Westbeth Update
Sunday AM November 04, 2012

I have been in Ohio for over 12 days so all the reports I get come from people on the ground at Westbeth. I apologize if any information is misinterpreted or incorrect but I am filtering and reconfirming as much as I can.

Let me correct something from yesterday. Electric is on in most of the building but it is not on in the A section or in some apartments near the A section. They are working on it now but there is no definitive answer on when they will have electric.

Electric service does NOT automatically give us elevators, water or heat. Right now we only have electric in most of the building but none of the other three services.

From the Westbeth Corporate FB page:
The pump company came today and immediately saw, given the extent of the damage to the pumps, that onsite repair was not possible. They have taken them, along with the pumps for the hot water system, back to their shop, and hope to have some or all of them back in place by Tuesday or Wednesday. We also know that we can supply power to those pumps.

The contractor for the oil burners, the critical part of the boiler machinery, came to the building after 7 p.m. to survey the situation. His initial reaction was encouraging — the burners can quite likely be repaired and he will return when an electrician tells him it’s safe to begin taking them out of the boilers. His hope was that he would relatively quickly be able to get two of the burners working, which would allow us to provide hot water and, possibly, some heat, sooner than we expected.

The boiler work depends not only on the burners, but on the electrician (not the same one doing the restoration work;) and the plumber, who needs to ensure that the oil supply pipes are intact and that the system supplying water to and from the boilers is working. We expect both the electrician and plumber be at Westbeth on Sunday. We also are anticipating needing pumps for the fuel supply.

We are also hopeful that elevator service can be restored in a reasonable number of days. The equipment for them is on the roof, not in the basement, so it should mostly be intact. As of 9 p.m. this evening, (Saturday) there was still significant water in the pits at the bottom of the elevators in the Bethune Street lobby; work on them can’t begin until that’s taken care of. We received more pumps today, and with the restoration of electricity we hope to have that accomplished some time on Sunday. The A section elevators are more of mystery, and we might have a better handle on their condition by the end of tomorrow.

Let’s talk about some good news!

Erica Fae, our Community Relations Chair, has been in constant contact with the Board of Elections about Westbeth remaining a poll location. As of this morning, we are still listed as the poll location for our building. Once we have a definitive word on this we will post it.

Erica is also working to turn the Community Room into a warming center. More details on that will be posted in the community room. There is a daily update meeting held by management in the community room at 3PM. Attend if you can. WARC will be posting daily updates on each floor by the elevator bulletin boards on each floor but these will only be synopsis of what we know. If you have a question or concern that needs immediate attention, it is best to attend the 3 PM meeting and address it to management.

Yesterday, TJ Luty from God’s Love We Deliver, purchased and then helped distribute 20 electric blankets throughout the building with Erica and Maya. Thank you TJ and GLWD!

WARC is also trying to find a floor captain (or captains for the larger floors) to coordinate supply and relief efforts.

Congressman Nadler’s office dropped off 12 cases of bottled water and 140 MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) last night. You can check at the desk to see if any of those supplies are still available.

Maybe some of the best news – Very happy to report that Speaker Quinn’s office has put in a request to both HPD and to HUD for two emergency boilers so that we will have heat and hot water. I know her office is moving heaven and earth to get them on site ASAP. These will serve as a stop gap measure until our boilers are repaired.

We are also trying to get a water truck to supply water for your drinking and sanitary needs.

I know that nerves are wearing thin, that some tempers have flared and this is overwhelming for some.
Please remember to be kind and patient. The staff is overburdened and has been stellar during this catastrophe. The WARC members and other volunteers are doing this even as they suffer under the same circumstances that you do.

I cannot get home soon enough to help with these relief efforts. However, I have a job to do here, so I will finish my assignment in Ohio and then come home to the place we all love, Westbeth.

Love from a now snowy Ohio,
George Cominskie

Sunday Nov 4, noon – 2 pm

We just received word about this discussion on salvaging wet art and cultural materials presented by AIC Conservation Team. It will take place at the Museum of Modern Art on East 54th St at noon.

Hopefully there will not be a need for too many more of these…

My reports come from The Corporate Westbeth Page on FB, our elected officials, Lisa Rifkin and from Deb Travis who I can’t thank enough for keeping me updated and handling all the requests I have sent to her and then taking on another dozen tasks as well.

