. Right now, the power is back on. Con Edison was able to get the power back on, I want to say, yesterday. Now what we're working on is, every single, I guess, electrical outlet or electrical panel within Woodhull Hospital has to be inspected and has to be tried before we can let patients back in. That's going to take some time.

We don't have a timeline, exactly, for that, but Brian, can you just imagine-- Arguably, in North Brooklyn, that is a desert, I would say, for health care services in Brooklyn, lost their public hospital. It just pains me that the press conference we saw, the first one, at about 11:45, the day of, which was, I think, four hours too late, talked about patting themselves on the back over the communication and the work they did to prepare for this storm, and then we shut down a public hospital that was running on backup generators for most of the day before they can get the patients out.

We have updates that we're getting regularly, from Woodhull Hospital. They've been great, and they've been doing the best they can, but we don't have a timeline as to when the hospital is going to reopen, at this point.

Brian Lehrer: Staying in Brooklyn for the moment, to judge by the calls I've gotten from out-of-town friends, I think everyone in the world saw that video footage from Carroll Street in 4th Avenue, on Friday. Is that the part of Brooklyn that saw the worst flooding?

Antonio Reynoso: I want to say yes, but Carroll Street, specifically that area, is a problem in our borough, every single time. It doesn't need to be a significant amount of rainfall for us to see Carroll Gardens, or that area on Carroll Street, specifically, to be flooded, but we have huge issues across the borough when it comes to infrastructure and our inability to handle even the smallest rainfall.

We're deeply concerned, but it's probably why we're so frustrated. What I would have liked is, what was the work done before we got to the rainfall? Did we clear all of the catch basins before the flooding? What was the emergency work done? Obviously, I don't think that there was enough communication to the general public about the fact that this is going to be a significant downpour that is going to cause real flooding.

I'm concerned about it overall, but that is one of the worst places. Other things that I just want to note, Brian, is that we have these basement apartments, or basement areas, all throughout Brooklyn, especially in south Brooklyn, and there's no way to stop water from going in there in any meaningful way. While you might have not seen the water five feet high or four feet high, the way it was in Carroll Street, the amount of flooding that happened in these basements was significant and problematic.

Brian Lehrer: What about in Queens, for President Richards? I mean, unlike during Ida, from what I've seen, there were no fatalities reported, so that's good, but lots of highway flooding, the Cross Island and the Grand Central, LaGuardia Terminal A, I heard a soundbite of one guy who got stuck on the Cross Island, just off the Throgs Neck Bridge, for like four hours, before he was able to be even rescued from his car, no less drive it away.

Did the same neighborhoods, with a lot of basements that were flooded, bear the brunt of this storm as with Ida?

Donovan Richards: I'll say we've made some significant progress in parts of Queens. Going back to my time in the council, when I chaired the environmental protection committee, I pushed very hard for southern Queens to see historic investment, which was about $2.5 billion. Many of those projects, some that are still ongoing, really did make a difference in this storm, where we did not see flooding in those historic parts of the borough.

The big challenge, as you just mentioned now, is now we're seeing flooding on the BQE. We're seeing it in places we historically have not seen it, at this specific level. We all have to look at short-term and long-term strategies. I think in terms of the alert system, certainly, and I'm not trying to Monday morning quarterback, once again, but the bottom line is that the city has to elevate when we see these storms coming in.

We have to alert the public in a real way. Notify NYC is a nice little app to have, I have it, but the bottom line is, we need the mayor on TV, we need commissioners on the television really sounding the alarm on the importance of not traveling when we see this sort of catastrophic weather patterns coming our way. We're still dealing with some of the same areas. I talked about Flushing, Peck Avenue, once again, that neighborhood where we lost several families to Ida, during Ida, that block flooded again.

I think some of the long-term solutions we're thinking about largely is how do we buy out some of these folks and return that land back into parks, maybe do some blue belt systems, because unfortunately, there's no infrastructure that you can really put in place that will alleviate them from seeing this level of flooding short-term and long-term, no matter how much you invest, they're in really low lying areas. Rockaways, once again, certain parts hit.

