Getting a handle on the reconstruction

Shoreline protection, flooding mitigation and contact information are three of the items Five Towns residents are seeking through New York's Community Reconstruction Program (CRP) to aid Hurricane Sandy affected areas.
Communities in the Five Towns have been allocated $27.6 million. The villages of Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Hewlett Neck and Hewlett Harbor, along with the hamlets of Hewlett, Inwood and Meadowmere Park were allotted $3 million, with the hamlet of Woodmere expected to receive $6.6 million. A total of $750 million in federal funding that is being administered by the state was designated to the CRP. The amount affected communities were slotted for was determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency through a formula that included damage assessment.
The money is targeted for either “regional” projects that are specific to one community or “shared” projects that are useful to multiple communities. In general these include community planning and capacity building, economic development, health and social services, housing, infrastructure, and cultivating natural and cultural resources which are part of the CRP’s reconstruction strategies.
The Five Towns Community Center in Lawrence is working on a “shared” project of creating a database of vital contacts that Inwood resident Gayle Saldutti believes will be able to assist her neighbors when a future storm or disaster occurs. “We want the key people to be able to get in touch with schools, emergency workers, police officers, schools, and houses of worship,” she said. “I was a victim of Sandy, and it would have been helpful to know who to contact when the storm hit, how to get in contact with them, and if there had been a plan set up to help people in my situation.”