 Commuters pack into a train on Thursday, November 1, in New York City. Limited public transit has returned to the city, where 14 of 23 subway lines are running. View photos of New York bracing for Sandy.  Commuters ride the subway. Public transit is operating in New York City, but travel times are long, up to five hours in some cases.  A police officer directs passengers waiting on Thursday to board city buses into Manhattan at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. About 4,000 buses are replacing the subway lines still closed by Superstorm Sandy damage.  Thousands of people wait to board city buses into Manhattan, and some subway lines remain underwater. Getting water out of the tunnels is "one of the main orders of business right now," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.  A police officer directs traffic entering the Brooklyn Queens Expressway into Manhattan.  A police officer checks cars entering the Brooklyn Queens Expressway to confirm that they have three occupants before allowing them to cross into Manhattan on Thursday. Limited public transit has returned to New York, and most major bridges have reopened. However, vehicles must have three occupants to pass.  Parts of lower Manhattan are still without electricty on Thursday. Superstorm Sandy, which made landfall along the New Jersey shore on Monday, October 29, left much of the Eastern Seaboard without power, including much of Manhattan south of 34th Street.  Residents of New York City's East Village enjoy a bonfire on Wednesday, October 31.  East Village residents charge their phones with power from a generator on Wednesday.  Traffic snarls in New York City on Wednesday. Residents and businesses across the Eastern Seaboard are attempting to return to their daily lives in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.  A Caring Foundation worker hands out food to residents of the heavily damaged Rockaway section of Queens on Wednesday.  Water floods streets in the Rockaway section of Queens on Wednesday.  Traders stand outside of the New York Stock Exchange in New York on Wednesday. Stocks advanced as U.S. equity markets resumed trading for the first time this week after the storm.  A man surveys damage on Wednesday, October 31, in the Rockaway neighborhood of Queens, New York, where the historic boardwalk was washed away during Superstorm Sandy.  Residents walk with their belongings through the Rockaway section of Queens on Wednesday.  The remains of homes burned down in Rockaway are seen Wednesday, a day after an inferno spread across the flooded neighborhood.  Firefighters continued to survey the damage in Rockaway on Wednesday. At least 80 homes were destroyed.  People wait for buses on Sixth Avenue in New York on Wednesday as New Yorkers cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.  People attempt to squish into a crowded bus on First Avenue in New York on Wednesday.  Con Edison crew members work on a steam pipe on First Avenue on Wednesday.  The foundations to the historic Rockaway boardwalk in Brooklyn are all that remain after it was washed away Wednesday during Hurricane Sandy.  People walk to work Wednesday on a normally busy street near the New York Stock Exchange.  Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday after it had been closed for two days.  Commuters arrive in Manhattan by ferry from Jersey City, New Jersey, on its first day back in business after Sandy.  CNN iReporter Jordan Shapiro captured this view of the Williamsburg Bridge in New York at 11 p.m. on Tuesday, October 30. Half of the bridge and Brooklyn is lit, while the Manhattan side and the surrounding part of the island remain shrouded in darkness.  A subway station and escalator sit underwater in New York on Tuesday.  Much of the New York City skyline sits in darkness Tuesday evening after damage from Superstorm Sandy knocked out power. About 6.9 million customers are without power in 15 states and the District of Columbia, according to figures compiled by CNN from power companies.  New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, center, views the damage Tuesday in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, where a fire broke out during Superstorm Sandy and destroyed at least 80 homes.  A resident looks through the debris of his destroyed home in Breezy Point, Queens, on Tuesday.  Burned-out vehicles and destroyed homes line a street in Breezy Point, located on the western end of the Rockaway peninsula in New York.  A fire continues to burn Tuesday in the remains of a structure that was destroyed by the Breezy Point blaze.  A New York City man hands a dog to first responders while being evacuated on Tuesday.  A bartender at the International Bar in the East Village neighborhood of New York City makes drinks in the dark on Tuesday as electricity remains out for many in the city.  Water floods the Plaza Shops in New York, in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, on Tuesday, October 30.  Con Edison employees monitor the drainage of water being pumped out of Seven World Trade Center in the Financial District of New York on Tuesday.  Onlookers watch a construction crane dangling from a $1.5 billion luxury high-rise after collapsing in high winds.  The construction crane dangles from a high-rise in midtown Manhattan.  Ramiro Arcos clears debris from a storm drain in the Financial District of New York after Sandy swept through the city.  A couple walks in the rain Tuesday, with the East River and the Lower Manhattan skyline as a backdrop.  The Manhattan skyline remains dark after much of the city lost electricity in the storm.  Cars float in a flooded below-street-level parking area in the Financial District on Tuesday.  People take a Tuesday morning walk on the Brooklyn Bridge, which remains closed to traffic after the city awakened to the storm damage.  A car sits crushed by a tree in the Financial District on Tuesday. Photos: New York braces for Sandy.                                           
