OPINION: Sandy Recovery: Not over yet
When one hears about superstorm Sandy, one’s first instinct, especially nowadays, is to say, “Oh, that’s old news!” But just like the old Irving Berlin song from the 1920s, “The Song Is Ended, but the Melody Lingers On,” the effects of the hurricane are still felt.
Just look at the long-term shutdowns on the R train’s Montague Street Tunnel and the G train’s Greenpoint Tube. Turning our attention to Manhattan for awhile, on a recent visit to Battery Park, I was shocked to find out that most of it is still being reconstructed and is fenced off.
Thus, it was a welcome development when, as Paula Katinas of the Eagle recently reported, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation that will provide relief to New York City residents subject to higher property taxes as a result of repairs to homes that were severely damaged by the storm. The repairs would have raised the homes’ property values because they are classified as improvements.
“In the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, homeowners across the downstate region were forced to invest in significant repairs to make their homes more resilient – investments that would increase their taxes under normal circumstances,” the governor said. “Sandy was not a normal circumstance, however, and I will not allow taxes to be raised on property owners simply because they are repairing the damage that was done and planning wisely for the future.”