HYPOTHERMIA

NO HEAT

 

VALENTINES DAY 2016

Woke up this morning to 7 degrees, its now 14 degrees outside, and no heat at 118 East St. Through some communications with the other tenants, it seems the heat is on in one line of the building. That line contains the market rate tenants. There are 2 other heat lines that are off and those lines contain the majority of rent stabilized tenants, including some senior citizens in fragile health. I think one or two market rate folks are getting the frozen treatment if they are unfortunate enough to reside above or below a rent stabilized tenant. Calls to the Westminster office provide no results as usual. There seems to be a Westminster person living in 118 at the moment. A call put into him goes unanswered and he has no voice mail set up on his phone. The same goes for the "Super". No answer. No voice mail set up on phone. So its time to take things to 311.   

5 Months No Gas

We are going into the fifth month with no gas. Con Ed has made numerous visits to inspect work being done to resolve the no cooking gas problem. They always find the quality of the work to be lacking. Not measuring up to the proper standards. Not sure why it takes 5 months to change some pipes and valves. Lots of repetitious banging on the heating pipes all day. Of course the heat is off while they "work" on the problem.

After the Blizzard

Its Sunday. Day after the big storm. Lucky for most of us it hit on the weekend. Still no gas to cook with, which was sorely missed on the 2nd biggest snow on record to hit NYC. You had to get your take out early in the day, before the Governor Coumo shut everything down. Getting very expensive all this take out month after month. Its 2pm as I write this post and the side walk in front of 118 East 4th St still has not been cleared. All the rest of the block has been cleared. Same thing last winter with all the snow we had. Sidewalks ignored.

This is looking out the front door.

This the large glass canopy over the door. It was installed by the previous owner Ben Shaoul. There was no work permit assocciated with it, posted on line with the DOB at the time. Its just attached to the brick with screws. Who knows how long it will remain up with all the freeze and thaws and the heavy snow left in place.

This in front on 118 East 4th St. 2PM Sunday after the storm. By law the owner Jared Kushner had until 11AM to clear the sidewalk.

One can see the sidewalk cleared on either side of 118 East 4th St. There was a rumor going round the building that we actually had a new Super living in 118. We are not allowed to call him for repairs, but must contact Mgmt. Requests to Westminster Mgmt are always an exercise in futility. With all the snow still on the sidewalk, it seems the rumor of a Super in the building is untrue. On the lighter side. With all the snow covering the meager units for trash disposal perhaps we will have fewer rats for a day or two.

New Year No Gas

We are sailing into the new year without gas to cook with. Westminster Mgmt slid a note under our doors requesting us to be here on Monday the 4th for an inspection from Con Edison. We all juggled our schedules or gave a key to a neighbor if we could not be here. The note said that Con Ed needed access to all apartments. Monday arrives and Con Edison only looks at 3 apartments, and makes a lot of noise in the basement. They say it will be 2 more weeks until there is some movement towards turning the gas back on.

We were hit with a blast of winter on monday night. The heat that Westminster provides is anemic at best. The chill in the air  inside the apartments of 118 East 4th St. on Tuesday morning was rather brutal. 

The heat was pumped up sometime during the day on Tuesday. The amped up heat is a welcome relief from the freezing conditions outside. One problem however. There is no moderation. Its been blasting at full strength for almost 2 days. Stupid amount of heat. We don't really need cooking gas now. We can all cook on the red hot radiators. There is no Super living on site here. No Super within miles of the building. So the over worked boiler will presumably go unmonitored and unadjusted. Perhaps another visit from the NYFD will make the proper adjustments usually performed by a Super before things go off the rails. 

Take Out Christmas

Not going to have a White Christmas this year. Not going to be a Holiday dinner this year either, at 118 East 4th St in New York City. It will have to be a Take Out Christmas this year unless the Grinch steps in and takes that too. Still no cooking gas here, and no word on when that will change.

72 Days and Counting

72 days without cooking gas.

Not much heat either. We have temporarily benefited from Global warming the past few weeks. If there is any heat on a chilly day, its on during the day when most of us are at work. The heat goes off before we return home.

 72 days of take out food. Its getting to be 

VERY VERY EXPENSIVE. 

 Most of us have had to make do with hot plates, but one can only do so much with a hot plate. In this building keeping the hot plate on for too long makes the lights flicker and the fuses blow.
Almost no contact, or progress reports from Westminster Mgmt.