Flood waters have rendered luxury rental 2 Gold Street uninhabitable for the immediate future.

At the outset of the third week since Hurricane Sandy hit, it has become clear that normal in some corners of the city will be a long time coming. From the beginning, it was obvious that rebuilding the homes that burned in Breezy Point, or were washed away by surging sea water in Staten Island, would take many months. But now a number of other New Yorkers, who had expected power, heat and electricity to be restored in a matter of days, are still living without.

City, state and national officials are scrambling to find short- and long-term housing for the many New Yorkers displaced by the storm, begging landlords to help them identify vacant apartments, reports The New York Times.

It's never easy to find housing in New York, with the apartment vacancy rate hovering around one percent in Manhattan and only slightly higher in the outer boroughs. And Hurricane Sandy has taken a number of units out of the running, leaving their former inhabitants desperate to find alternative arrangements so that they can leave shelters and resume some kind of normal life. Displaced tenants range from the residents of luxury buildings like 2 Gold Street in the Financial District, who are being released from their leases in light of the fact that  management cannot say when the structure will be habitable again, to financially precarious tenants of the Coney Island projects.

Moreover, city officials fear that the number of residents seeking shelter may rise sharply as the temperature falls, driving those who have decided to stay in their chilly, darkened homes out in search of heated spaces.

“There’s a huge fear that folks are going to be displaced for the medium and long term,” city housing commissioner Mathew M. Wambua told The New York Times. “We feel a real imperative to have something in place when the second surge comes.”

So officials are asking building owners to help create a clearinghouse of available apartments to supplement other temporary housing—most likely modular units provided by FEMA. In a city where brokers fees, guarantors and extensive credit checks are central parts of the rental process, this is easier said than done.

Some building owners are, apparently, asking if the government will indemnify them for apartment damages and legal costs if must evict tenants. Others want clarification on the city and rent stabilization laws and how they'll apply to short-term tenants. But quite possibly the most vexing thing of all is the fact that FEMA vouchers provide about $1,800 a month, which may prove sufficient in the outer boroughs, but does little to help displaced Manhattanites like the residents of Knickerbocker Village on the Lower East Side.

To complicate matters further, there aren't exactly a plethora of available units to go around, with a handful of large management companies having already used their vacant units to house tenants displaced from their waterdamaged buildings.

“People want to do the right thing,” Charles Dorego, senior vice president of Glenwood Management told The Times. “But they don’t want to inherit a pig in a poke. They asked for indemnity, although I don’t see how a government agency can do that.”

The good news is that a proposal is, apparently, on track to be released soon. How much the proposal will actually alleviate the problem remains another matter.

kvelsey@observer.com

Click to enlarge or click here for the full .PDF

At a press conference at the 69th Regiment Armory in Manhattan this morning, Governor Andrew Cuomo and MTA Chairman Joe Lhota announced most subway service in New York City will be returned by the end of the day. Notably for some commuters from Queens and Brooklyn, trains will now be traveling into Manhattan for the first time since before Hurricane Sandy struck last week.

"In literally under one week, 80% of the subway service has been restored from what was horrendous damage, and the worst damage the subway system had ever seen," Mr. Cuomo said. "So that is just a great, great job. The service between Brooklyn and Queens and Manhattan is being restored immediately. The 4, 5, 6 and 7 trains will immediately begin to run. The F, J, D [and] M will run later this afternoon. The Staten Island Railway will have limited service beginning later today."

According to the MTA website:

 service will operate between Woodlawn and New Lots Ave operating as an express in Manhattan only.

 service will operate between Eastchester/Dyre Ave and Flatbush as an express in Manhattan only.

 service will operate between Pelham Bay and Brooklyn Bridge as a local

 Flushing Line service will operate full local service between Main St – Flushing and 42^nd St – Times Square.

Staten Island Railway (SIR) will operate limited hourly service between St. George and Tottenville.

