New York State Insider: New York State Assemblyman Thomas Abinanti 92nd District: Close to Home: An Update.

 

Sept. 3, 2021  Close to Home: An Update

Dear neighbor,  This has been quite a week.   We usually look forward to a relaxing  Labor Day weekend to end the summer. But, as I said in my email to you from Albany earlier this week, this year has not been a “usual.”    Ida Wreaks Havoc – Emergency  Responders Come Through Again    Tropical Storm Ida  brought record rainfall to our region. Flooding closed roads and filled basements leaving not just damage, debris and sediment but structural issues as well.  Hundreds of homes were without power. Once again we are thankful for the work of our Emergency Services at every level – police, fire, ambulance, public works, recreation, highway, sanitation and the many volunteers who pitched in.  Thank you to all.   Metro North Disrupted  -  No Hudson Line Service    The MTA has announced that because of the damage caused by Tropical Storm Ida, Metro-North‘s Harlem and New Haven Lines will operate on enhanced weekend schedule through the weekend and on Labor Day but  the Hudson Line will have no service until further notice.(For Yankees Games service, utilize the hourly shuttle service between Grand Central Terminal, Harlem – E. 125th St., and Yankee Stadium.) To see the schedule, please use new.mta.info   Utilities    The significant rainfall caused many service disruptions. Here is how to reach the utilities:   ConEd – Customers can sign up for text alerts by texting REG to OUTAGE (688243) and following the prompts. Outages can be reported by calling 1-800-75-CONED (752-6633), by visiting the ConEd website at https://www.coned.com/reportoutage, or through ConEd’s mobile app.   Optimum (Altice) – Optimum customers can sign up to receive service alerts and updates on service restoration via text or voice message by going to https://www.optimum.net/profile. Customers should call Optimum at 866-950-3278, message Optimum at https://www.optimum.net/chat, or send a Tweet to @Optimumhelp to report an outage or service issue.   Verizon – Verizon customers should call 1-800 VERIZON (837-4966) to report an outage.   Special Session     As I reported to you earlier this week, Governor Hocul called the Legislature into special session to extend the expiring moratorium which has virtually stopped all residential and commercial evictions statewide. In April, the Legislature appropriated more than $5 billion dollars to help New Yorkers get through the pandemic. However the Cuomo administration’s inaction delayed making most of these monies available.        I had hoped for fair and equitable legislation that would help tenants behind on their rents and help 1-4 family homeowners who’ve been financially devastated without that rent.        On Wednesday, the Legislature passed an extension of the eviction moratorium until January 15, 2022.  I voted NO. The new law hurts our tenants and property owners..        While I voted for the now-expired moratoria because they kept tenants in their homes while the rent assistance programs were being fashioned, the new law inserted arbitrary limits which deny assistance to  many of our middle-class renters and their middle-class property owners.  While tenants and landlords elsewhere will be subsidized, many of our middle-income tenants in-need will be denied because they are “over-income.”  And many of our apartments are over the rent limit. So tenants will be saddled with disastrous credit ratings and property owners will never collect 21 months of rent.         ALL renters and owners were told: no evictions - money is coming. But the new law gives help only to SOME.    Close to Home: Westchester’s Revolutionary War History     If you are looking for something interesting to do close to home, why not check out one of the Revolutionary War historic sites that dot Westchester. For example, Odell House Rochambeau Headquarters    One of the most important decisions in American military  history was made in Greenburgh, when this house served as  French General Comte de Rochambeau’s headquarters in 1781.  Together, Generals Rochambeau and Washington, made the  crucial decision to march their combined armies to Yorktown,  Virginia. Today, the house is undergoing a major restoration. Patriots Park     Located in Tarrytown, this park has a statue honoring the three patriots who captured British Major John André, in a pivotal event of the war. Alone and on horseback, André was attempting to get back to British-occupied New York City. Hidden in his boots were plans for the fortifications at West Point, given  to André by the traitorous American general, Benedict Arnold.