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City Council Members Propose Committee to Oversee Sandy Relief

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Coney Island Beach in the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
Coney Island Beach in the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
Incoming Brooklyn Councilmen Carlos Menchaca and Mark Treyger proposed on Monday, December 9, the creation of a new City Council committee to vet the billions of dollars in funding allocated to the city by federal authorities. The districts of both council members were devastated by Superstorm Sandy last year.

In a statement, Menchaca said: “We must increase the level of organized attention to each of the communities impacted across the City. Small businesses, public housing residents, home owners and apartment renters continue to feel the impacts of Superstorm Sandy today more than a year later. A City Council committee will provide the necessary oversight over our city agencies and ensure federal aid reach the hands of our impacted residents who deserve a just, equitable and sustainable recovery.”

Menchaca’s Red Hook neighborhood was severely flooded in the in Sandy’s wake. And Treyger, is set to represent Coney Island, which suffered a severe amount of devastation during the storm that has not been remedied to date.  According to Ross Barkan of Politicker, “the federal government allocated $60 billion for Sandy aid, but much of that money has yet to be spent.”

“It has been over a year since Superstorm Sandy devastated Coney Island, Sea Gate, Bensonhurst, Gravesend, Bath Beach and [coastal] communities throughout New York City. I have students in my classes who were displaced for over half the year by Sandy,” Treyger stated, according to Politicker. “Our families deserve transparency and accountability. Creating a City Council committee dedicated to Sandy recovery will increase oversight of money coming in, make sure those dollars are helping our communities rebuild, create good paying jobs, improve local infrastructure and prepare our [coastal] communities for future storms.”

This would not be the first time a council committee was created in response to a disaster. Following 9/11, the City Council formed a committee to oversee redevelopment in lower Manhattan.

Creating council committees in response to major disasters is not unprecedented. After the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the council formed a committee to oversee redevelopment in the downtown area.

According to Politicker, the council’s rules committee must first approve any new committee proposal put forth to the council. The measure, upon passing this stage, would then need to be voted on by the entire council.

“It is very very unlikely they’d create a new committee. There are so many committees right now and there would need to be a hearing on whether or not the new committee was needed and why it couldn’t just be baked into an existing committee,” one former staffer told Politicker.

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