Amour on Allen by Ken Brown

VOL. 19 VOL. 3 www.tribecatrib.com NOVEMBER 2012

THETRIBECATRIB

SANDYSTORM DAYS IN LOWER MANHATTAN

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THE TRIBECA TRIB NOVEMBER 2012 54 NOVEMBER 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB

DELUGEDLower Manhattan in the days of the flood

Hurricane Sandy and its impact onLower Manhattan is not a single storybut countless personal ones. Here arejust a few, compiled over the first days.

BY JESSICA TERRELLAND CARL GLASSMAN

THE DAY AFTERLike the rest of the city and the

region, Lower Manhattan woke up onTues day morning, Oct. 30, to the after-math of the city’s worst storm in memo-ry. From the South Street Seaport, whereworkers struggled to appraise damagedrestaurants and shops, to Battery ParkCity where most residents had evacuated(but to the surprise of many still hadpower) an eerie quiet hung in the dampair.

Although flood damage was severein parts of the Seaport and FinancialDistrict, the biggest challenge facingDowntown residents on Tuesday and, formany, the days after that, was lack ofpower.

What would become a seeminglyubiquitous roar of generators sucking upcountless tonnage of river water fromLower Manhattan basements was onlybeginning to kick in.

Doormen like Charles Hall, workingin the dark lobby of 310 GreenwichStreet in Tribeca’s Independence Plaza,said the most frequently asked questionin Tribeca on the day after the storm was,“What is the latest on electricity?”

At the 39-story IPN complex, whichhad no working elevators until Nov. 3,residents huffed their way slowly toupper floors using flashlights to navigatethe dark stairways, and then the pitch-black hallways.

Though hardly as damaged as areasoutside Manhattan, Downtown was hithardest in the Seaport and the easternedge of the Financial District, wherewater from the storm surge reachedheights of six feet on several streets.

On Wall Street, between South andFront, maintenance workers on thatTuesday—and for days after that—werepumping water from the basements ofhigh-rise buildings. The water had risenat least five feet and appeared to havebroken windows on the ground floor of111 Wall Street.

“The whole basement was flooded,”said lawyer Peter Nissman, who notedthat he lost many files to the stormwater.

“We came by on Sunday to move them tohigher shelves. I had no idea the waterwould go so high.”

The South Street Seaport’s historicships had no signs of visible damage, butmost of Pier 16—which had been cov-ered with five feet of water—and Pier17—was off limits.

Pier 15 appeared undamaged but theair was heavy with the smell of fuel andthe water to the south had the sheen of anoil slick.

The end of Pier 17 is higher than thatof Pier 16, so many ground-floor shopshad been spared significant damage,according to a guard working in the area.

“Nothing was as bad here as it was

across the street,” he said, noddingtoward Fulton.

The ground floors of most buildingson Schermerhorn Row were flooded, andmany of the side streets below Pearl offFulton were damaged by the rushingtide.

On the other side of the island,Battery Park City—where most peoplehad left their homes—ended up faringthe best of Downtown neighborhoods,with power remaining on in almost allthe buildings. Only number 400 inGateway Plaza lost power, and remainedwithout it for another three days. “It’sunbelievable,” said Jane Dunsmuir, aBattery Park City resident. “It feels like

we are in this magical little bubble here.”There was almost no place to buy

food in Lower Manhattan on the dayafter the storm, though in Tribeca threesmaller markets, Morgan’s, Picnic Bas -ket and Amish Market, stayed open forcustomers willing to shop by flashlight.And there were many.

“We were stocked up but we werehoping to find any dollar pizza place,anything we don’t have to prepare,” saidNick Ludwick, of 90 Washington St.,who was charging his phone at a genera-tor next to the Amish Market. “This is lit-erally the only place open.”

At 2 p.m., security guard Tony Altonstood near the base of 7 World TradeCenter, where water was being pumpedout of the basement of a Con Ed station.

“They started this at 6 this morningand they still aren’t anywhere near beingdone,” said Alton, who spent the night at160 Nassau with about 40 constructionworkers and others who could not gohome.

“I’m just praying they will get thiscleaned up as quickly as possible,” hesaid.AN EVACUATION ODYSSEY

Jonathan Collins, director of theHallmark senior residence in BatteryPark City, was relieved to hear themayor’s first pronouncement that therewould be no evacuation. After all, thestaff was prepared to stay put.

“We had food, we felt comfortableabout weathering the storm,” Collinssaid.

