No one wants to be heading into Thanksgiving week with their kitchen out of commission, but that’s what 32 families at the La Guardia Houses were facing.
Gas services was cut in two lines at 280 Madison St., one of the buildings in the public housing complex earlier this month. We heard from City Council member Margaret Chin’s office yesterday that NYCHA expects to have service restored by tomorrow. Chin said she coordinated with the tenant association and the housing authority to expedite repairs. “My office will continue to work with NYCHA to ensure that this timeline is kept so that residents can celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday,” said Chin. “I thank the resident leaders and District Leaders Daisy Paez and Pedro Cardi for their hard work.”
Paez told us she reached out to U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez’s office after hearing about the situation from residents. Aides to Velazquez and Chin were on site with Paez to help distribute bottled water and to coordinate with city agencies. The water was donated by Henry Street Settlement. The organization’s executive director, David Garza, and Debbie Cox, a longtime Henry Street employee, spearheaded the water distribution effort.
Chin is encouraging any constituents dealing with heat and water issues during the winter season to get in touch with her office.
Gas outages are a pretty common occurence throughout the neighborhood. Over at the Seward Park Cooperative, a market rate complex, gas service was cut several weeks ago to one of four buildings. More than 400 apartments have been impacted.
