Recovering From Sandy

Like the rest of the New York metropolitan area, all of us at the Center for Court Innovation are recovering from yesterday's storm.  Unfortunately, because public transit has been suspended, it has been difficult to assess what we will be facing as we look to get our operations back on line.

I've had several reports from Red Hook, which was one of the coastal areas that experienced major flooding yesterday.  Thankfully, the exterior of the Red Hook Community Justice Center appears undamaged (save for the banner), but no one has been able to go inside to see what kind of damage the water did.   Red Hook in general appears to be a "mess" according to our staff there -- strong smell of sewage, lights out, debris everywhere.

Other than that, not too much to report.  The exterior of the Crown Heights Community Mediation Center appears to have been damaged by the winds.   At least one Center staffer lives in Zone A and had to be evacuated.  Several are still without power.

Clearly, it is going to take some time for us to be back at full strength, both as an organization and as a City.  But we have been through a lot in recent years -- 9-11, the blackout of 2003, Hurricane Irene, the financial collapse of 2008, etc -- and I know we will get through this too.