But at 11:30 Sunday morning the

Hallmark, in Zone A, had to evacuate.With just seven and a half hours left, thestaff had to find accommodations for theresidents, many of whom use walkersand some are in wheelchairs.

Everyone began working the phones.One hundred residents were able to bepicked up by their relatives. But that leftover 100 residents, their aides, theirpets—two dogs, three birds and fivecats—and the staff.

Collins rounded up two wheelchair-accessible buses and found a hotel inManhattan for everyone—but at 2:30 hegot a call from the hotel’s assistant man-

ager, who had decided to cancel thereservation.

Now, with only five hours left, thestaff frantically worked the phones again.They finally found rooms in two hotelsin New Jersey and one in Philadelphiaand, after checking every room twice,began the laborious move. “The parkofficers and police stood here for hours,”Collins said. “They helped us carry somepeople onto buses.”

The pets stayed behind with Collinsand his wife, who have an apartment atthe Hallmark. That night the manager ofthe hotel in Secaucus mentioned to social

worker Sheila Evangelista that the hotelis subject to flooding. “I called Jon -athan,” she recalled. “He said, ‘I need toget them out.’”

The next morning the residents weremoved to the other New Jersey hotelwhere things seemed to finally be work-ing out. Hallmark’s Whitney Bryant evenled an exercise class for the evacuees.

But that night the hotel lost powerand the generator was failing. To makematters worse, the hotel was running outof food.

At 1 p.m. on Tuesday, chancing thatthey would not be allowed back into theevacuation zone, the buses returned toBattery Park City, where power had

The day after the storm, Il Porto chef Christian Meliano stands in the wrecked dining roomof the restaurant at 11 Fulton St. Flood waters carried a beer fridge onto a counter.

Ella Biondi climbs to her 30th-floor apartment at 80 North Moore St. in IndependencePlaza. The three-tower complex was without water, electricity and gas until Saturday, Nov.4. Volunteers and building staff checked on elderly tenants who may have been in distress.

Like most ground floors in the Seaport,Fetch, the pet service at 85 South St., wasflooded, its ruined things put on the street.

West Street, near the RectorStreet Bridge. The hurricaneswelled the Hudson River, flowedover Battery Park City and turnedWest Street into a river of its own.caption

BY CARL GLASSMANManhattan Youth director Bob

Town ley stood on the steps leading tothe lower levels of the DowntownCommunity Center, two days after theflood. At the bottom stood a pool ofwater, just a hint of the nightmare thatlay beyond, more than 20,000 squarefeet of water, 20 feet high.

“It’s hard to imagine,” he said, peer-ing down into the murky water. “Theceramic studio, the art studio, the teenlounge, the kitchen, all the systems, theboiler, the pool filtration system andpower system of the pool. All the big-ticket items—$600,000 to $700,000items. Each.”

That day Townley and his staff lead-ers were trying to come to terms withthe devastating damage caused by theswell of Hurricane Sandy waters thatflooded the underground garage of 200Chambers Street next door and gushedinto the lower floors of the center at 120Warren St. How would ManhattanYouth rebuild and continue servingsome 3,000 Downtown residents in itsafter-school and many other programs?

Townley said the center has no floodinsurance. “Everything is going to bemore money than we have,” he said. “It

could be millions of dollars in infra-structure, equipment, loss of programrevenue.” Plans for a fund raising cam-paign is already in the works.

“It will be a process like buildingthe community center,” he said. “This isa rebuilding.”

Within a couple of days after thestorm, Manhattan Youth staff hadpumps pulling water day and night fromthe center. On Saturday, five days afterthe storm, the rooms had been clearedand the damage could be seen.

“Everything ended up in otherrooms,” said Townley, who had movedthe Manhattan Youth offices, still with-out power, into the living room of hisBattery Park City apartment. “It’s amess.”

Until some power can be restored inthe building, the big damage—to thecenter’s mechanical equipment—can’tbe assessed.

With the water out, the physicalwork of carrying out the wreckage hasbegun, as it has in so many flood-tornbuildings. On Sunday, less than a weekafter the storm, a dumpster sat in frontof the center, waiting to be filled.

Townley knew the center was introuble when the phone rang during the

storm. A staff member manning the cen-ter told him water was flooding in fromthe garage. He decided to go see forhimself.

“I knew it was really crazy, but Iwas going to do it,” said Townley, wholives a few blocks away on ChambersStreet. “I wanted to see if our sandbagswere holding. I wanted to see what Icould do. I always feel like I can solve aproblem.”