No lights, no glow. (Ian Lamb)

The Williamsburg Bridge. Well, half of it. (Ian Lamb)

With these pics from last night, there's not much to say (and it seems like there will be pretty much the same story tonight). We just went to the East River Ferry dock in Greenpoint to check out the skyline. As you know, usually there's a halo of light over the city, but now it just stops around 34th Street.

The rest is a void.

Uptown, where there's still power, you can see all the light reflected in the clouds, and then south of that there is just nothing. It also was very odd seeing the Williamsburg Bridge exactly half lit-up. Seeing the city from across the river you can really get a sense of just how many people are without power right now—a massive amount of people, living in close quarters.

And jesus, just think about all the housing developments along the East River. They run from at least 14th Street all the way down to Chinatown. You could see the outlines of those big square buildings just kinda lumbering there in the dark as far as you could see.

Update 11/1 8:22:As of Friday morning, there will be service on the M and No. 7 trains has been restored in Queens and Brooklyn, though there is still no subway service into Lower Manhattan. You can read more about the changes to the service here.

Original post: At a press conference earlier this afternoon, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and MTA Chairman Joe Lhota announced that New York City's subway system will restore service on a number of lines, leaving out a swath of territory south of 34th Street in Manhattan. Lower Manhattan was left out, they explained, because of the mass power outage in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

"It's been an extraordinary amount of time and a lot of work and a lot of lack of sleep, but we're going to continue to do it," Mr. Lhota said. "Our goal is to, every day, get this service back to normal, back to the situation we were used to last week, and if not, even better."

View the working transportation lines below, including other parts of the MTA, courtesy of Mr. Cuomo's office:

Effective before rush hour tomorrow morning, the following is an up-to-date service status list of the MTA operating agencies including New York City Transit, Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North and Bridges and Tunnels.

NYCT SUBWAY SERVICE:
1 trains will operate local between 242nd Street (Bronx) and Times Square-42nd Street.

2 trains will operate between 241st Street (Bronx) and Times Square-42nd Street, with express service between 96th Street and Times Square.

3 trains are suspended.

4 trains will operate in two sections making all local stops:
· Between Woodlawn (Bronx) and Grand Central-42nd Street
· Between Borough Hall and New Lots Avenue
5 trains will operate express in Brooklyn between Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center and Flatbush Avenue.

6 trains will operate local between Pelham Bay Park and Grand Central-42nd Street.

7 trains are suspended.

42nd Street Shuttle S trains will operate between Times Square and Grand Central.

A trains will operate in two sections making all local stops:
· Between 168th Street (Manhattan) and 34th Street-Penn Station
· Between Jay Street/MetroTech and Lefferts Blvd.

B and C service is suspended.

D trains operate in two sections:
· Between 205th Street (Bronx) and 34th Street-Herald Square making all local stops
· In Brooklyn, between Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center and Bay Parkway making express stops between Pacific Street and 36th Street

E trains are suspended.

F trains operate in two sections making all local stops:
· Between 179th Street (Queens) and 34th Street-Herald Square
· In Brooklyn, between Jay Street-MetroTech and Avenue X

G trains are suspended.

J trains operate between Jamaica Center and Hewes Street making all local stops.

L trains operate between Broadway Junction and rockaway Parkway making all local stops.

M trains operate between Myrtle Avenue-Broadway and Metropolitan Avenue.

N trains operate between Ditmars Blvd. (Queens) and 34th Street-Herald Square making all local stops.

Q trains are suspended.

R trains operate in Brooklyn between Jay Street-MetroTech and 95th Street making all local stops.

Both the Franklin Avenue and Rockaway Park S shuttles are suspended.

