NYCHA’s cold turkey
Crappy Thanksgiving, NYCHA residents!
Families in the Bronx’s Marble Hill Houses were forced to cancel their holiday feasts for Thursday because the gas in their apartments has been off for months — and they were given measly hot plates for cooking.
“I have been here for 28 years and I cook every year. This is the first year I am not cooking,” tenant Altagracia Vicenta, 58, told The Post.
“I feel so sad. I love to cook for Thanksgiving. I look forward to it. [But now] I tell everybody not to come.”
Vicenta’s is one of 55 households at the complex without gas as of Tuesday, according to NYCHA — although the agency claims 14 of those units will be fixed on Wednesday.
She is disabled — requiring two knee replacements and a hip replacement — so she won’t be going anywhere in the frigid weather for a festive feast.
The best Vicenta can hope for is that her husband, Celestino, 74, will go downstairs to buy them sandwiches to eat after watching the parade on TV.
Affected residents say the gas was turned off three months ago and they’ve been without functioning ovens and stoves since.
In the meantime, each unit has been given a lone hot plate, but the gadgets are hardly capable of cooking a turkey.
“It’s an insult,” said Luis Parra, 29, an Uber driver who usually hosts Thanksgiving but this year will have to take his kids, including a baby son, to celebrate at a relative’s home.
“What can this do for a family of four? It’s like your car breaks down and they say here is a skateboard. They have no respect for us.”
Eddie Rodriguez, 24, said that during the outage, he has been spending at least $200 a week to get healthy food for his wife, sister-in-law and newborn daughter.
“Everybody works so we don’t have time for one little hot plate. I had to go out and buy another one,” said Rodriguez, a FedEx driver. “I’ve been spending more on food than I want to. It has thrown my budget off.”
A NYCHA spokeswoman said residents without stoves can get a free Turkey Day meal from the agency if they request one, but many told The Post that was news to them.
Rosa Abreu, 44, said she got a recorded call from the agency Saturday saying to call back if she needed food — but she’d rather go to her sister’s home.
“It puts a damper on my holidays. Normally, we stay here,” said Abreu, who works for a catering company and lives with her daughter, son and granddaughter.
She said NYCHA came to work on her pipes Monday and told her the gas would be back on before Thanksgiving — but she’s not holding her breath because Con Ed will need to inspect them first.
Some apartments have been told an adult had to be home Wednesday for the repairs — or the lock would be drilled off to gain access.
NYCHA blamed the months-long repair time on a process that requires cooperation from the Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Buildings and Con Ed.
“We understand a gas outage is incredibly frustrating, especially around the holidays,” the agency said.
Ironically, the problem was discovered as NYCHA was replacing stoves in the buildings, according to Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx) — who blasted the troubled agency Tuesday for taking so long to fix the issue.
“Sometimes, repairing gas lines takes a while, but three months is just outrageous,” he said.
“If this were a wealthy building somewhere in the city, this would never happen.”