Nearly four years after the 2012 Superstorm Sandy ravaged coastal Brooklyn, New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) residents living in Western Coney Island are finally getting much needed repairs stemming from the storm along with future storm protection upgrades.
That after NYCHA Chair and CEO Shola Olatoye today broke ground on a $41 million reconstruction project at the Coney Island Sites 4/5 development, also known in the area as the “Pink Building,” between West 25th and West 26th Street, and Neptune and Surf avenues.
The money comes through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which last year also provided $3 billion Sandy recovery assistance – the largest in FEMA history.
“Thanks to FEMA’s unprecedented investment in the future of public housing, NYCHA is getting to work—major work—fully restoring our developments impacted by Sandy. Through this strong collaboration with our City, State, and Federal partners, NYCHA is building back stronger than ever, with large-scale projects across our city that will make our developments more resilient, our neighborhoods safer, and our communities more connected,” said Olatoye.
The $41 million in recovery and resiliency work includes a full roof replacement, stand-by generators for back-up power, new electrical systems and flood-protected equipment annexes, new boilers elevated above projected future flood levels, resiliency measures to prevent flooding, upgraded playgrounds and recreational areas and new lighting, security cameras (CCTV) and state-of-the-art security doors (Layered Access Control).
Additionally, the Community Center will be comprehensively renovated including a rehabilitated kitchen, and wiring to receive stand-by back-up power in the event of an outage, and will be protected from projected future flood levels with flood panels during major weather events, including storms.
While officials were happy that work is underway City Council Member Mark Treyger and Assembly Member Pam Harris, who both represent Coney Island noted that Western Coney Island is often overlooked in receiving services, and the many NYCHA developments in the area are even more overlooked.
Harris, who lives in the neighborhood, noted that many residents living the building walked down 20 flights of stairs after Sandy as the power was out and helped their neighbors living in flooded out one- and two-story homes on surrounding streets. Meanwhile, while these smaller homes were brought back to snuff these same NYCHA residents still had no power and other storm-related problems, she said.
Treyger noted for far too long Western Coney Island has been neglected and that even before the storm there was problems with sewers backing up and the local library being closed. This included NYCHA’s O’Dwyer Gardens residents being left with no heat or hot water in the winter of 2014, he said.
But both Harris and Treyger said they were glad that FEMA money is fixing up the public housing that Sandy ravaged.
“After extensive efforts and intergovernmental collaboration, we are grateful that this vital and historic recovery funding has made its way to Coney Island. Through these projects, we’re going to build safer, cleaner, and even more resilient communities for future generations,” said Harris.
“It has been a long time coming, but this is a great day for residents of Surfside Gardens and other Coney Island public housing developments where work is scheduled to begin soon. These much-needed upgrades and repairs will have a monumental impact on the safety, security, resiliency, and quality of life for residents here,” said Treyger.
“We made sure that Washington fulfilled its promises to the people of this community after Hurricane Sandy, and now we need to make sure that another promise – local hiring to fill employment opportunities created as a result of this work – is kept, as well,” he added.
