Cooking with gas

NYCHA service finally back amid grumbling

There’s no time for brine. Some of the residents at NYCHA’s Marble Hill Houses who’ve been without gas for months finally had their service restored Wednesday.

But for many, it was hardly a holiday miracle for Thanksgiving.

“It’s a little too late. It’s been five months,” said Jazmin Altagarcia, 16, after Con Ed workers turned the stove back on in the apartment where she lives with her mother and aunt. “We got no gas, no heat, and my mom is sick.”

NYCHA turned the gas on for roughly half the 55 units at the Bronx public-housing project that have been without a functioning stove or oven for three months or more. Tenants have been using hot plates provided by the authority.

But many residents said they’d already canceled plans to host a Thanksgiving meal.

“It’s really last minute. I already made plans to see my mom and my sister, so I’m going there for the holiday,” said Racquel Landrum, 29.

“I’m happy that the stove is back on. I cook all the time, so I need it.”

Others said they were scrambling to whip something up for the holiday at the last minute.

“S--t sucks. We just got it back on. Thanksgiving’s tomorrow. We wanted to get started on the cooking early,” said one resident, Richie, 32, who wouldn’t provide his last name.

Still, he added, “I mean, we’re excited. We’re going out to the grocery store right now.”

Altagarcia said her family’s stove was already on the fritz before the gas went off, but they might have a Turkey Day meal now that it’s hooked up again.

“We didn’t think we were going to be able to cook. Maybe we’ll do something,” she said.

But residents in two other buildings that were still without gas Wednesday night will still have to go cold turkey for Thanksgiving.

“I know they’re not coming. It’s too late now,” Rosa Abreu, 44, told The Post. “I just need them to come and fix it. How can they be so slow and not turn it on already?”

NYCHA said affected tenants had been given the option of a free meal on the big day — but many said they’d never been told about the gratis grub. Additional reporting by Nolan Hicks