Once again, we've seen some historic investment there. At the end of the day, there was some success stories, but the bottom line is, we have a long way to go to really ensure that we are investing in this infrastructure that we're so behind in doing.

Brian Lehrer: We are New York and New Jersey Public Radio, and live streaming at wnyc.org, on the New York side right now, with Donovan Richards, the Queens Borough President, and Antonio Reynoso, the Brooklyn Borough President, as we talk about life in the post-diluvian world, is that the word? Post-diluvian, after the flood on Friday. Let's take a Queen's call, from Lisa, in Long Island City. You're on WNYC. Hi, Lisa.

Lisa: Hi, Brian. My name is Lisa Goran. I am a long-time resident of Long Island City and a board member of a small local nonprofit that we just got a small grant to, and just launched a project to develop a community-based vision plan for resiliency and comprehensive planning at Hunters Point North. I just would like to-- I'm sure President Richards understands that Hunters Point North is situated in a floodplain. It remains at severe risk for storm surge and rising waters.

Certainly, there was a lot of flooding, flooding that combined sewer overflow in basements in Long Island City. There's even sunny day flooding along the coast of Hunters Point. As I said, we've just launched this community-based project to create a vision plan for resiliency and comprehensive planning, and smart approach, responsible growth. We're actually doing a site walk on October 15th, that we would love President Richards to join us, looking at key points along the coast that are particularly vulnerable.

Brian Lehrer: Lisa, you've done a good job here, of laying out some of the vulnerable points. What's the biggest thing you think you want?

Lisa: The biggest thing is comprehensive planning for resiliency and sustainable communities, equitable growth. Dealing with critical infrastructure, affordable housing, really responsible, comprehensive urban planning that takes into account the real current resiliency needs, based on current reports for sea rise and storm surge. It's not just Hunters Point. The coast continues along, all around the city. Buildings are, by and large, in many neighborhoods, very, very close, too close to the coastline.

That's creating hazards for not just those buildings, but also for the communities behind those buildings, which are at severe risk of flooding.

Brian Lehrer: Hunters Point, for people who don't know, down by the East River, in Queens, last stop on the seven train, if I remember correctly, in Queens, is Hunters Point Avenue.

Lisa: First stop.

Brian Lehrer: What's that?

Lisa: If you're coming from--

Brian Lehrer: First stop.

Lisa: First stop from Midtown Manhattan. If you're coming from--

Donovan Richards: Exactly, first stop, we're not getting backwards.

Lisa: That's right. [laughs]

Brian Lehrer: Well, I said the last stop if you're coming from Queens, as a Queens born and raised kid, I was giving a Queens-centric perspective on the map, I thought. President Richards, go ahead.

Donovan Richards: No, I was saying-- This is music to my ears. Let me say, October 15th, certainly, if you can email that over to us at drichards@queensvp.org, we definitely will look out for that. I am happy to report that we are, and I believe we'll be in conversations with the city, to solve for many of the things you're talking about now, to really think about a comprehensive vision for the waterfront, much that has been developed, but still much undeveloped in Long Island City.

We look forward to solving for many of the issues you talked about, affordable housing, commercial opportunities, trying to create this live, work, and play vision for Long Island City, but also, how do we enhance the infrastructure as we have these conversations as well. I look forward to certainly sharing much more news on this in the near future. I look forward to, of course, this being a community-led vision as we develop the rest of the waterfront up there.

Brian Lehrer: Cora, in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Cora. Where in Brooklyn?

Cora: Yes, I am in the lower Park Slope. I guess you call it Crown Heights. The Washington Avenue and Pacific Street. I have two issues. I'll try to be quick. One, every time we have these major rainfalls, our basement floods and we report it with the Department of Environment Protection. Finally, they acknowledge that the sewer line are not large enough to handle the water system that comes down, because we are at the bottom of the hill at Pacific and Washington Avenue. That's one issue.

