Asian-Americans fail to find FEMA funds

By Matthew Lysiak
The Brooklyn Paper

Uncle Sam keeps knocking — but they aren’t answering.

Eight weeks after a freak storm struck, Bay Ridge’s tornado-ravaged Asian-American community still won’t apply for Uncle Sam’s handouts.

As of Monday, $400,000 in aid has flowed into Brooklyn — but that amount would be higher if some residents better understood the system, according to the Federal Emergency Management Administration spokeswoman Sandra Martin.

“Bay Ridge is such a diverse neighborhood,” said Martin. “A lot of residents in the Asian-American community may not have gotten the message or don’t understand that we offer language assistance.”

If the message was lost among Asian-Americans, a lot of others got it.

Just under 600 Brooklyn residents had already had their application approved with FEMA and 245 residents had visited the agency’s 59th Street field office. The grant amount that has already been approved is at $419,699.

Grants provided by the federal government do not need to be paid back.

But Martin said that Brooklyn would be get even more green if the community could mobilize Bay Ridge’s diverse and shy citizenry.

After the Aug. 8 storm, FEMA sent inspectors to the hardest-hit areas — a concentric circle around 67th Street between Fourth and Seventh avenues that is home to many Asian-American residents. Though hundreds of cars and roofs were destroyed, eight weeks later many have still not applied. Last week, The Brooklyn Paper knocked on doors and got a similar response as the feds.

“I am sorry, I don’t speak English,” said one woman on Bay Ridge Avenue in perfect English. “I can’t help you because you wouldn’t be able to understand me.”

Other homeowners either didn’t answer or gave similar non-responses.

But it isn’t a language barrier that got their tongues, but fear of the authorities, at least according to one neighbor.

“They speak perfect English, but they are not going to talk to anyone,” said one neighbor, who requested anonymity, who lives across the street from the damaged homes on 69th Street. “A lot of those homes are illegally converted and have 10 or 15 different people living there.”

But residents should not let their immigration status get in the way of applying for aid, said Federal Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Barbara Lynch. “If an illegal immigrant who applies for assistance has a young child who was born here, then that child is eligible for help,” said Lynch.


Register by Oct. 30. at FEMA’s Bay Ridge center (552 59th Street, at Sixth Avenue) or by calling (800) 621-FEMA.

Life in the tornado zone

By Matthew Lysiak
The Brooklyn Paper

Seven weeks after the once-in-a-lifetime tornado touched down in Bay Ridge, life for the handful of households in the tornado’s angry path has not returned to normal.

Ida Thomas didn’t need to wait for President Bush to declare her Narrows Avenue block a disaster area — all she had to do was look at her property.

“I’ve had to borrow money from friends and family to fix what I could,” said Thomas, whose damages have exceeded $10,000. “Life has been quite difficult and I have had to live with the workers.”

The storm damaged her garage, floors, and even the structural integrity of her home’s foundation. Most important, she only had enough money to partially fix the roof — so life has meant praying for dry weather.

“Every time it rains, my roof takes more damage,” said Thomas. “God forbid, I don’t get it fixed before it snows. I’m not sure the roof will hold.”

Thomas has been working with Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has only offered loans and not the grants for which she hoped she would be eligible.

“I could really use those grants,” added Thomas. FEMA told Thomas that she must apply for the loans first before she can look into the grants.

After the twister touched down on 72nd Street and Narrows Avenue, it bounced up and then landed again around 67th Street between Fourth and Seventh avenues.

On those blocks, buildings are still covered with big blue tarps, and bright yellow signs posted by the Department of Buildings are taped to many doors warning of the structural damage within.

That’s also where Ho Wong lives, amongst constant construction, dust, and tools at his 69th Street home. Seven weeks after the winds blew through his world, Wong still lives with constant construction on his roof and debris in his yard.

Wong said his landlord is handling the work, and the noise keeps him up at night.

“It should be like this for a few more weeks,” said Wong. “Some nights it is pretty hard to sleep.”

The doorways on the tornados path are also crammed with business cards from opportunistic construction companies looking to cash on in on the new demand for labor.

Helen McCormack, who lives at 102 72nd St., lost a tree in her backyard. An arborist estimated that it would cost more than $1,000 remove the damage and make her yard usable again.

“Now when my grandkids come over they have to stay inside,” said McCormack. “It is a real problem.”

She didn’t think the case was something that would make her eligible for aid — which is one of the problems, at least according to FEMA spokeswoman Barbara Lynch.

“If the tree poses a danger, she should definitely apply,” said Lynch.

“One of the surprising problems we are having now is that so many people who have damage aren’t applying.”

Residents vie for piece of tornado cash pie

By Matthew Lysiak
The Brooklyn Paper

Tornado-ravaged residents of Brooklyn have been knocking on Uncle Sam’s door looking for some cash — and it looks like he has finally answered.

This week, $300,000 will begin trickling into the area — an amount that will grow as more people apply, according to the Federal Emergency Management Administration spokeswoman Barbara Lynch.

“The money is coming real soon,” said Lynch. “The issue now is to get people who suffered damage to apply, and we will take care of the rest.”

Getting residents to come and get the cash didn’t appear to be too much of a problem.

That’s because as of Wednesday, 539 Brooklyn residents had already filed an application with FEMA and 192 residents had visited the agency’s 59th Street field office. The grant amount that has already been approved is at $291,938.

Grants provided by the federal government do not need to be paid back.

The Small Business Administration has also approved 17 applications for home loans of $537,700.

Lynch said that more loans would be issued if more people would send their paperwork back. Out of 1,555 applications that went out, fewer than 20 were returned.