Townley put on waterproof pants, ajacket and boots and went outside. Hecrossed the Stuyvesant High Schoolbridge. Cops at Greenwich and Cham -

bers tried to wave him over but he con-tinued on, wading through the four-foot-high rushing water, gripping fencesas he went.

“When I got to the community cen-ter, the staff took me downstairs. I wasshocked. I hugged one of them. Then Ishook all their hands and thanked themfor pitching in to help the community.There was nothing I could do so I wenthome.”

“I woke up the next morning andcried a little bit,” Townley added. “ThenI went to the gym. I need to be healthynow.”

Two days after the storm, Bob Townley surveys the community center’s flooded stairs.

Community Center SeeksTo Rebound from Flood

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SCOT SURBECK

CARL GLASSMAN CARL GLASSMAN

JESSICA TERRELL

CARL GLASSMAN

Volunteer and DonateHudson River Park Trust volunteer

day: Nov. 10. volunteer@fohrp.org. Seaport businesses needs volun-

teers, particularly skilled electricians andthose with construction skills. volun-teer@newamsterdammarket.org

Volunteer and donate winter cloth-ing, blankets and wrapped toys. Chabadof Tribeca, 54 Reade St., 12-5 pm.info@chabadoftribeca.com.

Local nonprofits asking for donationsto help with damages: The Battery Con -servancy, thebattery.org; Hudson RiverPark Trust, hudsonriverpark.org; Down -town Community Center, manhattany-outh.org; and South Street Seaport Mu -seum, southstreetseaportmuseum.org.

UPDATES AT TRIBECATRIB.COM.

THE TRIBECA TRIB NOVEMBER 2012 21

never been lost. “We even got the cooksin for dinner,” Collins said proudly.

Despite the trouble, Collins could seea bright spot in it all.

“I told my boss this was the bestteam-building exercise you could everhave.”UNREAL FORCE

The afternoon after the storm, ChefChristian Meliano stood in what hadbeen the dining room of Il Porto restau-rant at 11 Fulton St. and pointed to a beerrefrigerator that storm waters had de -posited onto the restaurant’s bar.

“It takes us five people to move thatfridge,” he said with disbelief. “I’venever seen anything like that.”

Moving from room to room, Melianoand restaurant manager Gloria Jamarillosurveyed the damage with shock. Waterinside the restaurant had reached nearlysix feet. Windows were broken, tablesand chairs overturned, liquor bottlesscattered across the floor.

“Oh, my God,” Meliano called toJamarillo. “You have to come look at mykitchen!”

Behind the kitchen doors the floorwas covered with pots and pans and pud-dles of what appeared to be cooking oil.Water dripped from a broken faucet,stoves appeared to have floated and land-ed in other parts of the room.

“This is crazy,” said Jamarillo, whohad made sure the restaurant windowswere taped and sandbags were placed infront of the doors before the stormarrived. “I can’t believe it. Everything isdestroyed.”CLEANING BY CANDLELIGHT

On Wednesday, in the basement levelof Stone Street Tavern, co-owner RonanDowns and his staff were cleaning uppools of spilled grease and hauling outbags of food and damaged supplies bycandlelight. The bar had been severelyflooded, but Downs was determined toget the place clean—electricity or noelectricity.

“We know how important it is toNew York City,” Downs said, taking abreak outside the his bar. “We also knowhow important it is to our employees.

They have families, so we want to getthem working. We want to get workingourselves. We have families, too.”

A similar scene was unfolding inestablishments all along the street.

“The Dubliner is being pumped outright now,” said Downs, a co-owner.

Water at both the Dubliner and StoneStreet Tavern had reached nearly fourfeet during the storm.

“We found all the kitchen equipmentfloating,” Downs said. “Barrels of beerwere floating. It was in total disarray. Allour records, all our paperwork is totallydestroyed in the office. The office is acomplete mess.”

Still, Downs predicted that he wouldhave the tavern up and running within 24hours of getting electricity.

“It’s all hands on deck,” he said. “Wejust want to clean the place out, get theelectric back on, and get back in busi-ness.”

Far left: Beforethe stormstruck, somecame toHudson RiverPark to watchthe river rise.Left: A fewhours beforethe flood, theriver splashedup through awooden walk-way in theSouth Cove.

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PHOTOS BY CARL GLASSMAN

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Top: Kris Manrique hauls sandbags to Poets House on North End Avenue in Battery ParkCity, where there was a mandatory evacuation order. Above: Erin Sumwalt and JohnnyBoose, with Hudson, leave their building at 450 North End Ave.