Good News – Electrical Power was restored at 4:30AM. Water service has not been restored yet.

I just tried to call the land line in my apartment but that service is not restored either.

From the Westbeth Corporate FB Page:
We have no news on the heating front. Our boiler contractor should have its personnel at Westbeth soon to begin the process of determining how much damage was sustained and what will be entailed in making the system operable again. It is most likely, however, that we are looking at a number of weeks before heat will be available.

Tenants and staff have detected the odorous consequences of Sandy. The smell is the result of the mixing of sea water, mud, debris, and all the various materials the basement held: Artists’ working materials; the contents of Westbeth’s maintenance shops, such as paints, solvents, petroleum products, and detergents; whatever else got loose from tenants’ rented spaces and the sculpture studio; the contents of the laundry room; and all the miscellaneous stuff a basement contains. Fortunately, we have not detected any sewer gas, which can be dangerous both to breath and because it is combustible. If you can smell the basement odor in your apartment, it is probably best to have a window and allow fresh air to enter your space. The basement under the best of circumstances is hard to ventilate in the best of times, and, as a consequence, some part of that smell is likely to linger for many weeks.

Reports that Deb has gathered:

Rent: since no rent stubs have been distributed and Phipps cannot handle receiving the checks, Matthew asks that we wait until next week to pay the rent.

Community Room: we are not reserving the Community Room until further notice. It is open from 10am to 8pm to charge devices. (Which might be irrelevant now)

Basement: no tenants are allowed in the basement. Once the electricity and basic services are restored, management will coordinate with affected residents for the inspection and removal of property.

Dumpster: if you have garbage that needs to be disposed of, please bring it to the dumpster in the inner courtyard garage area.

Food: please contact Olivia if you know anyone who is unable to leave their apartment for food. Meals on wheels is providing service in our area.

State of the basement: a few inches of water remain to be pumped. They will be using immersion pumps to get to some of the more difficult areas.

The Council has labeled the doors of tenants we know have left in order to prevent worry. Please label your door if you leave and please label the door of anyone you know to have left.

From Lisa Rifkin:

Lisa called the Board of Elections and got this information.

Right now it is still expected that the Westbeth Community Room will be the polling place on Tuesday, November 6th.

For those of you who have relocated and are not sure you will be able to get back on Nov 6th, you can go and cast an absentee ballot. Everything is very fluid there so we think you should call the BOE before you go there to be sure they are sticking with these dates and times.

Board of Elections
Operations temporarily relocated to:
450 West 33rd Street, 10Flr
New York, NY 10001
Tel: 1. 212.465.0503
Fax: 1. 212.465.2135

This might change when power is back. We don’t know if their service has been restored. As of yesterday, these were the times they were saying they would be open. I would reconfirm that before going. There is a possibility the location and times have changed.

Saturday, Nov 3rd 9AM to 6PM
Sunday, Nov 4th 9AM to 6PM
Monday Nov 5th 9AM to 5 PM

There have been many requests about our senior tenants and food and water. Olivia Duerr has coordinated food deliveries to all who are in need. Yesterday, both Congressman Nadler and Speaker Quinn’s offices delivered water and non-perishable food to the front desk. Some of those supplies are still down at the desk if anyone is in need.

Off to start the GOTV drive here in Ohio.

More tomorrow, when I hope everything is restored and these updates are not needed.

Love from Ohio,

George Cominskie

1. There is generator operating in the community room from 10 AM to 8 PM so people can recharge their cell phones. Some of you who have been reaching out to me should be able to reach your loved ones by cell in a day or two.

2. Port-a-sands are now on site and will be available from early morning to 10 PM.

3. Additional generators arrived yesterday and they will be used for lighting in the basement and to pump the water out of the basement.

4. ConEd says they will restore power to the building by 11 PM on Saturday night. However, Westbeth will need to check all of our electric mains, fuses and circuit breakers before electric service is restored to the building. Until everything is inspected, we won’t have a definitive answer to when services are restored. However, this is the timeline as they see it now:
-Westbeth could get power back as early as Sunday but more likely early next week
-The elevators and cold water will follow shortly thereafter
-Hot water later next week
-Heat and laundry may take as long as three to four weeks to be restored.

