By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
LOWER EAST SIDE — After a power failure left hundreds of Lower East Side apartments without electricity Monday, residents of public housing complexes in the area will meet with representatives from the city Housing Authority Wednesday to discuss gas outages at multiple buildings.
A building in the Alfred E. Smith Houses, where the power outage occurred on Monday, has been without gas since January, while the Two Bridges complex has been without gas since March, said a spokesperson for State Sen. Daniel Squadron, who helped organize the meeting.
Gas outages have also been reported in the Baruch Houses, affecting a total of 54 apartments across the three complexes, a Con Edison spokesperson said.
Con Edison provides the buildings with gas, but the outages came as a result of "internal work" by the Housing Authority, a department spokesperson said.
“I’ve had tenants eating in restaurants for four months,” Aixa Torres, president of the Smith Houses tenants’ association, told DNAinfo Monday.
She explained that the Housing Authority provided residents of her complex with hot plates to make up for the lack of working stoves and ovens.
“It was a joke — an absolute joke,” Torres added.
Representatives from the Housing Authority and the Department of Buildings plan to discuss procedures, updates and a repair timeline with residents of the three developments.
The meeting will take place on Wed., May 5, at 6 p.m., at 15 St. James Pl. in the Smith Houses tenants’ association room.
