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NEWS

Announcing reforms to storm recovery process

5/2/2018

 
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On Wednesday, May 2nd, BP Oddo joined with Congressman Dan Donovan to announce that the House of Representatives passed disaster recovery reforms that Donovan proposed to his colleagues late last year. The reforms fix some of the issues that plagued those whose homes were damaged in Sandy. BP Oddo’s office funded an analysis of the Superstorm Sandy recovery by former HUD Regional Administrator Holly Leicht. After Leicht completed her study, she, Oddo, and Donovan met to discuss her recommendations. After that meeting, Donovan and his staff had multiple conversations with the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which has jurisdiction over large portions of disaster recovery. Based on those conversations, the Committee included the Donovan-Oddo-Leicht recommendations in its FAA Reauthorization Act.
 
After Sandy, homeowners applied to FEMA for immediate relief. FEMA can only provide up to about $32,000 in individual assistance, so in major disasters like Sandy, other federal programs are necessary to help people repair and rebuild their homes. FEMA advised applicants who exhausted their assistance to apply to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), which provides low-interest disaster recovery loans. Only after receiving the SBA loan did many New Yorkers learn that their application to SBA made them ineligible to receive grants from Build it Back, the City’s HUD-funded disaster recovery program.
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This resulted in a major inequity in Sandy recovery: of two neighbors with the same level of damage and similar financial situations, one may have received free grant money from Build it Back while another owed tens of thousands of dollars to SBA for a long-term loan. This unfair and unjust outcome impacted thousands of Sandy victims all over New York City.

Before Sandy, assistance applicants were permitted to use grants to repay their SBA loans. In 2011, HUD issued a rule forbidding the practice during future disasters. When drafting the post-Sandy aid bill, Congress had the opportunity to override HUD’s rule, but did not do so.

Also included in the measure were two other reforms Donovan recommended in partnership with Borough President Oddo and Holly Leicht. The first involves environmental reviews. Before Build it Back could begin work repairing homes, the City had to conduct environmental reviews of each home in the program. This requirement was expensive and time-consuming and contributed to Build it Back’s delays. The reform requires an overhaul of post-disaster environmental review regulations and an accounting of the costs associated with the current rules.

The second reform is to the way homeowners apply for disaster assistance. After Sandy, FEMA applicants had to prove their eligibility by producing citizenship documents, multiple forms of identification, and documents to prove their residency. When applying to SBA and Build it Back for assistance, the same applicants often had to re-produce the same paperwork to re-confirm their eligibility. Gathering the necessary documents after losing a home is challenging enough, but having to re-submit the same paperwork over and over again added unnecessary red tape and delays to the process. This reform requires an analysis of how multiple federal agencies can streamline the application process, hopefully resulting in one simple, all-encompassing eligibility portal.

BP Oddo said, “The 'recovery' after the storm should not be more painful and cause more heartache than the storm itself. Sadly, that is what many Staten Islanders experienced after Sandy. I am proud that the intelligent and critically important work done by former HUD Region II Director Holly Leicht, which Borough Hall co-sponsored and supported, was shepherded by Congressman Donovan into reality. As I have said numerous times over the last several years, mistakes were made early, made often, were compounded, and were repeated. Holly's work identified genuine course corrections to prevent them from being a problem the next time such a natural disaster strikes. Our government has to be better across the board in the future. These improvements are a tangible improvement in that direction.”
 
Congressman Donovan said, “Ronald Reagan quipped that ‘there’s no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don't care who gets the credit.’ The federal rules Congress and the agencies implemented after Sandy were terribly unfair to a lot of New Yorkers, and the reforms I helped pass last week came from months of conversations. Plenty of folks deserve some credit for the fact that once this bill becomes law, no future disaster victim will be burdened with an SBA loan while others in the same situation get free grants. Thank you to Borough President Oddo and Holly Leicht for working with me to get this done.”
 
The FAA Reauthorization Act passed on April 27, 2018.

Every Staten Island Elected Official Joins Borough President Oddo in Signing onto Letter to Governor and Mayor saying: “Thank you; We Need More Help” on Opioid Epidemic

1/12/2017

 
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​“Thank you; we need more help,” is the message of a short letter drafted by Borough President James S. Oddo and signed by every other elected official on Staten Island to Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio.
 
The letter, dated January 10, 2017 and addressed to Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio reads in total as follows:
 
“We sincerely thank you for all you have done to help us fight the opioid epidemic plaguing Staten Island.
 
“We desperately need more help.
 
“We are hopeful we can all get in the same room in the near future to figure out how we can do even more.”
 
