After his initial round of high-fiving that included kudos from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, President Obama returned to Washington to finish securing his bid for a second term. Now that that little matter has been attended to, he is back in still storm-ravaged New York today, where he is expected to look concerned and presidential once again.
Whether the radiant glow of his presence provides any warmth or comfort for residents who have now gone without heat, light, or running water for 17 days remains to be seen. CBS New York notes that the tenants of Knickerbocker Village, a high rise housing complex on the Lower East Side, can’t wait for Obama’s return. They’re not looking to extend their gratitude, however, for the primo job that he and FEMA director Craig Fugate did. Instead, they want to know why they’ve been forgotten by his administration, left to struggle with trash piling up and a stench like rotten eggs infiltrating their apartments.
Then there’s the cold and the daily exhausting ritual of mounting multiple flights of stairs lighted only by hand-held flashlight. Marcia Kruger, 73, is quoted as saying, “The coldness is draining and it doesn’t stop; just never gets warm … It makes for a feeling of isolation and abandonment, really.”
If the president is planning to tour Far Rockaway, he’d better hold his breath. MyFoxNY.com that a toxic cough is approaching epidemic proportions in the Queens community.
FOX health guru Dr. Manny Alvarez maintains that the cough could be a symptom of toxic exposure. The problem is not the air quality outdoors but inside homes, where flooded basements are an ideal breeding ground for mold and other potential toxins.
Related Articles
- Sandy relief efforts only now reaching sick and elderly in outlying areas
- Outage: Good Samaritan who came to NY to help restore power receives beatdown
- Gas rationing goes into effect in New York and on LI
- With 1.9M still without power, Sandy’s aftermath looking a lot like Katrina (Video)
- The mythical claim that reconstruction efforts after Sandy will grow the economy
- NY governor’s half-baked post-Sandy voting solution opens door to chaos, fraud (Video)
Follow me on Twitter or join me at Facebook. You can also reach me at howard.portnoy@gmail.com.