New York (CNN) -- The New York City Marathon -- scheduled for Sunday -- was canceled Friday due to lingering effects from Superstorm Sandy, the city's mayor said. Mayor Michael Bloomberg had said earlier in the week the race would go on -- despite transportation, power and other issues -- contending, among other things, that businesses could use the economic boost the event provides. But on Friday, he issued a statement saying city officials and race organizers decided to cancel the race because they did "not want a cloud to hang over the race or its participants."   Obstacles and challenges after Sandy  Staten Island reeling days after Sandy  NYC marathon will go on "While holding the race would not require diverting resources from the recovery effort, it is clear that it has become the source of controversy and division," Bloomberg said. "We cannot allow a controversy over an athletic event -- even one as meaningful as this -- to distract attention away from all the critically important work that is being done to recover from the storm and get our city back on track." As to what comes next, the mayor's office tweeted that "the New York Road Runners will have additional information in days ahead for participants," referring to the race organizer. Officials had been in meetings Friday to decide if the race would go on in the midst of storm recovery efforts, according to a city official who declined to be named. While there has been significant progress since Sandy, large swaths of the city remained without power Friday and public transit options remain limited. First held in 1970, the New York City Marathon now attracts about 47,000 runners and 12,000 volunteers -- not to mention an estimated 2.5 million spectators who annually line the course, which goes through all five city boroughs. The race had been scheduled to begin Sunday morning on Staten Island, where runners would have crossed the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn and run through Queens before crossing the 59th Street Bridge into Manhattan and the Bronx. But the 26.2-mile course does not include lower Manhattan, where heavy flooding left many neighborhoods in the dark.   |
11/02/2012
Bloomberg reverses course, cancels Sunday's marathon
Immigrants voting for first time: 'I have the right to have a voice'
 Brandon Goodwin / TODAY.com Kadidja Ata, who is from Cameroon, is studying to become a surgeon and is voting for the first time this election. By Brooke Hauser, TODAY contributor When Kadidja Ata came to the United States from Cameroon five years ago, she knew one word in English: "Hi." A refugee from the Central African Republic, she was 17, and she couldn't read or write. But thanks in part to the International Rescue Committee, a New York-based agency that aids and resettles refugees around the world, Ata now speaks English and attends college. In August, she and her mother, Rose Nzata Ayeke, both became U.S. citizens, and on Nov. 6, like millions of other Americans, they will fulfill the ultimate act of civic responsibility: They will vote. And these brand new voters make up a pretty large block of the electorate. Since the 2008 presidential election, more than 2 million people have become naturalized, and next week many of them will be voting in a presidential election in the United States for the first time. For 22-year-old Ata, an aspiring surgeon who works as a cashier at Abercrombie & Fitch when she's not studying biology at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, the moment she casts her ballot will be especially meaningful. She was upended by a political war that claimed her father, who worked for the national assembly in the city of Bangui. "My mom didn't let us know when he actually passed," said Ata, who migrated with her mother and older brother to nearby Cameroon. "We asked her, 'Where is Dad? Where is Dad?' A few months later, she explained to us that he was murdered by rebels back home. She didn't want us to be traumatized. She wanted us to settle down and forget about what had happened." Because of her personal history, Ata, now a Bronx resident, told TODAY.com that she "never liked" politics, and yet she has spent the past few months learning about the U.S. Constitution, reading about the candidates and refining her opinions about issues including healthcare, education, social security and taxes.  Courtesy of Dariana Castro Dariana Castro, who works at a school that teaches English to immigrants, decided to become a citizen and register to vote to provide a voice for her students. "I try to analyze the arguments and counterarguments and see who has better ideas," she said. