Let's eat. (EPA)

Just before Hurricane Sandy hit, everyone was busy stocking up provisions to weather the maelstrom. Following the storm, there was a scramble to to find more to eat as stores were empty and restaurants closed. This is a city of gourmands, after all. For the city officials who were responsible for guiding the city through the disaster, this was no exception.

While we were compiling our oral history of Hurricane Sandy, Joe Lhota mentioned that even in the worst of the storm, he had managed to keep his daily dietary regimen intact. This got us wondering: what was everybody eating while they scrambled around getting the city ready and helping it recover? Here is what the protectors and providers of the city had on their plates and in their pockets.

Joe Lhota, chairman and CEO, MTA: Even in the middle of the storm, I had what I always have—an omelet with two sausage patties. It's what I eat every morning. Would that be a cheese omelet? Is there any other kind? I don't put shit in them. Who needs onions in the morning? It's all protein, no carbs for breakfast, and that's the only thing I eat until dinner time.

Ray Kelly, commissioner, NYPD: He eats two patties a day, huh? Jeeze! He eats that stuff? I'm trying to eat egg whites. I had those Dunkin' Donuts egg white things, the sandwiches. I've had several of those. But I won't have anymore for a while.

It's funny because you take food for granted. I'm out riding around, and a place is closed, lots of places to eat are closed down. When the subways are closed, the restaurants are closed because they can't get their workers in there. It's something that is driven home sort of dramatically when you drive down Columbus Avenue, you think, "Hey there's no flooding here." Yeah, but they can't get their workers to work. Food suddenly became much more of an issue.

Sal Cassano, commissioner, FDNY: I think I ate a granola bar for dinner the night of the storm, and that was it.

Janette Sadik-Khan, commissioner, NYC DOT: I’ve been eating a lot of granola bars, a lot of granola bars. And they serve peanut butter sandwiches at every relief station, so between the granola bars and peanut butter and jelly, that’s it. Fortunately I walk up and down the stairs at home and work, and when you’re out all day in the field, I hope it won’t be too damaging.

Josh Vlasto, communications director, Cuomo administration: I don't want to sound complain-y, but when you're on the road, we haven't been eating that much. On the days when you're doing four or five stops, you leave at 10 in the morning and your don't get back to the office till 4 in the morning. It's a lot of granola bars and bottled water that you pick up. But people have been ordering pizza. But nothing has been open. Lots of granola bars, lets put it that way. It's a lot of throwing granola bars into the jacket and munching along the way.

Joe Bruno, commissioner, NYC OEM: Well I didn't eat that much. I mean, we do feed people here, so I'm a big salad person. If I can get fish I'm very happy, but we didn't get much of that. Mainly salads, a little bit of rice and little bit of bread. But I'm a skinny guy. I don't eat that much. There was pizza. I don't eat that stuff, but some of them do, unfortunately.

Cas Holloway, deputy mayor for operations: I was at OEM, and my hurricane diet was coffee. And I had a trail mix that I had that I actually had brought. Store-bought? No, no, I made it, I make my own. I go to this place called Nut Box and I make my own mix, and I had it in a big jar, and I was eating it by the fistful. Will you share your secret recipe? Almonds, cashews and dried apricots, dried cherries. And a little bit of coconut flaked shavings. It’s quite good.

Howard Glaser, director of state operations, Cuomo administration: Coffee, Coke, bagels.

John Rhea, chairman, NYCHA: I had a couple boxes of Ritz crackers that I was running around with, a bunch of bottles of water, and I had some spaghetti that I made with a little sauce. That tasted just as good cold, but it was even better if it was room temperature.

Robert LiMandri, commissioner, DOB: I didn’t eat very much all week. I remember having chicken soup on Monday, and that was probably the last time I ate for two and a half days. I didn’t have an appetite, standing down there, watching that crane.

Public park? Wind farm? Both!

New York is about to be just as green as the Hudson River!

The Deputy Mayor, Cas Holloway, New York City Department of Environmental Protection and the New York City Economic Development Corporation announced a proposal for solar and wind power facilities in Fresh Kills on Staten Island earlier this week.

There's a 75-acre plot of land within the massive 2,2000-acre dump-turned-public park available for lease that could be developed into a facility that generates upwards of 20 megawatts of renewable energy. That is enough to power about 6,000 homes. It will double the city's natural energy capacity.

