Dear Community,
As president of the Bayside Hills Civic Association I thought it is now time for me to contribute a few words to update our area vis-à-vis Hurricane Sandy with a little extra for those of you who can get to a computer.
New information is coming in continuously and we will be posting information on our email address, baysidehillscivic@gmail.com, our website and our Facebook page whenever possible.
The most frequent concern obviously has been the power outages in our area. Unfortunately, the word is that it can take at least a week for Con Edison to restore our service. The other concern is our difficulty in getting a pipeline to that 311 contact number. Everybody knows by now that New York City implemented a city service type 311 non-emergency telephone number in 2002 with the intention of consolidating the various call centers of its public works and service agencies and increasing accountability for the resolution of problems reported by citizens.
But it is almost impossible to get through during times of emergencies. With the Sandy aftermath, State Sen. Tony Avella (718-357-3094) and Councilman Dan Halloran (718-631-6703) have offered to serve as a liaison to at least get our complaints recorded.
Speaking of our elected officials, Assemblyman David Weprin’s office will be collecting items for families who have been displaced by Hurricane Sandy. Here is a short list of some of the items that are needed.
- Clothing
- Shoes
- Diapers
- Toiletries
- Children's toys/stuffed animals
The Assemblyman’s office will continue accepting donations throughout the week. Those items will be delivered to the shelters later in the week. Let’s count our blessings. We all know how some of our neighboring communities fared most tragically. I know it will not help a whole lot but, for what it's worth, musically speaking two songs comes to mind these tragic days, one serious and the other the one which we all should start singing:
1) “My City of Ruins” Eddie Vedder performs the song at the 32nd Annual Kennedy Center Honors as part of the multi-artist tribute to Bruce Springsteen.
2) On the opposite side of the spectrum, give a listen to Louis Armstrong And His Orchestra's rendition of "On the Sunny Side of the Street." Hopefully, listening to this will cheer you up a little.