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, 2,057,821 people became naturalized in the period of 2009-2011 (2012 figures are not yet available). The leading countries of birth of new citizens were Mexico, India, and the Phillipines, with the highest numbers of naturalizing persons living in California, Florida and New York. New Yorker Dariana Castro became a citizen in August and is voting for the first time next week. As coordinator of special programs at the International High School at Prospect Heights, a Brooklyn public school that teaches English to new immigrants and refugees from around the world, Castro has helped many students who fled their native countries because of political persecution and war. Despite her profession, Castro resisted the idea of becoming an American citizen for many years. "I was almost trying to make a statement," explained Castro, who immigrated to New York City from the Dominican Republic at 10 years old. "[I was afraid] I was going to lose myself the moment I became an American. Having my Dominican passport was like holding onto my identity." But she changed her mind after visiting a former student at an immigration detention center. "I realized on my train ride back that I'd been taking for granted the fact that I had access to the ultimate goal, the thing that everyone wants, the thing that everyone is working towards, the thing that my mom came here for. That's when I really got serious about applying," she said. Castro registered to vote at her naturalization ceremony, in which the judge talked about the importance of exercising that right. She thought about her students, many of whom are undocumented. "So many decisions are being made that affect them, but none of these kids has a voice," she said. "You feel responsible to go out and represent the voice of your students." Zaw Htike, a 37-year-old Burmese refugee, knows what it's like to feel voiceless. In his native country Myanmar (also known as Burma), which continues to make headlines for its brutal military regime and human rights violations, he was arrested for peaceful demonstration and originally sentenced to 21 years in prison. (He served almost seven years for the offense before being released early with a group of political prisoners.) Currently a case manager at the International Rescue Committee's Salt Lake City office, Htike has lived in the U.S. for five years, and last month he became a citizen. "I'm very excited because I never [voted] in my life before," said Htike, who is now married to a Burmese woman from a different ethnic group, a union that would be unlikely in Myanmar. They have a three-year-old daughter, Snow, named for the white substance that was so foreign to them when she was born. "In my country, there's no fair at all, and there's no freedom at all. So, I believe I will definitely get a free and fair election here." Still, he adds, "I'm a little hesitant after reading the campaign promises. I just want to vote for the right person." Ata can relate to the sense of empowerment that comes with participating in her first U.S. election. "I feel that I have the right to say what I want to say. I have the right to have a voice." She also feels proud of how far she has come since her first year in America, when so much was unfamiliar and intimidating. "The weather, the food, the currency — I felt like a newborn baby who was learning how to crawl and say first words," she recalled. Now, "We are an American family, immersed in United States society." And Ayeke can hardly contain her excitement at the prospect of casting her ballot. "I need to vote! I'm so happy to be American!" she said. "This is my country now." Brooke Hauser is a New York-based writer and author of "The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens." More from TODAY: |
Immigrants voting for first time: 'I have the right to have a voice'
| Brandon Goodwin / TODAY.com Kadidja Ata, who is from Cameroon, is studying to become a surgeon and is voting for the first time this election. By Brooke Hauser, TODAY contributor When Kadidja Ata came to the United States from Cameroon five years ago, she knew one word in English: "Hi." A refugee from the Central African Republic, she was 17, and she couldn't read or write. But thanks in part to the International Rescue Committee, a New York-based agency that aids and resettles refugees around the world, Ata now speaks English and attends college. In August, she and her mother, Rose Nzata Ayeke, both became U.S. citizens, and on Nov. 6, like millions of other Americans, they will fulfill the ultimate act of civic responsibility: They will vote. And these brand new voters make up a pretty large block of the electorate. Since the 2008 presidential election, more than 2 million people have become naturalized, and next week many of them will be voting in a presidential election in the United States for the first time. For 22-year-old Ata, an aspiring surgeon who works as a cashier at Abercrombie & Fitch when she's not studying biology at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, the moment she casts her ballot will be especially meaningful. She was upended by a political war that claimed her father, who worked for the national assembly in the city of Bangui. "My mom didn't let us know when he actually passed," said Ata, who migrated with her mother and older brother to nearby Cameroon. "We asked her, 'Where is Dad? Where is Dad?' A few months later, she explained to us that he was murdered by rebels back home. She didn't want us to be traumatized. She wanted us to settle down and forget about what had happened." Because of her personal history, Ata, now a Bronx resident, told TODAY.com that she "never liked" politics, and yet she has spent the past few months learning about the U.S. Constitution, reading about the candidates and refining her opinions about issues including healthcare, education, social security and taxes. Courtesy of Dariana Castro Dariana Castro, who works at a school that teaches English to immigrants, decided to become a citizen and register to vote to provide a voice for her students. "I try to analyze the arguments and counterarguments and see who has better ideas," she said. