After Hurricane Sandy destroyed their workers’ center and trashed the surrounding waterfront, Bensonhurst day laborers eager to do debris-clearing work say they can’t connect with contractors or homeowners. “It’s really difficult,” said Gavino Hernandez, 46, who does construction and painting work. “Really, we’re desperate. We’re not sure what to do. No one helps us, they just tell us to move away from there. We have to think about rent.” The entire area where Bay Parkway meets the water was closed off with police tape after the storm – so the workers can’t even get close to the place where employers usually find them each morning. For more than a decade,the Bay Parkway Community Job Center – first a tent, then a small red-and-yellow heated structure – has been a spot where construction and landscaping employers who pledge to pay day rates of at least $120 and provide safety gear can hire workers. Because it keeps day laborers from waiting outside on 18th Ave. and 69th St.
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