Disappointed by the Federal Response, New Yorkers Step Up to Help Puerto Rico

In the cardboard box-filled basement of the Taino Towers Senior Center in East Harlem, Congressman Adriano Espaillat addressed a crowd of Puerto Rican New Yorkers and local politicians to relate his experience in Puerto Rico last week. He'd visited a local hospital with San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz. The hospital's generators had failed, and she helped direct ambulances to carry the 41 remaining patients to other care centers.

After conversations with Cruz, Puerto Rico's Governor Ricardo A. Rossello, and other people on the ground on the island, Espaillat put together a ten-point plan for Congress to address relief efforts.

He called for the approval this week of $20 billion dollars in aid, help from the Army Corps of Engineers, and a freeze on the island's debts. He also voiced concern for the amount of stagnant drinking water on the island.

"We also must get ahead of the curve, and understand that two weeks from now, this crisis may be a health-related crisis," he said.

New York City councilman Ydanis Rodriguez said he'd already felt that impact. Over the weekend, his family learned that his brother's mother-in-law died alone Friday — because her hospital had neither the medication she needed, nor a working phone line to alert her relatives.