THE TRIBECA TRIB NOVEMBER 2012 2322 NOVEMBER 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB

A MUSEUM IN THE STORMIt took hundreds of volunteer hours and

careful pre-storm calculations by the SouthStreet Seaport Museum’s waterfront direc-tor, Jonathan Boulware, but the museum’shistoric ships safely rode out the storm.

“Did you see those boats? How beauti-fully those ships did?” said MuseumPresident Susan Henshaw Jones onThursday, Nov. 1, as she stood in front ofthe museum on Fulton Street. “If every-thing had been out on the ships, it wouldhave been fine.”

Indeed, although all of the museum’sartwork and exhibits were safely on themuseum’s upper floors, roughly five feet ofwater flooded the ground floor and itsrental spaces and galleries on Water Street.

“Everything in here was just a sham-bles. Oh, shambles!” Jones said. “Shopmerchandise ruined, the cafe ruined. Lookat this sad thing.”

The “oil-laced surge” damaged themuseum’s electrical, heating and elevatorsystems as well as its shop merchandise,Jones later wrote in a plea for donations.

“Hurricane Sandy has dealt us a bodyblow,” she said.RESCUING TYPE

Hurricane Sandy forced countless labo-rious tasks onto those affected by thestorm, but few are as painstaking as theones now confronting Ali Osborn andGideon Finck. The two men, recently hiredto catalogue the museum’s extensive col-lection of wooden and metal type—mil-lions of pieces—must remove the historictype from water-soaked drawers, wash offthe salt water, and dry each letter so that itdoesn’t warp.

In one fateful night, their job changedfrom cataloging the collection to saving it.

“If they bow, they’re useless,” saidOsborn, surveying the wooden blocksspread across every available flat surfaceinside a storefront next to Bowne & Co.,the South Street Seaport’s vintage printshop on Water Street. “They need to be flatfor printing.” Volunteers were helping withthe job.

“We were just starting to really discov-er the treasures in the collection,” Osbornsaid. “So the timing was really bad.”

“The jury’s out,” Finck said, ponderinghow much of the rare type could be saved.“But just judging from what we have beenseeing over the last couple of days, it lookslike the majority of type is not going towarp.”

Eight printing presses in the gallerywere also covered with flood water, but thetwo men were fairly certain they could berepaired. And metal could wait longer thanwood to be tended to.

“A lot of the wood type was used for19th-century advertising,” Finck said. “It’srare, it’s beautiful.”HELPING HANDS BY THE HUNDREDS

Standing inside the dark and debris-filled Josh Bach gift shop on Fulton Street,Kristin Lepri reached out to grip the bot-tom of an enormous wooden display unitthat had been knocked over in the stormand was leaning precariously against thewall.

“I’m going to climb up,” she called outto one of the store’s owners, who wasstand ing on the other end of the unitpulling off soggy merchandise and handingit to volunteers. “It’s OK. I’m small. Isigned a waiver.”

Lepri, who hoisted herself up with easeand began emptying the shelves, was oneof roughly 200 volunteers who showed upat the South Street Seaport on the Sundayafter the storm.

Some brought their own shovels andgarbage bags, others took rubber gloveshanded out by New Amsterdam Market’sRobert LaValva, who organized the effort.Everyone pitched in where they could.

At Josh Bach, nine volunteers helpedempty the store of merchandise, while co-owner Valentina Guazzoni stood outsideand tried to determine what could be sal-vaged. At Barbarini, volunteers rinsed offslime-coated pots and pans and equipment.At Salud Restaurant and Bar they hauleddebris to the street. At Keg 229, theyhelped knock down moldy sheetrock.

“The pouring out of hearts and care andconcern gives me hope,” said Guazzoni,who is uncertain she will be able to reopenthe shop. “New Yorkers really do cometogether in times of need.”

But as much as the volunteers did,more remains to be done. Few, if any busi-nesses had flood insurance and the repairsneeded to reopen are overwhelming formany owners.

“In the Seaport proper, every singleground floor business was ruined,” LaVal -va said. “Everything was washed away.”FOR THOSE STILL IN THE DARK

The most vulnerable tenants, trapped indark high-rise buildings, needed to belooked after. Groups organized by Chabadof Tribeca, JCP and Julie Menin wereamong those who trekked through the darkhallways of building complexes such asIndependence Plaza and SouthbridgeTowers carrying backpacks full of food andwater, flashlights and batteries.

Chabad of Tribeca and JCP started outin Inde pendence Plaza on the second dayafter the storm and knocked on doors.

