Exclusive: UES Residential Building Without Heat For A Week
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- As temperatures drop, residents in a building on the Upper East Side say they have no heat or hot water -- and that it has been that way for a week.
The biggest problem is no one seems to be doing anything about it, CBS2's Lisa Rozner reported exclusively on Sunday.
Geraldine Czenszak is 87 years old and doing everything she can to stay warm.
"It's the worst ever. I've never been so frozen," she said. "I had two to three layers of blankets on me."
Czenszak lives in one of more than two dozen apartments at 260 E. 72nd St., near Second Avenue. The boiler is broken, so for the last month residents say a mobile unit on the street outside was supplying warmth to the building. But on Wednesday they woke up to frozen air and it's unclear why.
Margery Koen, who is using a heating pad to sleep, said no one has been back since Friday to fix it.
"I thought they were going to come back over the weekend. That's what's getting me so upset, that nobody's working on it," Koen said.
"They are a bit elderly and this is not proper. People are beginning to get sick, including myself. I have a cold," tenant Carola Cusa said.
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On Nov. 1, a new company, Plaza Management out of Brooklyn, took over the property. A porter handed out space heaters on Sunday, but no one is telling the residents when they'll get their heat back.
"Every day was like, OK, you call 311 or you call a friend and they say, 'What happened? Do we have heat?' And they say no," one person said.
The city's Department of Housing and Preservation shows at least three open violations at the property, which could lead to a fine. But residents said they want action.
"City, can you get me to a hotel or someplace that has some heat?" a woman named "Geraldine" said.
No one at the Department of Housing and Preservation or at the Department of Buildings returned CBS2's multiple calls and emails. The property company also did not get back to us.