The other issue, when we have this flooding and these heavier rains, Con Edison, the electrical box in our building becomes a waterfall, because Con Edison, all the lines that from the street come into our building, the electrical lines end up being flooded. Then, in our basement, there is this electrical box, that nobody touches, and there is water coming out of it. Every time we tell Con Edison, they say, "It's safe, it's very well insulated, we will fix it," but they haven't done that and this has been going on for three years.

Brian Lehrer: President Reynoso, talk to Cora.

Antonio Reynoso: Yes. Cora's absolutely right about just the issue of capacity that we have in our sewer system, in Brooklyn, is deeply flawed for this new age of climate change. I think that's the first conversation we need to have with the administration, with the state, and with the federal government, just in general. No matter--

Cora: Who is responsible, who is responsible to fix the pipes? Is it us, because it was under our sidewalk, or is it the city?

Antonio Reynoso: Cora, there's two issues there. The issues we have is that there's no comprehensive planning of the work that needs to happen in the city. We kind of do things step-by-step, or we build in isolation or in silos. We don't think comprehensively about the entire city's infrastructure and how we're going to deal with it to solve for these long-term issues, is the first part.

The other thing is, with Con Edison, specifically, is that Con Edison is absolutely a big problem when it comes to how they built their infrastructure. The Woodhull Hospital situation wasn't necessarily a hospital problem, it was the fact that the breaker and the work that Con Edison needed to do wasn't there and we lost power, and that triggered other issues to happen in the hospital.

Con Edison and its infrastructure needs to be looked at in a deep way, and given its franchise agreement with the city of New York, these are the type of conversations we need to have at the city council, that ensures that they're doing everything they possibly can to not have these electrical outbreakers, specifically in basements, or even in first floors of buildings, but specifically in areas where there is a flood plain.

We're seeing that in newer buildings, where they're building all these things on top of buildings as opposed to where it usually is, which is in the basement. Those that are in the basement are going to continuously be a problem unless we either pass laws, or we incentivize Con Edison to start building out this infrastructure. Two things that we haven't done.

Brian Lehrer: Let me get one more call in here. Francis, in Red Hook. You're on WNYC. Hi, Francis.

Francis: Hi, Brian. How are you doing?

Brian Lehrer: Doing all right. What you got?

Francis: Well, I just wanted to call to-- I believe it was our Bronx Borough President, who stated that we didn't really get a good press conference heads-up from our mayor. For me, living in Red Hook, my emergency alert for flooding came at 9:22, which was about an hour after the high tide, and living on a high water plain, all the basements were flooded. Secondly, I wonder if there can be requirements for landlords to have some pumps in any space that involves a basement, in order to keep people safe in their homes, just like a carbon monoxide detector, or a smoke detector.

Brian Lehrer: Francis, thank you very much. That's a really interesting idea. I'm going to let one other caller pile on here, because so many people, I know, on Friday morning, were waiting for the mayor to say something, or went out without being prepared, into what they knew was heavy rain outside, but not to the extent that it actually was, and hadn't gotten any word from the city, in advance of having to go out in it and take kids to school, and everything.

Tazine, in Brooklyn, I think, wants to vent a little on that, too. Tazine, you're on WNYC. Hello.

Tazine: Hello. Good morning, Brian. Venting is right. I want to actually say that Friday morning would've actually been too late for [unintelligible 00:20:39] our mayor and the city to give any sort of guidance as to what parents should do. Information should have come the night before, so parents could be prepared. Now, look, I'm not under any illusion that families have the ability to stay home. All families do not have that ability, nor do they have transportation accessibility.

What we do know is, folks that are working, it's even more difficult for them to leave work and come and pick up the kids, in times of emergency. What we wanted, as parents, was to get a heads up and proper communications throughout, as to what to do and what not to do.

