Bureaucratic processes never cease to amaze me by how long they take to go by.
My partner and I own a business of 20 years located in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York. It is a small event management company that caters for all kinds of occasions, from baptisms and ceremonies to weddings and 50th anniversaries, corporate or private parties, big or small, it makes no difference. We are located directly across the street from Gargiulo’s restaurant, a 106 year old Brooklyn classic. That restaurant/catering hall has been in my partner’s family since 1965, it is family owned and operated.
On October 29, 2012, all of our daily routines were washed away by the tide, literally! Hurricane Sandy moved in, bringing over five feet of water from first Coney Island Creek and then ocean storm surge. All of Coney Island was covered in water and sand from the shoreline to the Belt Parkway. No property was saved.
The cousins had flooded the bases; a cousin lost his oceanfront home to the ravages of the Atlantic; at least a dozen personal vehicles sunk; more than 10 inches of water on the entire first floor of the restaurant that rises more than four feet from street level; a 10 foot tall basement, over 20,000 square feet, filled to the ceiling with seawater.
And then there was our store.
All of our stock had just been delivered. We had some of the best opportunities and events of our careers in the week before the storm: a Halloween-themed pecan soup first birthday party, the American Cancer Society called us to do giant arches in Central Park at the start and finish lines of her main fundraising walk in New York City, complete balloon decorations on the set of Rachel Ray for her Halloween extravaganza. Everything seems blurry at this point, so far from our reality now. Counters smashed through the front door, items that had been lifted fell to the floor and sank in over five feet of water, all of our balloon inflating equipment was underwater, almost all of our stock of balloons was gone. Not even the scissors drawer survived.
we were done.
The day after the storm, my partner and I decided to close. Everything that was ruined by the salt water went to waste. Someone came and told us that FEMA was in the area and that we should go talk to them, which we did. It seemed surreal to me: We’d vacationed in New Orleans a year earlier, and sitting outside the same trailers we’d heard Big Easy residents talk about was almost too much to bear. My partner was optimistic, even positive. All he wanted to do was cry.
With a restless night’s sleep in a house without power, we arrived the next day and decided to reopen because the representatives in the FEMA trailer seemed so optimistic. We would apply to the SBA and NYCEDC; we would get help. Our staff stepped in and cleaned up the entire store – young children who had come into our store looking for work years before stood in front of us and told us that “we were in this together” and that they would help us rebuild. We knew we could work as long as we had a pair of scissors, a helium tank, and some balloons. And that was what we did.
As we did in 2001, after the 9/11 attacks on our city, we went back to work. In 2001, our bank representatives showed up less than a month later to sign “Bridge Loans” available from the government to “help us get back on our feet.” So Coney Island didn’t seem like a terrorist target to us, but the money came in and we were able to strengthen our business with the backing of the SBA. This time the SBA was after us, basically kicking us while we were down.
All paperwork filed, interviews and meetings held. Over thirty phone calls and hundreds of pages later: I am the proud owner of a denial letter from NYCEDC (risk too high), a denial letter from SBA (we didn’t make a big enough profit in 2011), and a Final Denial from a private program since we had property: there was no way to get the funds we needed to rebuild.
They told us we could reapply and appeal the decisions. All the money we have earned has gone to pay for the new electrical panel, new walls and insulation, new doors and trim. Jim Parker and over 30 members of BalloonPlanet.com raised money to help us restock our balloon inventory. We received a $500 grant from the Alliance for Coney Island and a $1000 “Pay It Forward” grant from LiteWing Naturals in New Jersey. These grants have helped us immensely – our thanks will never be enough to repay your kindness and consideration.
But as far as my faith in government sponsored programs that are designed to help those who need it most, I can tell you this: I was always told to do good and good will be returned. My partner and I have always tried to do the right thing: we have always tried to be fair, honest, supportive of our staff, eager to work and help others. That is something that will never change.
My faith in the promises of our government programs? Blown away by Superstorm Sandy.
Learned lessons? Trust yourself, treasure those who support you, work hard, and pray for sunshine.