One burner, eight months without cooking gas at Borinquen Plaza
NYCHA’s outage tracker lists building-wide gas outages at 101 Humboldt St. and 330 Bushwick Ave., both part of Borinquen Plaza, dating to Feb. 18. That morning, firefighters evacuated the Humboldt Street building after carbon monoxide levels rose inside during a manhole fire outside.
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With Thanksgiving a few weeks away, Betsy Lopez's parents want to have their grandkids over. But there’s a question they still can’t answer: How are they going to cook a turkey without a working oven?
Her parents have lived at 101 Humboldt St. in East Williamsburg since 1998. Lopez says the New York City Housing Authority gave them a single electric burner. The slow cooker they were offered didn’t work well for them. A friend gave them another appliance that helps them make meals like rice, meat and beans.
“You want to create memories with the time that you have,” Betsy said. “It’s not right, and it’s not fair to them. They pay...the rent every month"
NYCHA’s outage tracker lists building-wide gas outages at 101 Humboldt St. and 330 Bushwick Ave., both part of Borinquen Plaza, dating to Feb. 18. That morning, firefighters evacuated the Humboldt Street building after carbon monoxide levels rose inside during a manhole fire outside.
Theresa, who has lived at 101 Humboldt St. for more than 30 years, is raising two children on her own. She says the burner she received doesn’t work. One day, she put food in the slow cooker at 11 a.m. and said it wasn’t ready until 11 p.m.
“So, something has to go short on each month because we’re eating out every day,” she said.
Lopez helps her parents with errands. She showed News 12 another problem in their apartment. The bathroom light doesn’t work, and she worries her mother could fall as she recovers from knee surgery. Betsy says updates about the gas repairs come too far apart, and changes to appointments can mean rearranging her work schedule so she can be there to translate.
Some tenants declined to go on camera, telling News 12 they don’t think speaking up will get the gas back any faster. At 330 Bushwick Ave., News 12 reported last month on sewage leaking onto the sidewalk. NYCHA said then that a collapsed waste line was causing the leak.
News 12 saw workers going in and out of 101 Humboldt St. on Wednesday. One worker said crews were working on the gas. NYCHA says it has replaced the pipes that carry gas between floors and that welding is underway in shared areas. The agency did not give a date for cooking gas to return.
NYCHA provided the following statement in full: “Gas service interruptions and restoration work are a matter of public safety and involve multiple partners and steps, including shutting off service, making necessary repairs, inspections, and coordinating with the service vendors, in order to safely restore service as quickly as possible. NYCHA has replaced all gas risers and is currently performing the necessary, specialized welding in common areas to restore gas to both buildings as quickly as possible. Residents in need of assistance are encouraged to call the Customer Contact Center at 718-707-7771 or submit work tickets through the MyNYCHA application.”