"New York City needs energy to keep it running, and we want that power to be reliable, clean, and affordable," Deputy Mayor Holloway said in an announcement. "This RFP does all of those things and, if successful, will more than double the renewable energy capacity in the City.  Renewable energy is the most sustainable kind, and under Mayor Bloomberg’s leadership we’re maximizing the use of City assets to develop as much capacity as possible."

These initiatives are in accordance with the mayor's PlaNYC sustainability initiatives.

Seth Pinsky, president of the EDC, also noted that it will "build the city's green economy, not only leading to job creation and economic investment, but also ensuring the sustainability of our city."

mewing@observer.com

Seal of approval. (Gothamist)

Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith was hired last year to shake up the Bloomberg administration’s third term—creating efficiencies, reinventing government and combating calcification. About the only thing the former Indianapolis mayor and Kennedy School wonk managed to yank was the Department of Transportation’s bike chain, and now that Mr. Goldsmith is making a surprise departure from the administration, two-wheeled activists have high hopes for his replacement as deputy mayor for operations.

That would be Caswell Holloway, a Brooklyn Heights native, who has been widely lauded for the turnaround job he affected as commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, where his cost-cutting measures and green infrastructure plans have won praise from both conservationists and conservatives.

Around the same time Mr. Goldsmith joined the administration, the city’s transportation czarina, Janette Sadik-Khan, came under fire from all sides, including from her new boss. Last September, Post City Hall bureau chief David Seifman reported that the two had exchanged “heated words” over bike lanes. The bike-lash had already begun to grow, and the department scaled back a number of ambitious projects, including lanes on the East Side of Manhattan and the closure of 34th Street. Mr. Goldsmith was far from the only critic, but transportation watchers still made the connection frequently.

City Hall argues that the bike lanes have always been full speed ahead, and Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson has gone so far as to bike to work—and have it filmed by Streetsblog—to make the case for new lanes. The administration points to Robert Steel, the deputy mayor for economic development, who has taken over most of the transportation portfolio from Operations. (How about that? Bike lanes as economic engine.)

“We plan to continue to look for ways to improve on the record-setting levels of safety we’ve achieved for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians through aggressive safety enforcement and street design changes where appropriate,” said spokesman Marc LaVorgna. Nothing’s changed, in other words. Except for support for the lanes, which a Marist poll yesterday placed at 66 percent—a supermajority! If there had been any pullback on bike lanes, now might be the time to stop. Or not. The poll also found 27 percent of New Yorkers want more while 44 percent think there are enough and 23 percent are in the Anthony Weiner, tear-them-the-bleep-out camp.

A DOT insider notes that Ms. Sadik-Khan could have gone over Mr. Goldsmith’s head at any time, though his replacement is more than welcome: Mr. Holloway “won't have much of an impact directly, but it is good to have another ally over there,” the source said.

That kind of news cheers the two-wheelers almost as much as a shiny new bike. “Based on Cas’ record on sustainability and green infrastructure, we think he will continue to push for progressive planning in the city,” Transportation Alternatives spokesman Michael Murphy told The Observer. And so we have traded the Midwestern carpetbagger for the homegrown BroBo. The transportation czarina has her found her sustainability commissar.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

The first is Cas Holloway, who will lead the Department of Environmental Protection. Bloomberg noted Cas worked a few desks away from him inside the City Hall bullpen, where Holloway was chief of staff to Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler. (Skyler and Holloway [and Bradley Tusk too!] worked together at the Parks Department under Henry Stern.)

At a press conference in the Blue Room this morning, Bloomberg was asked why it took 13 months to fill the vacancy with the person a few feet away from him.

"Because we really do take this seriously," said Bloomberg. "We do nationwide searches" and "we had some candidates I thought could have done an excellent job but didn't quite have the array of skill sets I think this department needs."

The other commissioner announced today is Vinny Schiraldi, who will lead the Department of Probations. Bloomberg hired Schiraldi away from the Washington D.C. Department of Youth and Rehabilitation Services.

Schiraldi said he wanted to focus on juveniles in the criminal justice system, and noted that New York is one of only two states, along with North Carolina, where children as young as 16 years old are considered adults when it comes to probation.

Later, I asked Schiraldi if he'd seek to change that. He said he hadn't discussed the issue with the mayor, and said Albany, where the law would need to be changed, is an "interesting" place, so it was unclear if he'd tackle that issue first.

16- and 17-year-olds can actually get "less supervision" when they're treated as adults on probation, which often does not serve to help rehabilitate them, said Schiraldi.