24 THE QUEENS COURIER • OCTOBER 29, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Offi cials call on NYCHA to restore Astoria Houses’
cooking gas, fi nd long-term solution before the holidays
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
aacevedo@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
An entire Astoria Houses 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
Th anksgiving.
“Indeed, this virus calls for bold action
whenever an issue arises. I fi nd 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. Th e
meals we cook represent family values,
passed down from generation to generation,
to tell the story of where we’ve come
from and where we’re going. Even though
we cannot have large family gatherings,
Astoria Houses residents deserve to prepare
their home-cooked traditions. To
sacrifi ce that is to let this virus win.”
Th e month-long outage has caused local
elected offi cials, including State Senate
Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris, as well
as Queens residents to put pressure on
NYCHA to not only restore the utility,
but 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.
“I am requesting that NYCHA release
a clear timeline for the intended repairs,
and that NYCHA continues to address the
issue with the utmost urgency.”
Maloney and Constantinides also asked
NYCHA to come up with a long-term
solution for tenants — aside from the hot
plates it provided to each household. Th e
lawmakers suggested either a hot meal
program or a move toward a more sustainable
and resilient option.
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 long-term solution to a
major problem,” said Elliot. “Th is 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. Th at 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
cooking 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.
Gianaris led the call for NYCHA to provide
tenants with prorated rents due to the
cooking gas outage, with Contantinides
and Maloney echoing that suggestion.
“Impacted NYCHA residents deserve
better and should be provided with hot
food service and prorated rents for harm
caused by this shut off ,” he previously
stated.
Elliot, a mother and grandmother, said
her neighbors are buying electric appliances
they never had before, including
microwaves and toasters.
“You know how long it takes me to cook
a meal? We don’t have kids at school anymore,
they’re home, the parents are working
from home. Th at’s three meals a day
and one single hot plate,” she said. “You
can’t even sit down as a family and eat.”
Elliot said management told them they
will have to re-pipe the building aft er an
inspector found a gas leak on the third
and fourth fl oor, which could take several
months or a year to do.
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.
Earlier this month, NYCHA released
its strategic plan for reducing greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions from their operations
to meet New York City’s Climate
Mobilization Act, which included replacing
gas stoves with electric induction
stoves.
Photo by Dean Moses
“NYCHA is meeting the challenge of
climate change head-on by leveraging
sustainable technology to signifi cantly
reduce GHG emissions across our 2,410
residential buildings,” said Russ in the
press release. “Replacing costly fossil fuel
burning systems with low-carbon, electric
systems benefi ts our residents, our neighborhoods
and our city.”
Constantinides added that the current
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.
“Th e latest outage highlights how dangerous
and unreliable natural gas is as a
cooking source. A single leak can disrupt
dozens of lives for months on end
— without a clear date on when it will
be restored. As we seek to rebuild and
improve public housing to make it more
sustainable, I agree that NYCHA must
explore how it can replace gas stoves
with electric ones,” said Constantinides.
“We have the opportunity to reduce
emissions as well as guarantee NYCHA
residents can cook without chaotic disruptions.”
Maloney said she’s open to any and all
suggestion to mitigate the issue.
“I am open to all suggestions as to
how we can best decrease this unnecessary
burden on families,” she said. “Living
without cooking gas for a month and
depending on a single hot plate to prepare
meals is unacceptable. It is especially
burdensome on busy working families
and senior citizens who have already been
dealt a diffi cult hand during the COVID-
19 crisis.”
A NYCHA spokesperson told QNS the
agency is “making every eff ort to ensure
our residents’ safety as we work to restore
service as quickly as possible.”
Photo courtesy of Frontline Foods
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