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Superblocks super helpers

Photos by Tequila Minsky

During the blackout, JCorps, a network of young Jewish volunteers, came to the aid of residents in powerless, high-rise housing developments throughout Downtown. Last Thursday, about 150 JCorps volunteers, led by Rabbi Zalman Paris of Chabad of Tribeca, brought food and water to the Village View complex on First Ave. and Avenue A in the East Village. Over the weekend, they visited 505 LaGuardia Place, an affordable Mitchell-Lama building with 30 floors, but whose elevators weren’t working. Next, they went to Washington Square Village. Mostly, people still living in place at both complexes on the two N.Y.U.-owned South Village superblocks were interested in water, not food. Many who answered the door were home attendants with clients in their 80s and 90s. The aides were trying their best to keep the residents warm in buildings with no heat as temperatures were dropping. Washington Square Village includes a large number of non-university-affi liated residents. Meanwhile, right next door, N.Y.U.’s Silver Towers faculty residences did have power, since they’re on the university’s co-generation grid. Joining the relief effort were Borough President candidate Julie Menin, below left, and Elinor Tatum of Community Board 3.