LOWER EAST SIDE — After being out for two weeks, the gas at some apartments at Alfred E. Smith Houses on Lower East Side has been repaired just in time to cook their Thanksgiving turkeys.
Sixteen families living in the Alfred E. Smith Houses were without gas since Nov. 9 prompting a fundraising drive to supply them with a traditional holiday meal. After pressure from local politicians and the residents' association gas was restored late Tuesday night.
This isn't the first time the gas has gone out at the 12-building New York City Housing Authority-owned complex, which sits in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge. Over the Easter holiday in April, residents also had to go without.
"Instead of sorry we don’t have gas, it will be a celebration that we have gas," said Aixa Torres, the president of the residents' association. After receiving donations of turkeys, groceries and money, Torres decided to go ahead with the feast.
"They don’t really have time to go out and prepare food,” she said. “And I have already started cooking."
Elected officials gave out of their own pocket, according to Torres, and a Fairway Market in Brooklyn donated over $700 worth of groceries.
Even with the gas working at Smith Houses, Torres wonders when it will happen again. This is the fourth time in two years that some residents have been without gas.
“This gas outages are going to continue to happen until these gas lines are all replaced,” she said.
In a statement NYCHA said it was glad to restore gas before Thanksgiving, but could not guarantee it wouldn't happen again.
“We don't have funding at this time to replace the gas distribution system for the remaining 10 buildings at Smith Houses,” NYCHA said in a statement to DNAinfo. The buildings in the complex are between 40 and 70 years old.
According to NYCHA, it is responsible for repairing the gas lines, but requires a permit from the Department of Buildings before starting work. Con Edison, the utility that supplies gas and electricity to Manhattan, must then approve the repairs before turning the gas on again.
Numerous elected officials also welcomed the completed repairs.
"We are very thankful that Smith Houses residents will be able to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday with home-cooked meals, instead of hunched over a hot plate,” read a statement from politicians including Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and City Councilwoman Margaret Chin.
NYCHA issued residents hot plates to cook on during the outage. When the gas went out they wrote to NYCHA chairman John Rhea labeling the repetitive outages “unacceptable” and the hot plates as “unsafe.”
The elected officials also urged the agency to reduce the “number and duration of any future outages.”
As for Torres she is preparing for a busy Thursday with at least 50 people attending the feast.
“It turned out really be a really beautiful thing” she said. “I am really very, very grateful.”
