Two more years, $1.8 billion for new public housing boilers post-Sandy

Posted February 28, 2014 By Caroline Anderson

Replacing all the boilers in city public housing projects damaged by superstorm Sandy will take another two years and cost a projected $1.8 billion — money the New York City Public Housing Authority does not yet have.

In the meantime, mobile boilers are costing the authority $1 million a month.

That was the sobering news NYCHA officials shared with residents in the affected developments at a special City Council hearing held at the Carey Gardens Community Center in Coney Island on Thursday.

The president of Carey Gardens Residents Association, Shirley Aikens, testifies to the City Council Thursday. Photo: Caroline Anderson

Residents at Carey Gardens and other Sandy-affected developments have lived for 16 months with temporary boilers, which they say frequently malfunction, leaving residents without heat and hot water.

NYCHA officials said it would take another two years before permanent boilers could be installed.

The meeting lasted more than four hours as council members, led by the new chair of the Committee on Public Housing, Ritchie Torres, and the chair of the newly created Committee on Recovery and Resilience, Mark Treyger, grilled NYCHA and residents from Coney Island and Red Hook testified.

Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito put in an appearance, even though she is not on the committee.

Angers flared, and a couple of residents teared up while speaking about the conditions in their apartments.

“We are told not to use stoves, but we got to keep our babies warm, keep our children warm,” said Shirley Aikens, 60, the president of the Carey Gardens Residents Association and a resident.

When it’s not freezing, they said, the apartments sometimes boil. Aikens also said that on one occasion, the temperature rose to 100 degrees in her apartment.

“I complained to NYCHA. They said, ‘If we turn it down, you complain, if we turn it up, you complain.’ Yes, we are going to complain. I want hot water when I take a shower,” said Aikens, her long braids pulled back from her face.

Besides regularly breaking down, residents said, the temporary boilers caused fumes and noise, and sometimes caught fire, as in at least one case in Red Hook.

A boiler in Red Hook also suffered a fuel spill, which state records indicate can’t fully be cleaned up until the temporary boiler is removed.

Raymond Ribeiro, executive vice president for capital projects at NYCHA, insisted that the boilers were safe and functioning reasonably well. He said that it’s not uncommon for boilers to go out, but that with permanent boilers a backup system ensures service is not disrupted.

Ribeiro said that two years and $1.8 billion were required to design, test, and implement new permanent boilers, which NYCHA plans to elevate to prevent the kind of flood damage that took the old boilers out of commission.

In the meantime, the current oil-burning temporary boilers will be replaced with those that burn natural gas this spring, which Ribeiro said will be more environmentally friendly and cost residents less.

He said that this plan was contingent on funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and insurance, which NYCHA has not yet received.

Councilmember Torres suggested NYCHA was preparing for the best-case scenario, and asked what the worst case scenario would be.

Ribeiro answered that it would cost $400 million to repair and replace the boilers without making any improvements for future storms, in addition to the $200 million NYCHA already spent in its initial response to the storm.

Council members suggested that NYCHA’s plans were out of touch with the realities of the residents.

“Any thought you all put in if a baby freezes to death, if a senior freezes to death, and the fact that people could die while they’re waiting for service?” asked Brooklyn Councilmember Laurie Cumbo.

Questions and resident testimony made of the fact that at least one of the temporary boilers bore a sticker saying it couldn’t be operated below 40 degrees.

“Is that a safe and sound practice to heat developments?” asked Councilmember Treyger.

“I would say absolutely yes,” said Ribeiro. “We specifically monitor the emissions in the enclosures. We established a health and safety officer.”

He later acknowledged that NYCHA was force to work with the equipment it had, breakdowns and all. “We took every mobile boiler we could get our hands on after Sandy,” said Ribeiro.

Even after most of the media and attendees had left, the members of the Committee on Public Housing continued to listen and respond to testimonies from residents.

“I would like to note, while we are directing a lot of anger to NYCHA, we should be directing anger to the federal government and to the state government, which has contributed nothing,” said Torres, 26, a first-term council member who grew up in public housing in the Bronx.

“I encourage you to call your state representatives and ask, why are public housing residents invisible to you?”