Brian Lehrer: Tazine, thank you very much. There is a soundbite making the rounds now, of the mayor defending President Richards, his role there, saying, "Look, nobody died in this storm." He might've also said nobody was injured. I'm not sure, but nobody died. There was a response that was fast when it was happening. Mass transit got back to normal in a day. Couldn't have foreseen that it was going to be what it was.

Yes, it was going to be another big rain day, like we had big rain days the previous weekend, but didn't know it was going to be like this, so he should be being praised, he said, rather than being criticized. Your response?

Donovan Richards: Let me start off with the premise that those who fail to plan, plan to fail. The way I would look at this is, there's always things we can do better. There's always ways that government can be more efficient. I think it's very incumbent upon anyone in leadership, including myself. I put myself in the same bucket. We always want to look to ways we can improve in the near future, but the only way to really do that is to acknowledge that there was a problem.

People being stuck on the BQE, clearly, New York is not getting the message early enough. You have schools that were flooded. It's problematic. Listen, I've been through Sandy, I stayed up-- Matter of fact, I didn't even go to sleep that night, because I was up just monitoring whether folks' basements were being flooded, 3:00 or 4:00 AM in the morning, because guess what? We do get anxiety in Queens when these storms pop up. However, I'm not the mayor. I'm not in charge of all of these agencies.

However, we will continue to hold their feet to the fire in terms of this build-out that we need to see, and perhaps the city council should look at legislation to make sure that there is a more robust alert system being put in place for New Yorkers. I traveled to the Dominican Republic with the mayor, and to Puerto Rico, after some of their catastrophic storm just last year. There were a lot of learning lessons that we could have taken from them to implement here as well, including--

They have a siren system in certain parts of Puerto Rico and the DR as well. There are things that we can always adjust and do better in. I'm hoping the mayor recognizes that, because at the end of the day, we might have not lost a life, we dodged a bullet this storm, but in the near future, if we are not really harnessing and really ensuring that our agencies are more efficient and effective in their communication, we will see more lives lost, like we did during Ida.

Brian Lehrer: President Reynoso, I'll give you the last word on this, and the last word in the segment, but did you think, on Thursday night, when it was raining really hard, that this wasn't just going to be another day of a lot of rain, that this was going to be a 141-year storm event that was going to have the implications that it wound up having, and that people should be warned, Thursday night?

Antonio Reynoso: No, I wasn't aware. There was a quote that the mayor said to all of New York, "If you didn't know this was coming, you must have been living under a rock." For me, that's the type of communication and conversation that we're having with the mayor that really puts us in a position where we don't think, or makes us believe that we don't think that they're learning lessons from these tragic events, which is ultimately what we're asking for.

Can you sit there and humbly state that, "Hey, this was a problem, we can do better, and we will," versus, "We did a great job, and if you had a bad time during this storm, that is on you." That's not what we elected our leaders to do. It's very frustrating, especially in Brooklyn. I don't know if they felt it this way in Manhattan, in Staten Island, or The Bronx, but in Brooklyn, specifically, people were stuck in traffic for four hours.

Their kids needed to get picked up by friends instead of family, schools that were flooding in the basement, hospitals getting shut down, every single train line shut out. For the mayor to not feel like there's some learning lessons, or at least communicate in a more sincere way that, "Hey, we never want New Yorkers to go through this. We'll continue to learn and grow." That is not what we're hearing.

Instead, they're patting themselves on the back over the fact that there was no loss of life versus being able to say, "We can always do better, and we will." That is the biggest concern that I have, is we're not learning from these crises, and that they're going to be happening a lot more often. We've learned nothing. Again, just my big concern, and I'm hoping that the mayor is heeding the call of all the elected officials. We're not here to throw him under the bus, but he shouldn't throw New Yorkers under the bus.

Brian Lehrer: Borough President Antonio Reynoso, or Brooklyn Borough President. Donovan Richards, of Queens. Thank you both for joining us today.

Antonio Reynoso: Thank you.

Donovan Richards: Thank you, Brian.

 

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