SHUTTLE BUSES:
All shuttle buses will operate north on 3rd Avenue and south on Lexington Avenue.
1. Between Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center and 57th Street-Lexington Avenue via the Manhattan Bridge
2. Between Jay Street-MetroTech and 57th Street-Lexington Avenue via the Manhattan Bridge
3. Between Hewes Street and 57th Street-Lexington Avenue via the Williamsburg Bridge

LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD:
City Terminal – (Jamaica - Penn Station): Suspended (anticipate shuttle between these stations later tonight)

Ronkonkoma Branch: Suspended (goal to restore hourly service from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station for AM rush hour Thursday, Nov. 1)

Port Washington Branch: Suspended (goal to restore hourly service from Great Neck to Penn Station for AM rush hour Thursday, Nov. 1)

Babylon Branch: Suspended

Port Jefferson Branch: Suspended

Montauk Branch: Suspended

Hempstead Branch: Suspended

Long Beach: Suspended

Far Rockaway: Suspended

Oyster Bay Branch: Suspended

West Hempstead: Suspended

METRO-NORTH:
Hudson Line: Suspended

Upper Harlem Line: Suspended

Lower Harlem Line: Restored with hourly service

New Haven Line: Suspended

New Canaan Branch: Suspended

Danbury Branch: Suspended

Waterbury Branch: Suspended

West-of-Hudson:
Pascack Valley: Suspended
Port Jervis: Suspended
Bridges and Tunnels

Robert F. Kennedy Bridge: Open

Henry Hudson Bridge: Open

Throgs Neck Bridge: Open

Bronx-Whitestone Bridge: Open

Verrazano-Narrows Bridge: Open

Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge: Open

Cross Bay Veterans Memorial: Open northbound to Broad Chanel; Open southbound to Rockaways but subject to period closures for emergency equipment

Hugh L. Carey Tunnel: Closed

Queens Midtown Tunnel: Closed

Flooded. (Photo: Getty)

According to Senator Chuck Schumer, the federal government will soon begin the arduous task of returning floodwaters back to the Atlantic Ocean after Hurricane Sandy's surge flooded key transportation arteries earlier this week.

“In the past hour, I have received an update from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about the federal de-watering efforts happening in New York City," Mr. Schumer said in a statement this afternoon.  "A team of experts from Illinois and contractors from around the country are making their way to Lower Manhattan as we speak. Significant assets like pumps and de-watering equipment should arrive in Manhattan by this evening. The Corps is confident that they can begin pumping water by tomorrow morning."

Mr. Schumer said the priority will be pumping the salt water out of two tunnels and the World Trade Center site.

"The city has identified three major priority areas for pumping--the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, Battery Park Tunnel and the World Trade Center," he continued. "This is a critical mission that I know the Army Corps and FEMA are taking very seriously and I want to thank these federal agencies for working so diligently with the state and the city.”

An empty FDR provides a free-for-all for pedestrians. (Ian Lamb)

A zombified cell phone cluster. (Ian Lamb)

Special correspondent Ian Lamb tried to pitch in at Bellevue, but not being a doctor or a generator mechanic, he was turned away. Here is his report from the Middle to Lower East Side of Manhattan this afternoon.

There's no power anywhere on the East Side until 42nd street. Drivers were surprisingly civil but it weirds me out. Every few blocks there's a crowd of people who have found cell service; otherwise there is none. It's all very 28 Days Later.

The whole of lower/downtown/LES manhattan was really creepy this morning. The weirdest thing was driving without any traffic lights or traffic cops. Everyone was being very respectful though, everyone stopped at every intersection. No animosity between pedestrians and drivers, for once. I think everyone was just in shock, though, because by the time I was driving out of Manhattan, everyone was back to being assholes.

It seemed like there were more people out than usual, just kinda walking around. People had coffees but I'm not sure where they came from because everywhere was closed. I guess the odd bodega was open.

Both Bellevue and NYU hospitals were very creepy, pitch black inside. Still over 25 ambulances parked outside Bellevue. Lots of police activity everywhere. There was no electricity on First Avenue all the way up to 42nd.

The FDR was closed and people were walking up and down the on ramps, walking around the elevated roadway, cops looking on. It was pretty neat. Lots of water being pumped out of the basements at Stuy Town.

