ASTORIA – New York City Council Member Costa Constantinides issued the following statement on October 13 about the ongoing gas outages at a building within the NYCHA Astoria Houses development. Some residents have been without the ability to cook since September 23rd, amid a pandemic that has seen food shortages at the public housing complex:

“I am deeply infuriated that Astoria Houses residents have gone nearly three weeks without cooking gas. In normal times, Astoria Houses seniors struggled to access quality, warm food — relying on a cramped senior center the City tried to close as the source of their one hot meal each day. Now, in the throes of a global pandemic, when more people are working from home and forced to cook meal after meal for their families, they are left without their stoves. This is shameful on its own. What’s downright unacceptable is that we’ve been told it might take as long as 78 days from the outage to get power restored. Astoria Houses residents deserve better. They are retirees, veterans, and civil servants. My office is working with all agencies involved to make sure power is restored immediately. In the meantime, NYCHA must do everything in its power to deliver hot plates, food, and other resources to these impacted residents.”

Council Member Costa Constantinides represents the New York City Council’s 22nd District, which includes his native Astoria along with parts of Woodside, East Elmhurst, and Jackson Heights. He serves as the chair of the City Council’s Environmental Protection Committee and sits on three additional committees: Sanitation, Resiliency, and Technology. For more information, visit council.nyc.gov/costa.