BED STUY, Brooklyn (PIX11) — Tenants in Brooklyn’s Tompkins Houses are dealing with a broken elevator and intermittent utility outages that they said are impacting their quality of life.
Residents living on the 12th floor of the building at 760 Park Avenue tell PIX11 News that the broken elevator has left elderly tenants and those with serious health conditions either trapped in their apartments or forced to climb multiple flights of stairs to get home.
Stephanie Shiloh-Branch uses a walker and said navigating her building has become nearly impossible.
“A lot of times I have to go stay with family because of the elevators,” said Shiloh-Branch.
She added, “I miss doctor’s appointments. If I want to go shopping, I miss all of that.”
Fantah Baker has congestive heart failure and said climbing a dozen flights of stairs makes it difficult for her to leave her home for medication or doctor’s appointments.
“I have asthma-related symptoms to my congestive heart failure that — it’s difficult,” Baker said. “It’s very difficult, being that I’m here by myself, and I do have a home health aide that comes, but it’s really difficult when you’re disabled, and you need something when she’s not here.”
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According to residents, the situation has been compounded by intermittent outages of gas, heat, and electricity. They said their stairwells, apartments, and hallways had been pitch black since Thursday, forcing them to use flashlights until a temporary generator was brought in on Friday.
Con Edison said melting snow mixed with road salt made contact with electrical equipment underground and led to the outage.
Due to gas issues, Evelyn Ortega uses a single hot plate when her power is up and running, but said it makes it hard to cook large meals for her family.
“I take off the beans, put the rice, then take that off — fry or cook whatever I’m going to cook of meat. That’s not fair,” Ortega said.
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A NYCHA spokesperson said in a statement:
“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. These processes are underway at 760 Park Avenue.“
NYCHA said a manhole fire also contributed to the power outage, and they’re working with Con Edison to restore electricity.
A sign posted by the elevators in the building said repairs are expected as soon as possible.
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