Residents should apply, she said, because now that Uncle Sam’s wallet has been pried open, getting the cash is easy.

After residents fill out the paperwork, a FEMA inspector will call to arrange a good time to stop by and verify the damage — and two weeks later, a check should arrive.

“The complicated part is over,” added Lynch.

But it wasn’t always this simple.

After the Aug. 8 storm, FEMA sent inspectors to the hardest-hit areas — a concentric circle around 67th Street between Fourth and Seventh avenues. Though hundreds of cars and roofs were destroyed, President Bush initially only awarded relief funds to Queens, where more than 1,000 homes were flooded.

Rep. Vito Fossella (R–Bay Ridge) kept the heat on federal officials until they changed course two weeks ago and designated Bay Ridge for “federal disaster assistance.”

Though typically a conservative who favors small government, Fossella was in the uncomfortable position of thanking the feds for throwing money at the crisis.

“The large number of Brooklyn residents who have already applied for assistance demonstrates that … the federal government has an important role to play in helping our borough recover,” said Fossella.

But FEMA may still be suffering from some post-Katrina hangover, according to at least one resident.

Ida Thomas, who lives at 7209 Narrows Ave., said she applied to FEMA two weeks ago, but the agency keep sending her loan applications instead of applications for grants.

“It is kind of frustrating, because I don’t know if I will even qualify for the loans,” Thomas said. “I have $10,000 worth of damage that isn’t covered by insurance and could really use the help.”


Residents must register with FEMA by Oct. 30. at The Bay Ridge center (552 59th Street, at Sixth Avenue) or by phone at (800) 621-FEMA.

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper

FEMA to Ridge: Ask Bush

By Matthew Lysiak
The Brooklyn Paper

Federal disaster aid for residents of Bay Ridge who were pummeled by the Aug. 8 tornado is being held up until President Bush, who is on vacation in Texas for the rest of the month, decides whether he wants to release the funds.

Gov. Spitzer formally requested disaster relief from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Monday — and called for swift action by the federal bureaucracy.

FEMA inspectors did make their own damage assessments on Aug. 13 and sent a recommendation to the president. But the buck has stopped — and apparently stalled — there, according to FEMA spokeswoman Barbara Lynch, who said the rare tornado may not have generated enough media coverage to get the president’s limited attention.

“Higher-profile cases seem to move a lot faster,” said Lynch. “This situation didn’t get the media attention it warranted.”

Lynch said agency inspectors were “just flabbergasted” by the millions of dollars of damage caused by the tornado — whose 136 mile-per-hour winds destroyed or damaged hundreds of cars and dozens of homes in the area around 67th Street between Fourth and Seventh avenues.

But if the president shares that flabbergasted feeling, he hasn’t expressed it yet. A call to the White House was not returned by deadline — and Spitzer’s office hasn’t heard a thing yet, either.

“All we can do is urge the president to act,” said Paul Larrabee, a Spitzer spokesperson. “We are working to expedite this process and to bring the urgency of this situation to the attention of the White House.”

Residents waiting for aid better not hold their breath. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty applied for federal help after the very-high-profile bridge collapse on Aug. 1 — but the White House only released the funds on Aug. 21.

For Brooklyn residents rendered roofless by the storm, a three-week delay would be too long.

“This is ridiculous that help is so slow to come,” said Hassan Hakmoun, who last week was busy moving his relatives out of their damaged house at 339 Bay Ridge Ave. “We all pay our taxes, but the government doesn’t like giving it up.”

The president will remain on his Crawford ranch through August.

FEMA inspects damage

By Matthew Lysiak
The Brooklyn Paper

Five days after an extremely rare tornado caused millions of dollars of damage in Bay Ridge, officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency — you remember them from Hurricane Katrina — surveyed the area to determine if some residents are eligible for federal aid.

But the agency made no promises.

“They looked at the damage and told us we make a good case for assistance,” said Carole Marlines, who works at the badly damaged Fourth Avenue Presbyterian Church, at 67th Street, which got a visit from FEMA inspectors at around noon on Monday.

The church lost of its historic stained-glass windows, including a 25-foot-tall religious scene installed in 1951, to the tornado’s 136-mile-per-hour gusts, which touched down around the corner of 67th Street and Fourth Avenue last Wednesday at around 5:30 am and damaged 100 cars and 60 homes — half of which suffered serious structural damage, according to state Sen. Marty Golden (R–Bay Ridge).

FEMA spokeswoman Kristina Simpson made it clear that none of the inspectors, who went door-to-door at one point, was toting a checkbook.

“This is the gathering of information,” said Simpson. “When walking up and down the streets and talking to folks here, the thing that became clear is there was all this confusion about whether they should call FEMA. The answer is no. The first step they need to take is call their insurance companies.”

Many cheered the federal officials, but some thought their fact-finding mission needed a bit more, how you say, cash.

“Insurance is only going to give so much,” said John Quaglione, a Golden aide. “We’re hoping the federal government does intervene to give financial assistance to homeowners and car owners.”

Others blasted the federal bureaucracy for moving too slowly.

“This is ridiculous that help is so slow to come,” said Hassan Hakmoun, who was busy moving his relatives out of their house at 339 Bay Ridge Ave. “They’ll be fine staying with me, but there are a lot of families who may not be so fortunate.”

Hakmoun said that his relatives, a family of eight, had received only $120 for food from the American Red Cross. He thinks the problem is red tape.

“We try to call people but we keep getting rerouted and it is hard to find anyone who really knows what is going on,” Hakmoun added. “We all pay our taxes, but the government doesn’t like giving it up.”


New York State’s Insurance Department has set up a disaster hotline. Call (800) 339-1759.

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper