Latest news with #SILive
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
NYC home that famously battled back from Hurricane Sandy faces another once-in-a-lifetime disaster: ‘Really messed up'
A Staten Island home that battled back from Hurricane Sandy to 'save Christmas' — winning a visit from then-President Obama — is again partly buried in debris thanks to another once-in-a-lifetime disaster. Debra Ingenito, the 61-year-old widow who lives in the New Dorp Beach home with her two sons and several pets, said she was watching television in her living room during the early afternoon of Feb. 11 when she heard a tremendous boom. 'It really did sound like something exploded,' Ingenito told The Post. Ingenito — who had already rebuilt her family's home after Sandy — ran outside with one of her sons. The pair was shocked by the sight that greeted them. 'The house next door split in half, so half went on top of the opposite-side neighbor's car, and the other was up against our house,' she said. The crushing weight did a number on Ingenito's Topping Street home, damaging several rooms, including her kitchen on the first floor, partly wrecking her second floor, pancaking a plastic fence, cracking her chimney flue and blocking at least one exterior door. 'There's all stress cracks from the impact,' she said of her home. 'It's really messed up. … I sit here, and when the wind starts going, I hear the creaks and cracks.' It's the second time an extraordinary disaster has befallen the unfortunate Staten Islander, whose house was battered and flooded by Superstorm Sandy in November 2012. Ingenito's late husband, Joeseph, made headlines at the time for decorating a 7-foot tree outside their house for Chrismas — all that remained of the mammoth blue spruce that once towered over the family's yard before Sandy's tremendous winds tore it down. Joe decorated the tree with whatever survived the storm surge, including paper coffee cups, surgical masks, a worker's glove, safety goggles, a random hat and a Hannah Montana bag. 'I just wanted to help the neighborhood keep its spirits up,' he said. 'We're still going to have Christmas.' The couple vaulted to national fame when Obama even gifted them two ornaments for the tree after reading about their makeshift decorations. 'It's an honor, it's a once-in-a-lifetime deal,' Joseph said of the presidential attention. His wife called the ornaments 'beautiful' and said they'd be passed down through the generations. It took two years for the Ingenitos' home to be fully restored, she said. The house next door was also badly damaged during the storm, according to SILive. Workers were raising the first floor of the unoccupied next-door home when its foundation gave out and the structure tumbled onto Ingenito's and the other property, a source told the outlet. The local building department put a stop-work order on it after it fell. SILive said the contractor had been working without a permit and had violated other local rules. Building officials issued a partial vacate order for Ingenito's home, meaning she cannot use portions of it. She said she is not going anywhere. She said she is scared someone will rob her home if it's left unoccupied, and also, she has nowhere else to go anyway. Several people are helping Ingenito deal with the contractors and insurance companies — but this time, she'll go through the crucible of rebuilding without her loving husband, who died in July. Four months later, her dad passed away on her birthday, leaving her reeling even more. 'Then I had to have this happen, and I'm like, 'Really?' ' she said. 'But you know what, I just have to take it day by day,' the widow said, noting that she has no idea how much the repairs will cost or how long the rebuild will take. 'I just want the house fixed. 'But I'm a woman of faith, and I believe [my husband] was here when that house came down,' she said. 'Because it could have been a lot worse.'