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, 2,057,821 people became naturalized in the period of 2009-2011 (2012 figures are not yet available). The leading countries of birth of new citizens were Mexico, India, and the Phillipines, with the highest numbers of naturalizing persons living in California, Florida and New York. New Yorker Dariana Castro became a citizen in August and is voting for the first time next week. As coordinator of special programs at the International High School at Prospect Heights, a Brooklyn public school that teaches English to new immigrants and refugees from around the world, Castro has helped many students who fled their native countries because of political persecution and war. Despite her profession, Castro resisted the idea of becoming an American citizen for many years. "I was almost trying to make a statement," explained Castro, who immigrated to New York City from the Dominican Republic at 10 years old. "[I was afraid] I was going to lose myself the moment I became an American. Having my Dominican passport was like holding onto my identity." But she changed her mind after visiting a former student at an immigration detention center. "I realized on my train ride back that I'd been taking for granted the fact that I had access to the ultimate goal, the thing that everyone wants, the thing that everyone is working towards, the thing that my mom came here for. That's when I really got serious about applying," she said. Castro registered to vote at her naturalization ceremony, in which the judge talked about the importance of exercising that right. She thought about her students, many of whom are undocumented. "So many decisions are being made that affect them, but none of these kids has a voice," she said. "You feel responsible to go out and represent the voice of your students." Zaw Htike, a 37-year-old Burmese refugee, knows what it's like to feel voiceless. In his native country Myanmar (also known as Burma), which continues to make headlines for its brutal military regime and human rights violations, he was arrested for peaceful demonstration and originally sentenced to 21 years in prison. (He served almost seven years for the offense before being released early with a group of political prisoners.) Currently a case manager at the International Rescue Committee's Salt Lake City office, Htike has lived in the U.S. for five years, and last month he became a citizen. "I'm very excited because I never [voted] in my life before," said Htike, who is now married to a Burmese woman from a different ethnic group, a union that would be unlikely in Myanmar. They have a three-year-old daughter, Snow, named for the white substance that was so foreign to them when she was born. "In my country, there's no fair at all, and there's no freedom at all. So, I believe I will definitely get a free and fair election here." Still, he adds, "I'm a little hesitant after reading the campaign promises. I just want to vote for the right person." Ata can relate to the sense of empowerment that comes with participating in her first U.S. election. "I feel that I have the right to say what I want to say. I have the right to have a voice." She also feels proud of how far she has come since her first year in America, when so much was unfamiliar and intimidating. "The weather, the food, the currency — I felt like a newborn baby who was learning how to crawl and say first words," she recalled. Now, "We are an American family, immersed in United States society." And Ayeke can hardly contain her excitement at the prospect of casting her ballot. "I need to vote! I'm so happy to be American!" she said. "This is my country now." Brooke Hauser is a New York-based writer and author of "The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens." More from TODAY: |
NY Marathon canceled, Bloomberg says
 Jonathan Sanger / NBC News Runners and workers prepare for the New York City Marathon near Central Park in New York, N.Y. where generators were set up on Friday, November 2, 2012 to power a media tent. By Andrew Mach and Elizabeth Chuck, NBC News NEW YORK – The New York Marathon will not be held Sunday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday, backtracking just a few hours after he defended the decision to hold it despite heavy criticism as the city struggles back from Superstorm Sandy. "The Marathon has been an integral part of New York City's life for 40 years and is an event tens of thousands of New Yorkers participate in and millions more watch," he said in a statement Friday evening. "While holding the race would not require diverting resources from the recovery effort, it is clear that it has become the source of controversy and division." "We would not want a cloud to hang over the race or its participants, and so we have decided to cancel it," he added. "We cannot allow a controversy over an athletic event -- even one as meaningful as this -- to distract attention away from all the critically important work that is being done to recover from the storm and get our city back on track." A few hours earlier, Bloomberg told a press conference that holding the marathon would be a morale and money boost for the city. "If you think back to 9/11, I think Rudy [Giuliani] made the right decision to run the marathon," Bloomberg said of his predecessor after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. "It pulled people together and we have to find some ways to express ourselves and show solidarity to each other." Mayor Michael Bloomberg defends his decision to keep the New York Marathon on schedule in the wake of Sandy, recalling how the marathon "pulled people together after 911." The New York City marathon is the world largest, with tens of thousands of participants. In a typical year, New Yorkers line the route's 26 miles, turning the city