5. All of the above are guesstimates. Until everything is physically inspected, they will not know the full extent of the damage. Those inspections can begin today when the water is pumped out of the basement.

6. Some Westbeth residents who have gone to other places have asked me about voting. Our district leader, Brad Holyman is checking on where you can vote by absentee before Tuesday. I know Westbeth is trying to be the polling place as usual for Tuesday but I do not have a definitive answer if that has been determined yet.

Thanks again to our staff at Westbeth who continue to care for the residents, to the management for spearheading the restoration of services, to our elected officials who are constantly monitoring what is happening at Westbeth and providing assistance where they can and to the many Westbeth residents who are caring for each other.

With love from Ohio,
George Cominskie

Can’t keep a good man down. Barry Temkin announced today he and his band will play an acoustic set on Friday Nov 2 at 6 pm in Community Room. Scroll below for info on Barry and his band. FREE.

Phone chargers have been delivered to Community Room. Electricians are expected to descend to the basement tomorrow to assess damage. As of now there is about 1 to 2′ of water but it is draining.

Mood is grim but resilient. Hallways are dark still, and some residents have managed to find housing elsewhere. The prognosis from management is that is may be a long while before Westbeth is operational.

They advise that those who can, should leave. However for those who stay , the superb staff is working night and day to ensure safety and comfort.

There was a barbecue in the courtyard today. And neighbors continue to check on each other, bringing water and food where necessary.

What we need most down here, and actually in the whole of the village is food vendors and food trucks.

Thursday AM Nov 1st

This posting on the Westbeth Corporate FB page:

“We hope to have a few generators in place today that will allow us to light the basement and run a few heaters in the Community Room. We continue to advise people that can to find alternative accommodation while the electricity is out; there will be no heat for several days, perhaps longer, and we don’t know when we’ll even have running water.”

So, the recommendation from management is that you should seek other accommodations now if you can. If you relocate, please let the security guards know. If you let me know I will alert them as well. If you know some is definitely staying (many because they cannot go down the stairs) let me know so I can alert management as well. If you have a relative that you think should be taken to a shelter, call the Red Cross or one of these numbers that Cinitha sent me from the Governors’web site: If you need disaster assistance immediately, contact FEMA at 1-800-621-3362 or the NYS Hurricane Sandy Helpline at 1-888-769-7243.

I hear nothing but praise about our staff who have been assisting residents but their resources are limited with no services available. Thank you to all of our Westbeth heroes.

On Tuesday, Westbeth Artists Housing lost all of is electrical power and water. The basement of the block long building flooded with 9′ of water. All electrical equipment, boilers, electronics, pumps have been knocked out of service, and the extent of the damage is still unknown as there is, as of Thursday morning, still about 5′ of water in the basement.

Apartments, hallways, stairways, performance spaces are in total darkness. The residents are helping each other out, tenants checking on their neighbors, assisting senior residents who cannot climb down so many stairs in buying and delivering food, and maintenance and security personnel are delivering drinking water and sanitary water from cans filled with pumped water from basements across the street.
Management is hoping to start pumping water out soon, and they expect to deliver a generator so that we can charge phones.

Even if power is restored to the rest of the city, however, the probable severe damage to Westbeth’s electrical and heating system may delay restoration of power to Westbeth for perhaps weeks or longer.

The Jean Promutico Gallery Show, the Raytones performance, The Westbeth Flea Market have been cancelled.

For information about activities at other organizations located at Westbeth such as Martha Graham Dance, Brecht Forum, New School for Drama, etc, please check their websites.

In addition to the building equipment, some artists lost a lifetime of work in their basement studios, musicians lost equipment and instruments in their basement studios. Work by some artists no longer with us were archived in the basement.

For the most part, the artists here are resilient, and we hope to be back at work soon. But for now, it is difficult.

For further updates, check with Westbeth Facebook page, and follow on Twitter.

“…The rhythms of city life:…Westbeth Basement Sale…”—Michele Herman THE VILLAGER

Freshly painted and reorganized, we think your experience at our sale will be better than ever.

And, if you like Art, you’ll really love this year’s Sale. The family of painter Jane Bolmeier, a Westbeth resident for 40 years, donated a number of her paintings. Bolmeier’s passion was to use extraordinarily lush colors (oil, acrylic, & gouache), for her paintings of vases of flowers, small marinas, etc.