Tenants aren’t cooking with gas
10 ‘horrible’ months without working stoves at Harlem bldg.
It hardly seems possible, but people living in one Harlem building have been without working stoves for more than 10 months, frustrated residents told the Daily News.
“It’s been horrible,” said Aaron Yeager, head of the building residents association. “There’s a lot of people in the building who have families and need to cook.”
Yeager, who’s lived at the W. 146th St. building for more than two years, told The News that even a fourmonth-long rent strike hasn’t moved the needle on getting cooking gas back to tenants.
He and his neighbors got hot plates from the building’s management company, but Yeager, 31, said he’s had to supplement what he cooks on that with a new toaster oven, a new slow cooker and a steady stream of takeout from Seamless.
“We’ve all called 311 multiple times,” he said. “They just say the landlord has to do something.”
After 10 months that has not happened, leading Yeager to suspect the landlord’s reason for not fixing the gas is the profit to be reaped by driving out tenants, many of whom live in rent-stabilized apartments.
“They are definitely trying to force everybody out and gentrify,” he said. “They want richer people in.”
Hernan Armenta, a community college student who moved into his apartment in November, is planning to sue. The real estate agent who sold him on his place failed to mention there wasn’t cooking gas.
“I signed the lease and there was no gas,” he said. “How is this possible?”
The building’s owner, 146th Apartments LLC, appears to be controlled by Aulder Capital, a real estate investment management firm. ZPM Management handles the maintenance of the building for Aulder. A managing agent with ZPM, David Galabya, said the owners have agreed to a state-mandated rent reduction and have been delayed by logistical challenges caused by a gas line problem in a fourth-floor apartment. Con Ed shut off the gas as a result.
“We know this is not easy,” Galabya said. “We’ve jumped through every hoop and complied with every stipulation.” That remains to be seen though, according to city Housing Preservation and Development Department spokesman Matthew Creegan.
“Wherever owners brush off their responsibilities to tenants, we will use the full force of our enforcement powers to make sure New Yorkers are protected,” he said. The department
“brought litigation against this owner, who has been ordered by the court to fix conditions for tenants and pay $5,000 in penalties,” he said.
City Buildings Department records show that a still-active stop work order was placed on the building in December for “approved plans provided not conforming with work observed.”
Department of Housing Preservation and Development records show the agency has been slapping the building with violations since May for failing to “provide an adequate supply of gas.”
Con Ed spokesman Allan Drury said the landlord is responsible for making repairs, which must then be certified by the city and approved by Con Ed before the utility can turn the gas back on. He said the building failed an inspection in July.
In January, city Housing Court ordered that the building owner fix all violations within 90 days and have gas on before the end of April.