The evening of July 22, there was quite a downpour which left residents on and near Penelope Avenue in Middle Village underwater. Basements and streets were flooded, with many residents crying out for help and blaming the prolonged sewer construction projects for their miseries. Elected officials were MIA, and the City Comptroller’s office was ignoring our requests for information about filing reimbursement claims while simultaneously Tweeting out that something needed to be done about climate change. As long as we have apathetic voters, we can expect more of the same response. In the meantime, the suffering will be prolonged as the city plans to put a 96-inch diameter sewer extending from Juniper Boulevard South, up to 71st Street, then under the CSX tracks where it will hook up with the Maspeth sewer project that is underway. Construction for that won’t start until next August at the earliest and is expected to last about three years.