STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Utilities like hot water are taken for granted by most Staten Islanders, but residents of the Park Hill Apartments in Clifton say their basic needs aren’t always met.
Sonia Bishop, who’s lived in the Park Hill Apartments for more than a decade, told the Staten Island Advance/SILive.com that some residents spent the bulk of last week without hot water, with management taking more than 24 hours to alert residents of the issue.
“On Monday morning, me and some of the other tenants noticed that there was no hot water and there were no signs up or nothing,” Bishop said. “So Tuesday morning we checked again and still no hot water. Then later in the day they finally put a sign up.”
Residents said that the lack of hot water is a common occurrence at the Park Hill Apartments, leaving them to wonder each day whether all water will run cold.
“It goes on and off, on and off. You can have hot water for a couple of months and then the next thing you know, no hot water. It’s a frequent thing,” said resident Chantell Singletary.
In those instances, Singletary will travel to the house of a family member or friend just to take a hot shower in the morning.
In addition to the hot water issues, residents said the heat still has not been turned on in their apartment units, prompting some to use boiling pots of water as an alternate heat source.
New York City law requires that from October through May, between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., landlords must ensure that apartment temperatures don’t drop below 68 degrees when outside temperatures fall below 55 degrees. From 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., landlords must ensure inside temperatures of at least 62 degrees, regardless of the outside temperature.
Michael Shah, CEO of DelShah Capital, the company that owns the Park Hill Apartments, told the Advance/SILive.com that the lack of hot water was due to a boiler issue that was resolved on Saturday, Oct. 14.
Shah did not comment on the lack of heat or provide an estimated…
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