Upper West Side residents rally over lack of cooking gas, call on management to make repairs
Nearly 100 tenants from three different buildings managed by A&E Real Estate on the Upper West Side rallied on Monday over alleged inconsistent elevator access, gas outages and incomplete repairs.
Residents from 120 and 160 West 97th St., as well as 135 West 96th St., say they have been without cooking gas since before the holidays last year.
A&E provided residents with hot plates, in the meantime, as it works with Con Edison on the gas outage, but tenants say this is just the beginning of their problems.
Several people spoke of being stuck in elevators and showed CBS News New York unfinished repairs, such as a gaping hole in one resident's closet.
A spokesperson for A&E said in a statement:
"We've been diligent about steadily improving all the old systems in this building since we took ownership, renovating apartments, replacing the roof and windows, and upgrading all the common spaces. Working with the local elected officials and residents in the building, we've committed to completely replace all the building's elevators in the coming year. When something goes wrong, we fix it.
"Cooking gas outages are extremely complicated to resolve. We know how burdensome this wait is for our residents. We distributed hot plates and issued a monthly rent credit to everyone affected while repairs have been underway. We're moving this process as fast as Con Edison will allow us. We've tested 96 percent of the apartments needed and we will replace all the aging pipes causing the problem. We take residents' safety seriously and will make sure the work is done right."
A&E sources state that heat and hot water have not been affected by the recent cooking gas outage. Tenants raised additional concerns about the repair job, particularly in a hallway connecting 120 and 160 West 97th St., where there appears to be water leaking and peeling walls near the boiler room.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration recently announced a settlement with A&E Real Estate over similar allegations at 14 apartment properties in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan. This settlement did not include the complex tenants rallied at on Monday. Representatives from the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants were present at the rally and said the administration would consider all options to protect tenants and hold landlords accountable.