FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JULY 29, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 21
Senator Schumer and Assemblyman Anderson push for
$80 billion investment in public housing infrastructure
BY GABRIELE HOLTERMANN
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Senator Chuck Schumer and
Assemblyman Khaleel Anderson pushed
for an $80 billion investment in infrastructure
for public housing allocated
from President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion
American Jobs Plan during a press conference
outside Oceanside Apartments,
a 14-building New York City Housing
Authority (NYCHA) development in Far
Rockaway, on Friday, July 23.
Alongside local elected offi cials, community
and NYCHA resident leaders,
Schumer and Anderson stressed that the
administration’s proposed $40 billion
investment for public housing nationwide
was insuffi cient given that NYCHA’s
repair backlog and deferred investment
alone is an estimated $40 billion.
“Originally, no one was funding
NYCHA,” the Senate majority leader
explained. “I talked to Joe Biden. He
put $40 billion for all public housing
in his budget. I told Joe Biden,
‘Th at’s a good fi rst step, but it ain’t
enough. We want to double it to
$80 billion, so NYCHA gets
40 billion.’ Th at will
be enough money
to fi x the elevators,
fi x the
sewage, fi x
the drains,
get rid of
the mold, fi x
the ceilings, fi x the
pipes and fi x the generators.”
Anderson called the
infrastructure bill a renewed opportunity
to set aside funding for
NYCHA to address issues like leaky
roofs, mold, broken elevators, faulty
heating systems and lead paint problems
that have been plaguing the largest public
housing authority in the nation for years.
“Our demand is to support workingclass
families, as we continue to make sure
funding is available for NYCHA residents
in the infrastructure bill,” Anderson said.
“Th ey’ve experienced mold, lack of heat
and hot water, and other basic necessities
that make it diffi cult to live here. For the
6,000 people who live here, it’s been super,
super diffi cult for them to share a space
here in this development and across the
peninsula. Th at’s why this call is so urgent.”
NYCHA is home to over 360,000 low-
and moderate-income New Yorkers.
Th e largest landlord in New York City is
responsible for maintaining 169,820 public
housing apartments across 302 individual
housing developments. Because of
the aging infrastructure, cuts in federal
and state funding, and fi nancial mismanagement,
many of the 2,252 residential
buildings are deteriorating.
NYCHA resident leader for Oceanside
Apartments Doris McLaughlin said the
lack of maintenance was a disservice to
NYCHA residents, which include families,
seniors and veterans.
She demanded the resident council
presidents be part of the oversight committee
because of the mismanagement of
funding.
“Our quality of life has diminished due
to many factors, but the most important
being the mismanagement of funding,”
McLaughlin said. “We need to ensure that
these funds are used for the purpose in
which they are needed by and for NYCHA
residents as well as the properties.”
Before the press conference and rally,
the elected offi cials and community representatives
toured two apartments in desperate
need of repairs.
NYCHA resident Clara Caesar pointed
to the ceiling in her bedroom, which had
caved in a week ago.
“Two sheets came down last Friday
while I was in my bed,” said Clara Caesar,
who explained that the sheets of plaster
began hanging from the ceiling in 2020.
Caesar put in a repair ticket and was
told that someone “would take care of it.”
“It’s been a year. Now it decided to fall
down. When I called NYCHA, and I
told them it came down, they said, ‘Oh,
I must call to put in another ticket.’ Th ey
didn’t even ask me if anybody was hurt,
Senator Chuck Schumer and Assemblyman Khaleel Anderson at a rally demanding an
$80-plus billion dollar investment in federal public housing funds.
any kids in the house,
nothing,” she said.
Caesar said that even
though the repair qualifi
es as a “24-hour” ticket,
NYCHA maintenance had
yet to show up.
Another longtime Oceanside
Apartments resident, Phillip Gallop,
pointed out a variety of health and
safety issues in his apartment.
Th e paint next to the stove is
peeling from the wall, and he isn’t
sure whether it contains lead or
not because he received contradicting
results aft er the test.
“Th e immediate check told me that it
could possibly be lead, and then I got
a letter saying that it wasn’t. So, I don’t
know one way or the other,” Gallop said.
Th e issues in Gallop’s bathroom are
numerous.
Besides the bathroom window that still
doesn’t function properly even though
maintenance recently repaired it, sewage
is coming up the drain when he takes a
shower.
“And if I’m not taking a shower, when
I’m here, I get an immediate notice
because it’s just starting to gurgle, and it
smells like sewage. For years I have asked
them to fi x this,” said Gallop, adding that
maintenance has tried to resolve the issue
with a plumbing snake.
“But why use the snake when nothing
is blocking it, and the sewage comes up?”
Gallop asked.
Gallop added that while the bathroom
looks like it is free of mold, the harmful
fungus has left traces on the wall panel
even aft er it was cleaned with bleach, and
NYCHA refuses to change the panel.
Anne Howard, another Oceanside
Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
Apartment resident who attended the
press conference and rally, said she also
has mold in her bedroom and bathroom.
She recalled that maintenance
was on top of repairs when she moved
to the development decades ago with
her young children, who are now in
their fi ft ies.
“You had to get up early because, at
eight o’clock, they were knocking on your
door to fi x stuff , but not now. Now you
might have to wait days or I don’t know
how long before you get something fi xed,”
Howard said.
Ciro, who lives in Carleton Manor,
another NYCHA development on the
peninsula, shared that he has issues with
water leaks, mold and silica, a substance
found in sand and stone that is also a lung
cancer-causing agent.
He said he put in 25 repair tickets
to address the problems and even hired
a 501(c)(3) attorney. Yet, NYCHA dismissed
the tickets, claiming they were
unable to access his apartment.
“Th ey know what hours I work. I was
on the resident council. Th ey know where
I’m at, and I’m not hard to fi nd,” said Ciro,
who is a mold remediation specialist.
Councilwoman Selvena Brooks-Powers
noted that the government was quick to
fi nd resources to bail out billionaires and
major industries.
“It is time that we bail out our families,”
Brooks-Powers said. “We need to invest in
our infrastructure. It is fi scally irresponsible
not to properly invest in NYCHA. We
cannot continue to put a band-aid on the
problem. To see the conditions our children
are walking through, as a mother, it
burns me. As a daughter, it burns me. We
have to do more. And we have to demand
more.”
Senator Chuck Schumer speaks at a NYCHA rally demanding an
$80-plus billion dollar investment in federal public housing
funds.
link
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
