In the aftermath of the hurricane, volunteers mobilized to provide aid to Rockaway residents. Twelve hundred and fifty one surveys were collected from residents living in Far Rockaways.

In the last two weeks of December, NYCC organizers called and visited a sample of the initial survey takers to assess the current habitability situation, two months after Hurricane Sandy hit.

The results document a clear failure by the Bloomberg administration to solve several problems of habitability, including electricity, heat, wet sheetrock removal and mold remediation.

A significant number of Rockaway residents have still not returned to their homes. And for those that have been lucky enough to return home, things are still not back to normal.

We Got This (Occupy Sandy) from Alex Mallis on Vimeo.

Thousands in New York City remain without clean water, food, heat, or power. Relief efforts by locals offer continuing direct aid to the neighborhoods most affected by Hurricane Sandy.

Please visit: interoccupy.net/occupysandy
Note: Occupy Sandy is no longer accepting clothes of any kind including coats, gloves, hats, etc., please visit http://interoccupy.net/occupysandy/ for a list of current needs.

Video by:
Alex Mallis | @analectfilms
Eric Phillips-Horst
Nicodemus Nicoludis

Music by:
Loscil

brooklynfilmmakerscollective.com | @brooklynfilmny
analectfilms.com

Wildfires in Colorado continue to rage. As of Wednesday morning, the 6,200-acre blaze had been only 5 percent contained, and 65 mph winds blew the fire through containment lines into northwest Colorado Springs on Tuesday. Officials say it is exhibiting “extreme fire behavior.” Roughly 32,000 residents have been evacuated from the area so far. Colorado Springs reached a record 101 degrees on Tuesday, and conditions are expected to be hot and dry until early next week. Gov. John Hickenlooper said, “It’s as serious as it gets,” while the Colorado Springs fire chief labeled it “a firestorm of epic proportions.”

Support Firefighters on the Frontline and Displaced Families of Colorado Springs

Wednesday, June 26th

Donations Accepted from 8:30-2:00 pm

Location: Walmart Parking Lot in Castle Rock...
Just east of I-25 off Front Street

What is Needed?

Individually Wrapped

Bottled Water
Gatorade or Similar Drinks
Cereal Bars
Power Bars
Trail Mix
Cookies
Candies

Blankets and Hand Sanitizer

Help support our neighbors to the south and those actively engaged
in supressing the blaze by donating much needed items.

All Donations will be delivered directly to Red Cross in Colorado Springs.

Other ways to help Firefighters and Families of the Waldo Canyon Fire: Bring Donations to Wal-mart in Castle Rock, to Volunteer contact 719-955-0742, to make a Cash Donation to the Red Cross contact Adriana Watson at 719-884-1047 or Pat Sisterson at 719-884-1047.

[Editor's note: This post has been edited to correct mention of an organizer who was mistakenly identified as a member of Occupy Denver. Apologies for the error.]

Thousands of the poor across the Northeast are going to have a tough winter after the federal government cut home heating aid to states like New Hampshire and Massachusetts, you know, places where it can get bitter cold in the winter. Congress is considering making further cuts of more than $1 billion from last year's $4.7-billion Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. It had served nearly nine million households.

Via:

Mary Power is 92 and worried about surviving another frigid New England winter because deep cuts in federal home heating assistance benefits mean she probably can't afford enough heating oil to stay warm.

She lives in a drafty trailer in Boston's West Roxbury neighborhood and gets by on $11,148 a year in pension and Social Security benefits. Her heating aid help this year will drop from $1,035 to $685. With rising heating oil prices, it probably will cost her more than $3,000 for enough oil to keep warm unless she turns her thermostat down to 60 degrees, as she plans.

"I will just have to crawl into bed with the covers over me and stay there," said Power, a widow who worked as a cashier and waitress until she was 80. "I will do what I have to do."

Thousands of poor people across the Northeast are bracing for a difficult winter with substantially less home heating aid coming from the federal government.

As long as the upper 1 percent continue to receive their special tax breaks...

At around 9:00pm on November 11, a generator was seized by a plainclothes man, according to multiple bystanders in Zucotti Park.

Community affairs and police on site confirmed on this video that the Fire Marshall had removed it.

Bystanders commented that man came in, said "I want my tubing back (referring to exhaust tubing coming out from generator)", then yanked out the generator and demanded it be unplugged to one of the campers. He then left quickly with the generator and threw the exhaust tube to the ground

This is in the wake of the General Assembly's passage of the Comprehensive Safety and Health Plan and the creation of the Liberty Plaza Fire Department (FDNY), aka "The People's Firehouse."