While The Observer shot a number of photos of the flooding in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn in the height of the storm, other parts of the city were heavily affected as well. In the gallery on the left, you can find a selection of what a few photographers were able to capture during and after the storm.

Lindsay Lohan, American disaster.

Today the NYPD released surveillance footage of the Wednesday-night incident that left actress Lindsay Lohan accused of striking a pedestrian then leaving the scene. The video may be more useful in defending Ms. Lohan than prosecuting her. It shows a typical late-night street scene, several people milling around a parking area entrance. Ms. Lohan's vehicle noses through then leaves the frame and no one seems alarmed or concerned. Take a look:

WABC reports that the cops may know the video won't help the case:

Detectives acknowledged that the video does not clearly show Lohan's Porsche hitting 34-year-old Jose Rodriguez. Investigators say the video does show Rodriguez running after Lohan's vehicle as she drove away from the Dream Hotel.

While police seem certain alcohol wasn't involved in the incident, Mr. Rodriguez has insisted otherwise, claiming Ms. Lohan was slurring words and smelled of alcohol.

Ms. Lohan could face more trouble in California if she did indeed strike Mr. Rodriguez and leave the scene. She is still on probation for jewelry theft.

Lindsay Lohan (Getty Images)

We know everyone will be deeply shocked to learn this morning that actress and Worst Case Scenario of the Decade Lindsay Lohan has been arrested in Manhattan after police say she struck a pedestrian while parking her vehicle, then left the scene. TMZ, that Grim Reaper of celebrity gossip websites, tells us what happened after Ms. Lohan allegedly struck the 30-year-old male around 2 a.m. ET:

We're told one of Lindsay's passengers in the SUV got out and checked the vehicle for damage, and then LiLo and co. went inside the hotel.

We're told someone called police while Lindsay was inside ... and when she walked out of the hotel -- around 2:30AM ET -- officers arrested her.

TMZ goes on to report that Ms. Lohan was booked on misdemeanor charges of leaving the scene of an accident and released on her own recognizance.

The pedestrian was hospitalized. Police apparently say alcohol played no part in the incident.

TMZ speculates that this incident may end up causing the actress new troubles in California, where she is on probation for jewelry theft.

Tribeca is beautiful, but like so many beautiful things, you probably can't afford it.

Who wants to move in August?  No one even wants to be in the muggy cesspool of the city, let alone between two separate apartments. Indeed, August rental reports reflect the general malaise one is apt to feel when clutching a box damp with sweat at the bottom of a five floor walk-up. Or maybe Manhattan is now obeying the schedules of the Hamptons as the middle class flees?

Manhattan vacancy rates remained relatively flat in August. At 1.19 percent, they are basically unchanged from the 1.2 percent vacancy rate of July and slightly up from August 2011, when they were at just one percent, according to a report from Citi Habitats. Cause for celebration?

Not really. Citi Habitats notes that while this is the highest vacancy rate that August—typically a month of intense demand—has seen in the last three years, rents have always stayed remained unchanged (at their incredibly high levels) since last month. Although given the way that things have been going in the Manhattan rental market, no appreciable change from one month to the next is about the best we can hope for. A year of no increases would be an honest-to-god miracle.

The bad news is that Manhattan renters are flocking to cheaper units in non-doorman buildings. The biggest increase, month-over-month, occurred in non-doorman apartments, according to the MNS report, with Greenwich Village studios spiking 7.4 percent from last month and Midtown East one-bedrooms shooting up 6.7 percent. Renters also rushed to the Upper East Side and the Lower East Side, two of the last islands of comparatively reasonable rents, reducing the apartment availability in both neighborhoods.

You can't win! You try to save money and just end up spending more. But whatever you do, stay away from Tribeca, which saw the biggest monthly increase, according to MNS. Non-doorman studio apartments went up $285 from July and now cost an average of $4,133 a month. For a studio!

kvelsey@observer.com