Red Hook Tenants Say Power Still Not Fully Plugged In
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Officials with the city's housing authority say power is back in all of its buildings, but it did not seem to be the case Wednesday for some residents in one Red Hook complex. NY1's Roger Clark filed the following report.Shirley Lovett showed NY1 the elevator in her building on Columbia Street in the Red Hook Houses, which still isn't working even though most of the building has power. Her message to the housing authority: "Why are you taking so long? I don't understand."
On Wednesday Lovett and many other residents remained in the cold with no heat or hot water. And while the city reported the power was back in all housing authority buildings, we found that didn't mean all of the power was back.
NY1 talked to residents who still had no lights in their apartments. Some even ran extension cords from their homes to outlets in the lobby so they could have some basic electric. But shivering residents say they are done with all of this.
"I guess they forgot about us we don't exist, it seems that way," said one Red Hook Houses resident.
"It's ridiculous man. We've been without power for two weeks I don't know what's happening," said another Red Hook Houses resident.
And even though the elevator works in William Alexander's building, nothing works in his apartment.
"My wife's sitting up in the dark. Ain't no lights, ain't never had no lights. From day one no heat, no light," Alexander said.
Alexander says he can't get answers from anyone at the housing authority.
"I done stopped going around and I just got to ride it out, I can't do nothing else," he said.
Gina Ramos does have electric back in her apartment, but no heat. She says she is tired of being cold and worried about the health of her young son who has asthma.
"It's just wrong, something has to be done for everybody here, for Red Hook, because you pretty much feel like you are treated like a second class citizen. There's no urgency here," Ramos said.
Ramos said her stove does not work and has not been replaced so cooking has to be done on a hot plate. She hopes things are back to normal by next week, so her family can celebrate a warm Thanksgiving inside their own home.