New York Today: Sandy, One Year Later

Michael Nagle for The New York Times On a Queens beach, 3,000 people held hands to  commemorate Sandy.

Updated 6:20 a.m. | A human chain, wiggly and windswept, formed on Rockaway Beach in Queens on Sunday.

Three thousand people joined hands and fell silent as a fire boat pivoted offshore, spouting like a whale.

The occasion was the first anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, which walloped our region on Oct. 29 last year.

Lily Corcoran, 56, who had organized the event through a Facebook group, “Rockaway Rising,” turned back to look at her creation and wept.

“I lost it,” she said. “I had to go down to the water so nobody would see me.”

A wave rippled through the crowd, then a cheer rose. The chain broke.

Children placed glowing Chinese lanterns and daisies on the water, symbols of those lost to the storm.

The hurricane left more than 100 people dead and caused tens of billions of dollars in damage around the region.

Places like the Rockaways have faced a long recovery.

For the next few days, Sandy-related events will spring up all over the city and region.

Today, Ellis Island will reopen to visitors for the first time since Hurricane Sandy.

Beginning on Tuesday, 300,000 special “I Love New York” MetroCards will go into circulation, part of a statewide, “Come See the Comeback” campaign.

Here’s what else you need to know for Monday.

WEATHER

Step out for lunch: pure sunshine today, with a high of 61. No clouds till nightfall.

COMMUTE

Subways: Fine so far. Click for latest status.

Rails: O.K. Click for L.I.R.R., Metro-North or New Jersey Transit status.

Roads: Click for traffic map or radio report on the 1s.

Alternate-side parking is in effect through Thursday but suspended Friday.

COMING UP TODAY

- Joseph J. Lhota is on “Geraldo” on WABC-AM (770) at 10:20 a.m. Then he holds a news conference to criticize Bill de Blasio’s record on Atlantic Yards and goes to a New York Young Republican Club gala.

- Mr. de Blasio protests the layoffs of 500 nurses and health care workers from Long Island College Hospital.

- Mayor Bloomberg announces the allocation of more Hurricane Sandy rebuilding money.

- The President’s Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force unveils ideas by 10 design teams. 8:30 a.m. at N.Y.U. [Free. Also on live stream]

- Climate scientists and a FEMA coordinator offer advice on disaster management at the Peace Islands Institute in Midtown at noon. [Free. R.S.V.P. here]

- The city’s chief urban designer, Alexandros E. Washburn, speaks at a forum, “Urgent: New York Perspectives on Resilience,” at the Museum of the City of New York. 6:30 p.m. [$12, reservations required]

- A sociologist who has walked 6,000 miles in New York City, William Helmreich, gives an illustrated lecture at the New York Public Library. 6:30. [Free]

- For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.

IN THE NEWS

- The final mayoral debate, scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed to Wednesday at the candidates’ request, to honor victims of Hurricane Sandy. [New York Times]

- Mr. de Blasio’s lead in the polls has shrunk slightly but is still a dauntingly large 45 points. [New York Times]

- The state attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, filed court papers to unseal a secret report on the state’s handling of the 1971 Attica prison uprising. [Buffalo News]

- A 25-year-old man was charged with Saturday’s fatal stabbings of his cousin’s wife and her four children in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. [New York Times]

- New York is the first state to open its own emergency gasoline reserve, with a capacity of three million gallons. [Reuters]

- The New York Times endorsed Mr. de Blasio. The free daily amNewYork has endorsed Mr. Lhota.

AND FINALLY…

Lou Reed, who died on Sunday at 71, made his debut in The New York Times on Jan. 13, 1966.

In a curious way.

He and his band, the Velvet Underground, appeared with Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick at the New York Society for Clinical Psychiatry’s black-tie dinner at Delmonico’s Hotel.

The Times said the band played “a combination of rock ‘n’ roll and Egyptian belly-dance music.”

Reviews were not mixed.

“A short-lived torture of cacophony,” pronounced one psychiatrist.

Another said, “It was ridiculous, outrageous, painful.”

Many fled before dessert.

Joseph Burgess contributed reporting.

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