Yonkers officials, Stew Leonard’s supermarket and others distributed food and other supplies Friday to residents of Palisade Towers public housing, where gas service to the more than 400-unit complex has been shut off for safety after pipe leaks and corrosion were found this week.
Pizzerias were slated to deliver pies later on Friday.
This week, residents at the eight-building complex in the Walsh Road-Schroeder Street area reported a suspected gas leak, after which the housing authority and Consolidated Edison responded and repaired it, said Wilson Kimball, president and chief executive of the Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers. However, pipe corrosion was found and the situation was a "bigger problem than we had anticipated," according to Kimball.
Con Edison had received a call about possible leaks, confirmed there was one and also found other leaks and corrosion on a pipe, and shut off the gas for safety reasons, said Allan Drury, Con Edison spokesperson.
City officials and local business owners have been working to meet needs for residents, including gathering food and delivering microwaves ovens.
It was not immediately known how long the system, which supplies residents with heat for cooking and taking showers, would be down.
In the meantime, temporary, mobile boilers have been brought in to provide hot water for showers. Kimball said that water was on at building No. 6, and buildings No. 7 and No. 8 were expected to have water. According to Kimball, buildings No. 1 through No. 5 would have water by end of day Friday.
The city is trying to work toward solutions at Yonkers Palisade Towers
Kimball said officials have sought, through multiple grant applications long before this week's pipe corrosion discovery, to change the building's gas systems to electrical as a long-term solution.
"That is something that we've wanted to do," Kimball said, "We've talked to Governor Hochul and [the state Homes and Community Renewal] office about going electric" as well as to the county government.
Kimball said city and housing officials are working with Con Edison to determine an interim solution.
A long-term solution is projected to cost millions of dollars.
Mayor Mike Spano said, i n a video on the city Facebook page Thursday , the buildings "have been here for almost 100 years" and that "infrastructure is always a challenge.”
What's being done for short-term relief at Palisade Towers
Stew Leonard, owner of the Stew Leonard’s supermarkets, said Spano called him and asked if he could lend a hand.
“And somehow, we put together 385 bags of food, OK, in like, presto, within like 12 hours, thanks to a lot of our great team members at Stew Leonard's — they all volunteered their time, they jumped on it,” Leonard said.
Here's what else is happening in the meantime at Palisade, according to Kimball:
- Temporary boilers have been brought in to provide hot water for showers.
- Kimball, Spano, Stew Leonard — head of Stew Leonard's supermarkets, which has a Yonkers location — and the city council president were expected at 10 a.m. on Friday to be part of handing out food to buildings' residents.
- Two pizzerias are expected to bring pies Friday.
- St. Joseph's Hospital has donated $10,000 for food.
- About 100 microwave ovens and close to 400 hot plates were expected to be delivered Friday from P.C. Richard & Son, Kimball said.
- Some 200 food gift cards were being distributed.
- Yonkers' Office of Aging delivered some 260 meals, Kimball said, adding that more money will be made available for hot meals.
- Spano said Thursday that a community room in building #5 of the complex would be open all night with tables set up.
City Council President Lakisha Collins Bellamy has organized a donation drive, a housing authority news release said. The Police Benevolent Association and other community groups and businesses are also donating as well, and "other emergency measures are being taken to assist until restoration."
Spano, in Thursday's Facebook video , asked pizzerias, restaurants and deli owners that could make food available to do so, asking businesses to provide "whatever it is you have... so that the residents here at least for the next two or three days will have some food available to them — you know what, that would be a big help."
Residents at Palisade Towers had their own takes on the situation Friday.
"It's not good for the children," said Serena Christopher, who has lived at Palisade for close to 3 years. Christopher said the timing of the shut-off was especially inconvenient as it coincided with the start of the school year. "(Children) have to take a cold shower... we have no gas, anything like that."
Christopher said she was considering moving out of Palisade because it just wasn't safe.
"If a kid turns on something, and the gas is leaking," Christopher said, implying that an accident could occur, "It's not a good look. I'm nervous and I'm scared to use what they're giving us because I don't want my kids to get hurt."
For 15-year resident Candace Hickman "everything's cool." Hickman emphasized that officials were doing what they could to provide services and get things fixed.
"They're doing a wonderful job, that's all I can say," Hickman said. "You gotta deal, it just happened the day before yesterday. We still got TV, electricity, they should have shut everything off. We have to cook for our families, but... at the end of the day, they're doing their job. I have no complaints."
Lohud's Mark Vergari contributed reporting for this story.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Yonkers working to provide relief for hundreds impacted by gas shut-off at Palisade Towers
Most Popular
Comments / 0