Kavner’s “For Public Housing Residents After Sandy, ‘A Slow Motion Katrina,’ details how people living in public housing suffered the most during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The NYCHA failed to restore the heat and electricity lost after the hurricane hit while the wealthier neighborhoods in Brooklyn had all of their amenities. It is upsetting to read about how people with medical problems could not use their oxygen machines or nebulizers because of the electricity being down for over a week. Elderly residents were sitting at home freezing and relying on volunteers to give them food and flashlights. It is unacceptable that it would take so long to help the people living in public housing complexes. I also found it confusing that NYCHA workers had differing explanations as to why it was taking so long to help the residents. Some workers said that communication was lacking, others said that the infrastructure of the public housing complexes was outdated making it difficult to repair the damages, and even some workers had no explanation at all. I think that NYCHA should be reevaluated and improved because there can be other natural disasters in the future, and the poor service that was provided cannot be repeated again. There were many people going nights without knowing when they would have heating and power, and worst of all, they were not getting any real answers as to why it was taking so long to fix the situation.

Question- Why do you think it took so long for the NYCHA to help those living in public housing after Hurricane Sandy?