into a giant party. The race winds through all five boroughs, but it starts in hard-hit Staten Island, parts of which look like a disaster zone. New York City Councilman James Oddo, who represents sections of Staten Island and Brooklyn, had been leading the charge against the marathon. "If they take one first responder from Staten Island to cover this marathon, I will scream. We have people with no homes and no hope right now," he posted on Twitter earlier in the week. At least 19 of New York's 41 deaths occurred in the oft-forgotten borough, home to 500,000. Officials are still searching homes for survivors. The death toll in the U.S. from Superstorm Sandy neared 100 victims on Friday, as New York City reported one more death and Bloomberg warned: "There could be more fatalities." "The prudent course of action here — postpone the marathon, come back a different day," Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer told TODAY's Savannah Guthrie. "Our first priority, let's help people who lost their homes, who are missing loved ones." Stringer said downtown Manhattan, the city's financial hub, "looks like a wasteland" and is not close to being ready for the race, which goes through each of New York's five boroughs. Bloomberg had vowed the marathon would not divert any resources from victims, and expected power to be restored to downtown Manhattan by race day. In defending his decision to go forward, the mayor cited the thousands of out-of-town visitors who come for the marathon.  Richard Drew / AP Workers assemble the finish line for the New York City Marathon in New York's Central Park, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012. The crane atop a high rise that collapsed during Superstorm Sandy is visible at background left. Those visitors need hotel rooms, but many of them already are occupied by New Yorkers displaced from their homes. Richard Nicotra, who owns the Hilton Garden Inn in Staten Island, has refused to throw out evacuees to honor reservations for marathon runners, according to NY1. With power scarce, the three generators set up Friday to provide electricity to the marathon's media tent in Central Park along the Upper West Side drew some attention. The two active generators crank out 800 kilowatts of electricity, which would be enough to power 400 homes, the New York Post reported. The third unit, a backup, sits idle, in case one of others fails, the paper said. Paul McCarthy, 43, who lives nearby, was walking his dog down Central Park West on Friday as marathon workers and runners whizzed by him. "I woke up this morning and a lot of people on my Facebook page were saying they should shut it down, but my neighbor just reminded me that a third of the runners come from overseas. So logistically, they wouldn't be able to reschedule it, I don't think," he said. "Maybe it would be a good thing for the city just to get something positive going." Vote: Do you think the New York City Marathon should be cancelled? Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer tells TODAY's Savannah Guthrie he believes Mayor Bloomberg should postpone the New York City marathon as congressman Michael Grimm from Staten Island says he's "angry" over plans to continue with the race His overall assessment of holding the marathon on Sunday: "Slightly net positive." Alberto Eguiguren, 48, a runner from Chile, arrived Thursday night with his two brothers, also marathon runners. "It shows how the American people are always fighting to have a better country. Even though there was a disaster over the weekend, the people are ready -- not only for the local people but the international, too. We're here because we really like the States, we really like New York. We really feel it's one of the best places to run a marathon.... There are a lot of people with damages, but the stores are open, the streets are working. It's amazing." But others are less approving of Bloomberg's decision. A Facebook page called "Cancel the 2012 NYC Marathon" had more than 27,000 likes and growing on Friday morning. Claiming to be started by a New York City resident, the page says, "The last thing NYC needs at this time is an extra 100,000 people or so flooding our already devastated streets. Things are not back to normal. Our city is working hard enough to recover please do not complicate things with a race."  David Friedman / NBC News Superstorm Sandy made landfall Monday evening on a destructive and deadly path across the Northeast. One commenter suggested Bloomberg should "postpone [the race] for a month or so and then use the race as a perfect platform to showcase how ALL 5 BOROUGHS have recovered. That shows resilience, and RESPECT for the citizens who have suffered, without foregoing the economic benefits of the race." Another commenter asked, "Who would ever want to go to a war zone to run a marathon?" The New York Road Runners, which organizes the marathon, said the event will bring $340 million to the city. The club also announced on Thursday that it would donate at least $1 million, or $26.20 for each of the more than 40,000 runners expected to participate, to aid New Yorkers affected by Sandy. The Rudin Family, one of the founding members of the marathon, said it would donate $1.1 million and the ING Foundation said it would give $500,000. Reuters contributed to this report. Nineteen bodies have been found in Staten Island following Hurricane Sandy and many fear the number will rise. A growing number of Staten Islanders are outraged by what they describe as the slow response from relief organizations. NBC News' Ann Curry reports. More content from NBCNews.com:
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