F-f-frenzy of heating woes
THE CITY has received close to 6,000 heat complaints over the past three days from shivering tenants battling the bitter cold, records show.
All told, there were 973 heat complaints on Monday; 2,305 on Tuesday; and 2,712 on Wednesday, according to the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development. That includes Eddie Williams, 49, who was living in his studio apartment without heat and hot water since August until the city took emergency measures to assist.
Williams and other tenants at 632 Halsey St. in Brooklyn were forced to boil water for baths and used electric hot plates to cook.
“It was hell,” said Feelo Lopez, 34, who lives in one-bedroom apartment on the second floor. “It became very frustrating asking people to use their showers and constantly eating out. It’s very hard to keep a positive outlook when your landlord doesn’t care.”
Lopez and other tenants repeatedly called 311 to report their landlord and reached out to Legal Aid lawyers for assistance in court.
The city spent over $8,000 to cover repairs to finally get the heat back up.
All told, the city spends close to $10 million a year on similar “emergency repairs” to help tenants living in freezing apartments or without water or electricity, records show. The bills are then sent to the absentee landlords.
During the cold spell, the city has also moved 34 people off the streets into shelters or other warm settings, according to Isaac McGinn, a spokesman for the Department of Homeless Services.
“Homeless New Yorkers seeking shelter during inclement weather in New York City will not be turned away,” he said. “During Code Blue weather alerts, we redouble our efforts to help our homeless neighbors come indoors-and that includes doubling the size of our outreach teams and making regular, repeated contact engaging individuals on the streets where they are to offer services and support.”
The mercury is expected to continue to plummet over the next few days.
The highs on New Year’s in New York will be around 22 degrees with a low of 10, according to the National Weather Service.
Despite the frigid temperatures, no records are slated to be broken. The coldest New Year’s Eve in New York was a bitter 1 degree in 1917, followed by an 11-degree celebration in 1962, according to AccuWeather.
The days leading up to the new year should be uncharacteristically chilly.
Temperatures on Friday and Saturday are expected to climb slightly with highs in the mid-20s and lows in the mid-teens.
The President also cited the chilly forecast. “In the East, it could be the COLDEST New Year’s Eve on record,” he tweeted Thursday. “Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against. Bundle up!”