The 20 volunteers divided into groups,each covering 10floors and assistedby staff who keeplists of tenants whomay need help.

“Some peoplewere perfectly con-tent,” said SusanSilverstein, presi-dent of the JCPboard. “But therewere also peoplewho were scaredand in need of help.They were trying tofigure out how toacclimate and need-ed water.”

“People were sograteful and so over-whelmed,” the Cha -bad’s Chani Parissaid of the experi-ence. “There aresome elderly peoplein the buildings who have no idea what wasgoing on. They are just waiting for thelights to go back on. They have no radiosor no batteries.”

On the 20th floor of one IPN building,volunteers found an 85-year-old womandragging supplies up a dark stairwell,strug gling to make it to her apartmentabove the 30th floor.

Another volunteer ran into a franticwoman at 310 Green wich Street who saidher elderly mother was on an oxygen tankthat had run out the day be fore and she did-n’t know what to do.

“She asked the volunteer if she should

call 311, and he said, ‘No. Call 911 rightnow,’” Paris recalled. An ambulanceshowed up soon after to help the woman.

But for many residents stuck inside onthe second day after the storm, Paris said, afriendly face and information from the out-side world was often as appreciated as foodand water.

Deborah Dolan, property manager forthe IPN complex, praised the tenants forhelping each other. “Picking up food, walk-ing dogs, they’ve been terrific,” she said.HUDSON RIVER PARK, AFTER THE FLOOD

At the height of the storm HudsonRiver Park Trust president Madelyn Wilsclimbed to the roof of Pier 40 to see forherself Sandy’s ferocious assault on the

park.“It was a sight to behold,” Wils recalled

in quiet understatement during a phoneinterview later that week. “The whole parkwas underwater…it was surreal.”

The next morning, Wils walkedthrough the park to assess what the reced-ing waters had left behind. At Pier 25,flood waters had picked up concrete paversand deposited them across the pier.Styrofoam used to create contours in theplayground floated up, making rubble ofthe pavement that had covered it. Until theelectricity is turned back on, Wils said the

With power out throughout Lower Manhattan, food was hard to find. In Tribeca, at Morgan’sMarket, above, Picnic Basket and Amish Market, stores were open but dark.

At Whole Foods in Tribeca, people gathered for the free food handed out by employees. The storegave away many of its perishables, including produce and frozen foods.

The new 55 Fulton Market, outside Southbridge Towers in the Seaport area, was without elec-tricity, so it sold goods outside and did a brisk business.

The storm felled a tree in Titanic Park on Fulton Street in the Seaport. Sandy ravaged property and businesses in the Seaport more than any other part of Lower Manhattan.

In the lobby of the 600 building in Battery Park City’s Gateway Plaza, tenant volunteers organ-ized meals for residents of the nearby 400 Building who had no electricity.

A woman charges her cell phone in Zuccotti Park. People were grate-ful for any place to recharge batteries and stay in communication.

“There are some elderly people who have no idea what’s going on,” said a volunteerwho was checking on tenants. “They’re just waiting for the lights to go back on.”

CARL GLASSMAN

PHOTOS BY CARL GLASSMAN

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24 NOVEMBER 2012 THE TRIBECA TRIB

Cars floated from the flooded parking garage beneath the office tower at 85 Broad Street,where massive amounts of water were being pumped out for days after the storm.

As if buckling from an earthquake, the playground at Tribeca’s Pier 25—resting on aStyrofoam base—rose up with the surge of the river.

Trust would have no way of knowing ifthe utilities under the pier were working.

“I think at first when you see it all,it’s very disconcerting and there’s sometrauma to it,” Wils said. “But it looks likethe damage likely is not structural…andwhen you start putting that into perspec-tive it doesn’t look so bad.”

The older piers, particularly ChelseaPiers, Pier 40 and Pier 57 took the hard-est hit, Wils said. Pier 40 flooded badly,causing damage to its boiler and mechan-ical system, as well as the ball field.

“It’s an old structure and because ofthat, the mechanicals are on the groundwhere you wouldn’t put mechanicalsthese days,” Wils said.

The financially strapped Trust plansto apply for Federal Emergency Man age -ment funds to pay for repairs, Wils said.

“At the end of the day it’s OK,” theformer Community Board 1 chair said.“We’ll do what needs to be done to repairand rebuild what the storm took fromus.”BATTERED BATTERY CONSERVANCY

Although inundated with river waterduring the storm, most of Battery Parkdid not sustain serious damage. Thesame cannot be said for the Battery Con -servancy, the planners and supporters ofthe park with offices at nearby Broad andWater streets.

