Tomorrow -a day after the one year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy – city officials will finally announce that Knickerbocker Village has been awarded federal disaster aid.
The historic affordable housing complex on Monroe Street was devastated by the storm; Sandy destroyed most mechanical systems when flood waters rushed over the East River October 29, 2012. Some of the damage was repaired in the weeks after the storm, but residents have become increasingly anxious as federal funds to protect Knickerbocker from future natural disasters very slowly made its way from Washington.
Tomorrow morning, RuthAnne Visnauskas, head of the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, will come to the Lower East Side to announce that Knickerbocker Village will receive $1.46 million from the Build It Back “multi-family repair program” to finance “phase 1” of the repairs. The HPD commissioner will be joined by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and City Council member Margaret Chin. We’ll have a full report tomorrow.