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<h1>Two more years, $1.8 billion for new public housing boilers post-Sandy</h1>Replacing all the boilers in city public housing projects damaged by superstorm Sandy will take another two years and cost a projected $1.8 billion — money the New York City Public Housing Authority does not yet have.
In the meantime, mobile boilers are costing the authority $1 million a month.
That was the sobering news NYCHA officials shared with residents in the affected developments at a special City Council hearing held at the Carey Gardens Community Center in Coney Island on Thursday.
<div id="attachment_13485" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-13485" class="size-medium wp-image-13485" alt="The president of Carey Gardens Residents Association, Shirley Aikens, testifies to the City Council Thursday. Photo: Caroline Anderson" src="http://www.thenewyorkworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/carey-300x169.jpg" width="300" height="169" srcset="thenewyorkworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/carey-300x169.jpg 300w, thenewyorkworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/carey-352x198.jpg 352w, thenewyorkworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/carey-500x281.jpg 500w, thenewyorkworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/carey.jpg 568w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />The president of Carey Gardens Residents Association, Shirley Aikens, testifies to the City Council Thursday. Photo: Caroline Anderson</div>
Residents at Carey Gardens and other Sandy-affected developments have lived for 16 months with temporary boilers, which they say frequently malfunction, leaving residents without heat and hot water.
NYCHA officials said it would take another two years before permanent boilers could be installed.
The meeting lasted more than four hours as council members, led by the new chair of the Committee on Public Housing, Ritchie Torres, and the chair of the newly created Committee on Recovery and Resilience, Mark Treyger, grilled NYCHA and residents from Coney Island and Red Hook testified.
Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito put in an appearance, even though she is not on the committee.
Angers flared, and a couple of residents teared up while speaking about the conditions in their apartments.
“We are told not to use stoves, but we got to keep our babies warm, keep our children warm,” said Shirley Aikens, 60, the president of the Carey Gardens Residents Association and a resident.
When it’s not freezing, they said, the apartments sometimes boil. Aikens also said that on one occasion, the temperature rose to 100 degrees in her apartment.
“I complained to NYCHA. They said, ‘If we turn it down, you complain, if we turn it up, you complain.’ Yes, we are going to complain. I want hot water when I take a shower,” said Aikens, her long braids pulled back from her face.
Besides regularly breaking down, residents said, the temporary boilers caused fumes and noise, and sometimes caught fire, as in at least one case in Red Hook.
A boiler in Red Hook also suffered a <a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.documentcloud.org/documents/1031883-79lorraine.html');" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1031883-79lorraine.html">fuel spill</a>, which state records indicate can’t fully be cleaned up until the temporary boiler is removed.
Raymond Ribeiro, executive vice president for capital projects at NYCHA, insisted that the boilers were safe and functioning reasonably well. He said that it’s not uncommon for boilers to go out, but that with permanent boilers a backup system ensures service is not disrupted.
Ribeiro said that two years and $1.8 billion were required to design, test, and implement new permanent boilers, which NYCHA plans to elevate to prevent the kind of flood damage that took the old boilers out of commission.
In the meantime, the current oil-burning temporary boilers will be replaced with those that burn natural gas this spring, which Ribeiro said will be more environmentally friendly and cost residents less.
He said that this plan was contingent on funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and insurance, which NYCHA has not yet received.
Councilmember Torres suggested NYCHA was preparing for the best-case scenario, and asked what the worst case scenario would be.
Ribeiro answered that it would cost $400 million to repair and replace the boilers without making any improvements for future storms, in addition to the $200 million NYCHA already spent in its initial response to the storm.
Council members suggested that NYCHA’s plans were out of touch with the realities of the residents.
“Any thought you all put in if a baby freezes to death, if a senior freezes to death, and the fact that people could die while they’re waiting for service?” asked Brooklyn Councilmember Laurie Cumbo.
Questions and resident testimony made of the fact that at least one of the temporary boilers bore a sticker saying it couldn’t be operated below 40 degrees.
“Is that a safe and sound practice to heat developments?” asked Councilmember Treyger.
“I would say absolutely yes,” said Ribeiro. “We specifically monitor the emissions in the enclosures. We established a health and safety officer.”
He later acknowledged that NYCHA was force to work with the equipment it had, breakdowns and all. “We took every mobile boiler we could get our hands on after Sandy,” said Ribeiro.
Even after most of the media and attendees had left, the members of the Committee on Public Housing continued to listen and respond to testimonies from residents.
“I would like to note, while we are directing a lot of anger to NYCHA, we should be directing anger to the federal government and to the state government, which has contributed nothing,” said Torres, 26, a first-term council member who grew up in public housing in the Bronx.
“I encourage you to call your state representatives and ask, why are public housing residents invisible to you?”

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