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Oct. 30-Nov. 5, 2020
Offi cials call on NYCHA to restore Astoria Houses’
cooking gas, fi nd long-term solution before holidaysBY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
An entire Astoria Houses
2021
building has been without
cooking gas for a month — and
NYCHA expects it to be out for
another two and a half months,
according to Councilman Costa
Constantinides.
In separate letters to NYCHA
Chair Greg Russ, Constantinides
and Congresswoman
Carolyn Maloney implored
the agency to restore the cooking
gas at 1-04 Astoria Blvd. before
Thanksgiving.
“Indeed, this virus calls for
bold action whenever an issue
arises. I find it troubling that
NYCHA expects the cooking
gas to be out for up to 78 days
from the outage,” Constantinides
wrote in his letter.
“Holidays are supposed to be a
time of joy, when we celebrate
the good and move past the bad
of another year... Even though
we cannot have large family
gatherings, Astoria Houses
residents deserve to prepare
their home-cooked traditions.
To sacrifice that is to let this
virus win.”
The month-long outage has
caused local elected officials,
including State Senate Deputy
Leader Michael Gianaris, as
well as Queens residents to
put pressure on NYCHA to
not only restore the utility, but
Photo by Dean Moses
also to provide clear communication
for tenants.
“During a time that is already
rife with uncertainty,
it is deeply concerning that
NYCHA cannot provide more
clarity for its residents,” Maloney
wrote in her letter.
Kimberly Elliot, a tenant of
Astoria Houses’ 1-04 building,
told QNS a better solution to
the problem might be to provide
the 48 households in the
building with an electric stove
while NYCHA repairs the gas.
“Electric stove would be
long-term alternative — a longterm
solution to a major problem,”
said Elliot. “This way we
can cook. You can take as long
as you want.”
Elliot suggested they use
money from the rent tenants
pay to purchase the electric
stoves, then take them back
once they’re done. That way
NYCHA would have the stoves
in their inventory in case the
same issue arises at other complexes,
she said.
Elliot explained that while
community members and organizations
have stepped up
to donate hot food and groceries,
the gas outage has caused
her and her neighbors added
stress.
“I’m 50 years old. I’ve had
no medical conditions. With
all that’s going, my doctor said
my blood pressure is high, he
said ‘What are you doing?’ and
I said, ‘I can’t cook. I got no
gas,'” she said.
In his letter, Constantinides
wrote that he’s aware of how
long gas restorations can take,
and how costly repairing gas
cooking lines can be, as NYCHA
projects spending $145
million on gas riser replacement
projects by 2023.
Constantinides added
that the situation at Astoria
Houses gives NYCHA the opportunity
to begin phasing
out the gas stoves entirely and
replace them with induction
ranges, agreeing with Elliot’s
suggestion.
Maloney said she’s open to
any and all suggestion to mitigate
the issue.
A NYCHA spokesperson
told QNS the agency is “making
every effort to ensure our
residents’ safety as we work to
restore service as quickly as
possible.”
Read more on QNS.com.
Vol. 8, No. 44 48 total pages
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