The City Council is set to hold its first-ever hearing in a Brooklyn public housing complex — a far cry from its polished-wood chambers at City Hall.
Bronx Democrat Ritchie Torres — who grew up in public housing and is the new chair of the council’s Public Housing Committee — is bringing his Council colleagues to Coney Island for the session next Thursday at the Carey Gardens complex.
The hearing, co-chaired by Mark Trayger (D-Brooklyn), will highlight the plight of residents who have been living without permanent boilers in 16 NYCHA developments since Hurricane Sandy.
“We are bringing government directly to the people,” Torres said.
The Council members are seeking answers from the city about how often the temporary boilers break down and when they will be fixed.
“The bottom line is it’s been over a year since Sandy and we are insisting on a plan to replace these temporary boilers with more reliable and sustainable permanent boilers,” said Trayger.
Nearly 3,000 public housing tenants who live at the O’Dwyer Gardens in Coney Island and the Hamel Houses in the Rockaways were left for days without heat or hot water in January when a temporary boiler failed.
“There are tenants who become so desperate for heat that they turn on their ovens,” Torres said.
“People were sitting at home in their coats,” recalled Ilma Joyner, the president of the tenants association at O’Dwyer Gardens.
