Public Employee Press

Coney Island one year after Sandy
Survivors and Heroes
Public housing neglect
By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

Famous for its sideshows, funhouses and crowds of sun worshipers, Coney Island hosted a record number of visitors in 2013, a nod to the success of the city's cleanup efforts after Hurricane Sandy struck.

But April Johnson, a DC 37 member who lives in one of the five 14-story towers of Coney Island Houses, says dire conditions make living there a daily struggle in a house of horrors.

"This morning there was no water. Most days we don't have hot water, the elevators work for a week and then they're down again. I don't know what's going on. Why are the heat and lights not fixed?" said Johnson, a Local 768 member who shares a two-bedroom apartment with her daughters ages 17 and 9.

A behemoth generator, a remnant from Superstorm Sandy, still powers the seaside projects 10 months after the worst and largest hurricane in memory barreled down and nearly washed away many East Coast communities.

Surging Atlantic floodwaters corroded electric boxes and boilers in the Coney Island Houses.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the New York City Housing Authority left residents in Coney Island Houses, Red Hook and others in Flood Zone A without full power, operable elevators, toilets or heat for months. It took days for generators and portable toilets to arrive. Volunteers from Occupy Sandy and workers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, not NYCHA, reached out to help tenants.

Johnson filed complaints for repairs, including a paint job, broken windows, rodent infestation, mold and a faulty stove. With help from Attorney Admarie Llewellyn of DC 37 Municipal Employees Legal Services, a Housing Court judge cited NYCHA for two violations in the apartment.

"NYCHA has not fixed anything," Johnson said. Closet doors are broken, as are two windows. Mold grows, paint chips and a kitchen cabinet could fall any day. The stove's oven and broiler doors do not close and it lights sporadically on its own; she has not received a new one and may never since NYCHA can rightfully provide a used stove.

She sees mice and roaches in her apartment. NYCHA inspected, sent an exterminator, and removed the mold with a solution that left streaks on the bathroom walls, so Johnson repainted it herself. "I can see the mold coming back little by little and the pipes still leak under the sink," she said.

"I don't understand why it takes nine months to make repairs," said Robert Ajaye, president of Local 2627 and chair of the DC 37 Housing Committee. "DC 37 fought to get money to save jobs at NYCHA and with help from City Council monies were restored."

Complaints go to the NYCHA Centralized Complaint Center. After an inspection, tenants have to wait for actual repairs. NYCHA has a backlog of more than 369,000 repair orders according to a report issued by the Public Advocate in May (see chart at left).

Johnson said NYCHA informed her that repairs to her unit might happen in 2014. Meanwhile, NYCHA demands that tenants pay their full rent on time, but stalls on much-needed repairs and services.

"Not fixing repairs in NYCHA could lead to the building being condemned," Ajaye said. "Public housing is on valuable land, and Bloomberg is squeezing us out."

Johnson received a rent credit of $400 related to Sandy. Soon after, NYCHA raised her rent by $40 a month, though her income did not increase. NYCHA rents are income-based, and most tenants pay approximately 30 percent of their monthly wages for rent.

The appalling conditions Johnson lives with - no hot water, lights or elevators, vermin, mold and more - have not changed at all, she said.

"They cleaned up the sand and fixed the rides at Coney Island, but we still don't have a library for my daughters and me to go to," said Johnson. "They just forgot about us and only fixed the part of Coney Island that generates money."