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
LGBTQ groups march under own banner for first time in Staten Island St. Paddy's parade: ‘Huge day for the queer community'
An LGBTQ group marched for the first time under its own banner at Staten Island's St. Patrick's Day Parade on Sunday in what organizers called a 'huge day for the queer community.' The parade — the last major local St. Paddy's march to have an exclusionary ban on such groups — decided in November to allow the community-based Pride Center of Staten Island to partake in the annual event, now in its 61st year, according to SILive. KC Hankins, a 32-year-old organizer in the queer community, was thrilled to see parade officials finally come around. 'After well over a decade of [denying] LGBT people marching in the parade, we are finally allowed,' Hankins said. 'It's a huge day for the queer community to be welcomed in our own community. 'This is a consistent effort by queer people on Staten Island to say we belong in our community, and we are going to continuously make it known that we belong.' The parade stepped off at Forest Avenue and Hart Boulevard around 12:30 p.m., and spectators greeted the new participants with overwhelming cheers and applause. 'This is just a real win for this community … out here,' said Mayor Eric Adams, who marched with the group. 'Just saying they're prideful to be Irish, they're prideful to be a member of the LGBTQ+ community — [it's] something we always stood for. 'Their resiliency showed that if you stand up for what is right, you're going to always win,' said Hizzoner — who was indicted on bribery charges last year and headed to trial till the Trump White House recently nixed the case against him, at least for now. 'Congratulations to all of them and what they've accomplished,' Adams said of the group's inclusion Sunday. The Staten Island parade has been the lone local anti-LGBTQ holdout for years. The Throggs Neck parade in The Bronx, for example, allowed organized members of the LGBTQ community to march under a banner starting in 2022, and Manhattan's mammoth event began permitting them to participate down Fifth Avenue about seven years earlier. The inclusion in Manhattan's parade only came after massive protests that included Guinness pulling its sponsorship and NBC threatening to stop broadcasting the event until organizers changed their tune. On Staten Island, the number of participating organizations had dwindled in recent years — likely the result of boycotts and frustration with officials' anti-LGBTQ stance, said SILive. Jody's Club Forest, an Irish bar on Forest Avenue, put the brakes on its traditional political breakfast two years ago in solidarity with the excluded groups. The November decision appears to have breathed new life into the faltering parade, as 80 groups signed up to walk this year — almost a third more than 2024. On Sunday, Forest Avenue was packed with revelers as local officials crowded into tiny Jody's, which counted among its Guinness-swilling patrons former GOP mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, city Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker and Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon. Edward Patterson, the new chair of the Richmond County St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee, said he was 'happy to have the Pride Center marching with us. 'Our focus remains on St. Patrick and the culture, traditions, history, and faith of the Irish people,' he said. 'We're proud to have the Pride Center because they are part of the community.' Carol Bullock, the Pride Center's executive director, told SILive beforehand, 'We are excited. 'It's really going to be great.' But the lead-up was not without controversy. A local Catholic leader made it clear he wasn't onboard with the changes. 'When the decision was made to allow members of the Pride Center to participate in the parade, marching under their own banner, I had no choice but to distance the parish from the event and deny the use of the facilities,' wrote Bishop Peter Byrne of the Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church in a weekly bulletin last month. 'The Pride Center promotes ideas and practices that blatantly contradict the church's teaching on chastity,' hesaid. 'That is an indisputable fact. [The Pride Center's] presence in the parade signifies that the gathering not only does not promote, but actually undermines, Catholic devotion.' Byrne banned the parade committee from using the parish as a sign-up spot for marchers, as it had in the past. 'I am not supporting the parade, therefore the facilities here will not be available,' he told SILive. But even some of Byrne's own parishioners disagreed with his views. 'As a long-time parishioner, I'm embarrassed by this statement,' a churchgoer told the outlet. 'I have no words for how out of touch the bishop is with the community and his own parishioners.' Another parishioner said, 'The Jesus I grew up learning about would never write such a divisive letter and make such a judgmental and frankly, gross, statement. 'It is not Christ-like at all.' On Sunday, parish priest Father Frank told The Post that the church still let people use the bathrooms during the event and that the disagreement had stemmed from the Church's teachings. 'I hope they understand us also, because that is the stance of the church,' he said. Some onlookers, such as 56-year-old Christine McCord, said she didn't feel it 'necessary' to have the banners fly during the parade. 'I guess it's a good thing, because we're moving forward and including everyone,' she said. 'But I think it's not necessary. We don't need to segregate out who's who and who's what, because we're supposed to be including everyone.' Others said they were happy the group was allowed to walk. 'The parade was a beautiful celebration, and I am happy they finally let LGBTQ members march today!' another woman said. 'They deserve it! It's been a long time coming. Let's go!'
