Prius Update: 44 Days after Hurricane Sandy

The Toyota Prius remains on Maiden Lane, 44 days after Hurricane Sandy.

December 11 – 44 days after Hurricane Sandy

The signs say it should move. But it won’t until the generators and boilers are gone too.

Prius hides three cars back.

And that doesn’t look like it’s happening any time soon.

Fueling up the generators

But Christmas is coming. Shouldn’t it be decorated or something? Some red and a wreath perhaps? We’ll see.

Wolf Leaves; Prius Stays

The Wolf of Wall Street was only on Maiden Lane for one day – Tuesday, November 27.

Mr. DiCaprio will be elsewhere.

Whether that was their initial plan or it was due to the lack of power and excess of damage, there will be no DiCaprio sightings here. Meanwhile, 33 days after Hurricane Sandy, the generators and fuel trucks remain,

Fuel delivery on Maiden Lane

as does the Prius.

Prius on Maiden – 33 days after Hurricane Sandy

It is as smashed up and dilapidated as ever…but it is still there, and with a message.Leaving us to wonder how exactly ‘off’ does it mean?

One Month After Sandy – Closed for Business

It’s one month after Hurricane Sandy, and much of downtown Manhattan seems to be getting back to normal…except for the stores near the East River. The water damage has yet to be resolved for many of the businesses on the last three blocks of Maiden Lane (below Gold Street). Some of the signs are professionally printed.

Flowers of the World

Others are not.

First Republic Bank

Others have no sign at all…but the message is still clear.

Au Bon Pain

One business is open because of major external support.It is a little sad with so much shut down like this. Hopefully the city will do what it can to get things back to normal.

Holiday Star at the Federal Reserve.

At least that’s a start.

Downtown Manhattan: Guts on View

Downtown Manhattan has been under invasion for three weeks now. I’m not talking about the wind and tidal surge…but rather the vehicles and machines that followed. It started sensibly, almost innocently, with the official Disaster Response vehicles in tandem with the water pumping trucks and fuel tankers. There were also the portable generators and tractor trailers.  But then, the vehicles became ominous and strange.The streets began to look less like Manhattan and more like Terry Gilliam’s dystopic film Brazil. And so I began to ask myself: Just what are these daemonic vehicles and contraptions? Are they taking over? The answer wasn’t as mysterious as I had imagined. After a pittance of research, I learned that these imposing, brooding machines are generally one of three things. They are either mobile – albeit massive – generators, mobile – albeit massive – boilers,

Go Giants!

or mobile – albeit massive – dehumidifiers. In other words, the guts of the buildings are no longer hidden in the basements but outside, naked, for everyone to see. Yeah, I think you get the picture.