About 30 people gathered in Charles Park Sunday to reflect on Sandy – and to say goodbye to one of life’s hardest years. Robert Stridiron/The Forum Newsgroup
Oct. 27, 2013 was the perfect example of what is not a hurricane. Instead of wind-whipped clouds scuttling across the bay, the bright blue skies were broken only by birdsong. Instead of ominous warnings from public officials, the only official intonations that could be heard Charles Park in Howard Beach were the calls of baseball referees overseeing the Sunday morning games. The only thing threatening the crisp fall day was cliché; the biggest complaint was the chill in the air as about 30 neighbors in Howard Beach gathered in solidarity to reflect on Superstorm Sandy, which hit the area one year ago.
Julie Fazio, the owner of Howard Beach’s Fazio Dance Center, had seen that other beachfront communities along the eastern seaboard were gathering to hold hands and face the sea that had not managed to wash them away and wanted to organize a similar event in Howard Beach.
It was Fazio said said, meant “to have our moment of being grateful.”
The intention of the ceremony in Howard Beach was well placed. The storm flooded the main thoroughfare, Cross Bay Boulevard, gutting many of the area businesses and the houses by the bay. Everyone knew someone whose home had flooded, everyone had helped haul out ruined belongings and sodden insulation and everyone had helped put back up sheetrock and signs. Lessons were learned about flood zones and the Federal Emergency Management Agency and bureaucratic red tape.
“It’s been such a hard year, but you saw the best of people. The community came together,” Fazio summarized.
“I had a neighbor that I never talked to before, I don’t know why, but she made soup for everyone [after the storm], and went door to door. Now we have backyard parties,” said a woman attending the event added, declining to give her name.
A little after 11 a.m., the crowd made its way to the flagpole at the park, overlooking the bay that had wreaked such havoc on their lives. At the request of Fazio, everyone gathered in a circle and held hands for 10 seconds of silence, raising their arms in unison. It was as much a moment of defiance as remembrance.
By Kate Bubacz