“We have floor-to-ceiling water,”Conservancy President Warrie Price saidtwo days after Hurricane Sandy struck.

It would be days before Conservancystaff could go in to assess the damage. Inthe meantime, they were cleaning stormdebris in the park, where three large treeswere blown down, including one on topof equipment in the playground.

All the gardens were flooded withsaltwater, and Price said it won’t be clearuntil next spring what plants have sur-vived. The base for the park’s newmarine-themed carousel “Seaglass” wasundamaged, she added.

“I think we showed once again theBattery can take a full-force storm,”Price said.WIRED TO HELP

For a couple of days after the storm,

two men from Harlem brought a price-less gift to the Financial District: elec-tricity and the Internet.

Angel Hernandez and DaymionMardel had parked their car on WallStreet near William and were offeringfree wifi access and cell phone chargingfrom equipment set up in their trunk.

“We are photographers, and we go onlocation where we have to be self-suffi-cient,” Hernandez said of the equipment.

The men could charge 30 cell phonesat a time and on each of the two daysthey were parked on Wall Street withtheir electronics-filled trunk wide open.“We’ve been overwhelmed,” Hernandezsaid. “This is the first chance some peo-ple have had to make a phone call indays, some to concerned relatives in theirhome countries.”

Hernandez recalled a young womanfrom Moscow who had not been able toreach her parents since the storm struck.

“Her family said they heard on thenews that there are sharks in the street,”Hernandez said. “They were really wor-ried about her.”FREE FOOD FROM WHOLE FOODS

As hard as it was to find food inTribeca on Wednesday, Whole Foods

was giving it away. Though the store atGreenwich and Warren was closed, witha backup generator illuminating theaisles inside, employees were manningboth entrances. Up for grabs was a vari-ety of produce and frozen foods.

“We’re giving away everything that’ssafe and perishable,” said Luke De -Decker, a store manager standing at theWarren Street entrance behind a box ofapples, most of them already taken.

“May I?” a woman asked, perusingthe remaining few.

“Go for it. Take as many as youwant,” DeDecker told her.

“You’re the guy,” she said, grabbinga couple.

DeDecker said the store’s teamleader came up with the idea the nightafter the storm. “It’s a lot of stuff,”DeDecker said. “We just like to help ourcommunity.”PIZZA RELIEF

Who needs electricity? The gas forthe oven was on, and pizza dough—though usually prepared these days in anelectric mixer—can always be made theold-fashioned way.

“We are making and kneading every-thing by hand, which takes care of the

electrical problem so far,” said AnthonyCatanzaro, owner of Portobello’s Piz -zeria, 83 Murray St., on Wednesday.

That day Portobello’s appeared to bethe only restaurant open in all of Tri -beca—and well beyond—and a streamof grateful diners popped in.

Most got food to go, but a few ate inthe darkness of the pizzeria’s diningroom.

“Last night I had my guys ready, Cat -anzaro said. “Some of them walked overthe bridge. I bicycle to work anyway sowe got here early and here we are.” COMING TOGETHER

A bond of community and givingback formed in Battery Park City afterthe upheaval and displacement that fol-lowed the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

And in the lobby of the 600 buildingof Gateway Plaza, days after the storm,that spirit lived on.

That’s where dozens of residentsgathered for breakfast and dinner thatweek, making sure that the tenants of theonly building in Battery Park City to gowithout power—the 400 building—could still have some comforts of home.

The lobby was filled with the chatterof neighbors and the gobbling down ofhome-cooked meals, courtesy of thoselucky tenants with electricity.

“People need to eat. And they needthe warmth of knowing they’re takencare of,” said Rosalie Joseph, who hasled most of the community events inBattery Park City over the past 11 years.“And when your spirits are down, youhave to know that somebody’s got yourback and a community around you.”

“Like people did for us,” she added,al luding to the outpouring of supportBat tery Park City residents received after9/11.

In the middle of dinner on Thurs day ,the super of the 400 building arrived toannounce that power was back in thebuilding and one elevator was running.There was applause, but one tenant, per-haps only half joking, saw it differently.

“It’s really nice what they did here,”he said. “I think people don’t want thelights to go on.”

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Kristoffer and Julianne Polaha return to their apartment at 200 Chambers St. on Saturday,Nov. 3, the day that power returned to much of Tribeca.

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PHOTOS BY CARL GLASSMAN