NO-GAS PAINS GRIEF
Pols try to aid E. Village tenants unable to cook for months
Five months without cooking gas would have made life miserable for Georgina Christ under normal circumstances.
During a pandemic, it’s worse.
Christ, who lives on 12th St. in the East Village, hasn’t been able to use her stove since February. And for her, that means no home-cooked bone broth — and more trips to the grocery store for provisions at a time she’d rather stay in.
“It makes me have to go out more,” said the 70-year-old, who’s lived on the fifth floor of a sixth-story walkup since 1971. “I find I’m having to walk in the middle of the street to avoid people who are drinking and hanging out on the sidewalk without face masks.”
Fellow tenants have been without cooking gas for five months as well — and elected officials are now demanding it be turned on, and that the beleaguered residents be given a rent rebate.
Christ is one of at least four tenants in the E. 12th St. building deemed most vulnerable to the coronavirus, according to a letter the officials sent the building’s property manager last week.
“It is wrong to require them to continually risk exposure to the virus simply to secure meals,” the letter states.
The missive — signed by state Sen. Brad Hoylman, Rep. Carolyn Maloney and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer — calls on the property manager to provide tenants with a 15% rent abatement, which, it says, is “standard for diminution of services of this kind.”
“These are stressful, difficult times for everyone, and these tenants shouldn’t have to worry about how they will be able to cook their meals on top of the other burdens that so many tenants are currently facing,” the pols wrote.
Since the gas went out in February, Christ said the building’s property manager, Silverstone Property Group, has given her three hot plates — none of them functional enough to cook the soups and stews she’s survived on. Her bone broth takes from 12 to 24 hours to make, and she says her pots have fallen off the hot plates.
“It doesn’t heat the pot evenly,” she said. “And you can’t leave the pot there. You’ve got to stand there to make sure it doesn’t slip off.”
Her stove doesn’t work, either, she said.
Tom Nolan, a Silverstone spokesman, said the company “is ready, willing and able to repair the gas lines at the property as soon as possible.”
“In order to do so, the property must be vacated according to engineering experts Silverstone has consulted,” he added.
Christ is skeptical. She thinks it’s a ploy to empty the building and jack up rents.
“Enough is enough,” she said. “It’s been way too long. I’m tired of this.”