Business & Tech

National Grid Provides $1.1M for Local Sandy-Battered Businesses

Two Atlantic Beach clubs receive funds from the program.

Written by Joseph Kellard

P.J. Kavanagh’s two Long Beach West End establishments, The Saloon and The Inn, were destroyed in Hurricane Sandy, and he paid to restore both buildings up front as his insurance company left him dry and federal assistance was hardly forthcoming. 

Through the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, though, he learned that National Grid had a grant program for storm-damaged businesses struggling to rebuild.

“We got with them right away and it’s been a tremendous help to us,” Kavanagh said. 

The Saloon on Monday hosted an event celebrating the gas and electricity company’s program that provided $1.1 million in 35 grants to Long Beach, Atlantic Beach and Island Park businesses. With the money he received, Kavanagh was able to pay some bills up until Memorial Day.

“We still have a lot to pay but at least we got our business back,” he said. “It’s most important that we’re up and running.” 

National Grid has to date awarded $5.1 million to Sandy-impacted Long Island and New York City businesses out of a $30 million relief program that partners with businesses leaders and government officials from Staten Island to Suffolk County. 

Ken Daly, president of National Grid New York, said the program operates alongside the company’s first-time residential program that provided 22,000 grants, ranging from $150 to $6,000 per storm-ravaged homeowner, to replace boilers and furnaces. Daly said the programs were created to help the people where National Grid employees live and work.

“Today’s grant is really meant to say to Long Beach, Atlantic Beach and Island Park that you can reopen and your utility provider, National Grid, will be there with you every step of the way,” he said at Monday’s event, which was attended by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, Nassau County Legislator Denise Ford, Long Beach City Manager Jack Schnirman and Mark Tannenbaum, executive vice president of the Long Beach chamber, among others. 

Daly recalled his time in Long Beach after Sandy slammed the city on Oct. 29, when he managed a local command center. He compared the beach town to many other communities where he worked after the storm, from Breezy Point to Bay Shore. 

“In most neighborhoods most people went and took care of their own homes as best they could,” he said. “This was the only neighborhood where blocks came together and they did one home at a time.” 

Among the Long Beach businesses that applied for National Grid’s program were Long Beach Medical Center, Paninis and Bikinis, and Sue Nail & Foot Spa. While National Grid declines to reveal the amount of the funds it provides to each business, the average grant is $25,000, and locally approved applicants started to receive checks in February, Wendy Ladd, a National Grid spokesperson, told Patch. 

Michael Muratore, co-owner of the West End women’s boutique Rose & Eye, lost about 70 percent his merchandise in the storm and relocated to Rockville Centre to keep his business afloat. While on Facebook one day he came across the phone number for the grant program, called it and started the online application process. 

“We went through a whole process of basically what I lost and took some pictures of the damage,” said Muratore, whose store reopened in Long Beach in April.   

John Keating, economic development specialist at National Grid, explained that the application asks home and business owners to provide the damages they incurred, the costs of repairs, and any resources they received from insurance. 

“Then we make a determination in house about how much we can provide to offset some of that gap between what their costs and resources are,” said Keating, who noted that National Grid has already committed grants to more than 300 businesses. 

During a brief speech, McCarthy emphasized that National Grid was not obliged to offer these programs.

“They did it because they do care about their communities, and I think this is a prime example when you see a corporation respond and to do the right thing for the communities they’re in,” she said.

Long Beach Councilwoman Fran Adelson said that while many home and business owners have struggled with everything from their insurance claims to their building contractors, National Grid “has really stepped up to the plate to help business owners ... It gives us a sense of belonging and that we’ll be okay; it makes the business owners feel better about opening; it says to the world that we’re open for business.” 

In Atlantic Beach, Sunny Atlantic Beach Club and The Shores at Atlantic Beach received grants, while Peter’s Clam Bar, Bridgeview and Island Park Laundromat were among a number of grant recipients in Island Park. 

Glenn Ingoglia, president of the Island Park Chamber of Commerce, said 95 percent of business owners were without insurance and were surprised and upset with the lack of federal assistance. Through National Grid’s program, though, Island Park grants have already reached about $500,000. 

“It was the only grant that businesses could get and National Grid came through at a time when, had they not, I could think of a handful of business or more that wouldn’t be around today,” he said. 


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