Updated 09/28/2011 10:23 PM
Frustrated residents turn out for meeting with federal officials
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ROTTERDAM JUNCTION, N.Y. -- The anger was apparent at the Rotterdam Junction fire house Wednesday night as Congressman Paul Tonko led local, state and federal officials in a town hall. It was all in an effort to answer people's questions. Unfortunately, many say answers were not what they received.
Sue Torres' parents almost drowned in the flooding from Tropical Storm Irene. On behalf of them, she attended the meeting and said, "I've not had any answers tonight. I'm a bit disappointed."
Claudia Nilsen agreed, saying, "People are dodging the questions. And they didn't come prepared to answer questions."
The concerns were varied, starting with fury over how the evacuations were ordered one month ago when Irene hit to the desperate need now for more funding.
"We're trying, attempting to rebuild my parents' house, which has been stripped down to the bare bones. It looks like it's made of popsicle sticks," said Torres.
Torres and Nilsen are among many who are calling for more funding to rebuild the damaged homes, starting with money to demolish them completely. However, they are unsure of what Rotterdam Junction will even become.
"Do we even want to rebuild? It looks like several people are walking out of this town," questioned Nilsen. "If they do walk away, that means less taxes for the town, the homes that weren't damaged by the storm, their values are going to decrease, there are just so many issues."
At the town hall, a number of attendees asked the town supervisor, Francis Del Gallo, what the town would contribute financially. He did not give many specifics. Later, he admitted the bad news.
"The town really does not have the money to take down these houses down," Del Gallo said. "We were doing the budget today, and there was a line in there for $100,000 for this type of damage, but that doesn't go far in taking all the houses down."
When asked if that money would definitely be used to aid residents, Del Gallo answered, "I would have to ask the board, they would have to make a resolution on it and vote yes or no."
For Nilsen, that's not enough.
"The town needs to help us," she said. "We need the town to demolish these houses for us so we can spend our FEMA money on rebuilding."
The supervisor says he plans to reach out to any and all agencies to try and procure more funding for residents in the town. However, he believes that funding should come from other sources.