Deli owner: turn the power on!

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The landlord did not return a call for comment. But Barry Minsky, owner of Night Restoration Corp., the company working on the building, said that there was nearly eight-feet of water in the basement and that they had been waiting on LIPA to make the necessary repairs, which include installing the meters at a higher elevation.

“LIPA had to come out because all of the service panels were underwater and they had corroded,” said Minsky, adding that turning on the power could have caused a fire. “Management is doing everything they can; this is not in their control. LIPA was the one who held them back and from the moment they got a hold of LIPA, we put our pedal to the metal to get it done. LIPA came out last Wednesday and authorized us to do a demo service to the building.”

Minsky said that aside from LIPA, the landlord also had to wait on insurance adjusters and a visit from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to inspect the damage.

Minsky, an Oceanside resident who said that his company has provided services at cost for some residents in need, said that Whelan’s claims that both the landlord and Night Restoration have been unresponsive and slow to make the repairs are false.

“We had to clean the place — the whole place was raw sewage,” Minsky said. “The landlord would like nothing more than to get the building back in shape as quick as possible.”

Minsky added, “Right now we got the green light — we filed the job with LIPA and can go ahead and do the work. Basically what we’re doing right now is, we have temporary service and my guy is going over there. Hopefully it will take a few days to do the work. As soon as we finish with the temporary [service], we’ll have the plumber hook up hot water heaters for the people.”

Last Tuesday, Whelan said that Minsky informed him that they would start working on restoring power on Monday.

“We’re hopeful that everything is going to be restored to its pre-Sandy condition,” Whelan said. “I think it could have been addressed sooner — many other businesses are coming back and there’s always a workable solution.”

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