Ironically, within hours of sending the letter, the Governor sent out a press release announcing a slew of new proposals in his State of the State to combat this epidemic state wide.
 
“I certainly welcome the Governor’s new proposals, and look forward to learning more about them,” said Borough President Oddo. “In fact, they are an indication of how important it is to get in the same room to discuss all our efforts and discuss what more can be done. At our December 2, 2016 meeting I hosted at Borough Hall, my colleagues and I agreed that the crisis is so pervasive and serious that we must be working with the highest reaches of the state and city government to solve it. This letter appealing to the Governor and Mayor for their direct engagement with us asks just for that. Does the request reflect a bit of chutzpah on our part? Perhaps. But the cause is that important and the consequences of inaction too serious.” 
 
Besides Borough President Oddo, the bipartisan group of elected officials signing onto the letter was: District Attorney Michael McMahon, Congressman Dan Donovan, State Senators Andrew Lanza and Diane Savino, Assembly Members Michael Cusick, Matthew Titone, Nicole Malliotakis, and Ron Castorina, and Council Members Steven Matteo, Joe Borelli, and Debi Rose.  

BP Oddo announces funding for new videotaping system for District Attorney’s office

9/25/2014

 
On Thursday, September 25th, Borough President James Oddo announced that he has allocated $380,000 in capital funding to the Staten Island District Attorney’s Office. The money will fund an overhaul of the videotaping system which produces footage for Grand Jury proceedings, trials and for use in their control room, line-up room, and witness room, as well as their media and conference center into a video recording system. The new system will replace the old system, last updated in 2005, which has fallen behind current industry standards.

“One of the first people I met with after becoming Borough President was District Attorney Dan Donovan,” said Borough President Oddo. “I wanted him to know that we at Borough Hall were committed to doing everything we could to assist him in his critical role as chief law enforcement officer on Staten Island, including help with capital dollars. Technology has come a long way in a few short years and it’s imperative that the District Attorney’s Office utilize an up-to-date system.”

The project will digitize the recording process, making high quality imaging available during necessary proceedings. Cameras and audio equipment will be replaced in the line-up room, the witness room and the media and conference center. In addition, the control room will get a total overhaul of equipment, which will improve the image quality and sound, converting the analog-based video-taping system into a server-based HD video-recording system. 

In addition, an archive system will make it much more time efficient for prosecutors to locate footage needed for their cases. The new system will allow the DA’s office to export victim/witness/defendant videos directly onto ADA’s computers and create a more secure method of storing interviews.

“This much-needed upgrade will bring the outdated technology in my office into the next century. Interviewing victims, witnesses and defendants is the foundation on which strong cases are built,” said Richmond County District Attorney Daniel M. Donovan, Jr.  “I want to thank Borough President Oddo for this capital funding, which will allow my office to better serve the people of Staten Island.”

BP Oddo Donates Cell Phones to Survivors of Domestic Violence

4/9/2014

 
Borough President James S. Oddo joined District Attorney Daniel M. Donovan, Jr. to present 80 used cell phones to Safe Horizon on April 9 at Borough Hall. The Borough President’s office collected the cell phones last year at a drive held at Borough Hall.With reports of domestic violence incidence rising to staggering levels on Staten Island, the phones will be used in the event of emergencies for victims to call 911. From 2009 to 2012, Staten Island reported a 51.9 percent increase in domestic violence, according to Division of Criminal Justice Services data.

Safe Horizon is the nation’s largest provider of residence for victims of domestic violence and their families, operating nine shelters across New York City. The donated cell phones will be distributed to domestic violence victims for use in emergency situations.
  
“I’m pleased that members of the Staten Island community stepped up and donated their used cell phones,” noted Borough President Oddo. “These phones will provide a lifeline to victims, giving them a safe way to connect with the police in case of emergency.”

“Any one of these 80 cell phones generously donated by Borough President Oddo to Safe Horizon could be the very lifeline that quickly puts a victim in touch with emergency responders in their most dire moment,” noted Daniel M. Donovan, Jr., Richmond County District Attorney.  He noted that it is a crime to try to take a phone away from someone who is calling for help and that as a community, we need to change the way we think about domestic violence. “If you saw someone breaking into your neighbor’s basement window, you would call the police. If you hear your neighbor beating his wife, you might not want to get involved.  We have to change the way we think about this. It’s a crime,” he said.

“Safe Horizon applauds Staten Island and Staten Island Borough President James Oddo for their leadership in supporting survivors of Domestic Violence. The phones donated will make an impact for victims who have been isolated by abuse and violence for too long,” said Erika Arias-Moreno, Director of Staten Island Community and Criminal Justice Programs at Safe Horizon.

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