Heat and hot water return for Harlem neighbors after reaching out to CBS New York
NEW YORK - Friday was a cozy evening for a group of Harlem neighbors whose heat and hot water have finally started to flow after more than a month.
The tenants reached out to CBS New York last week, and the city's Housing Preservation and Development department sent its own contracted crew with Approved Oil Co. to replace the boiler for the four buildings on West 118th Street. It took them a week to retrofit the boiler room and install a brand new system.
During that time, the property's owner Canaan Baptist Church parted ways with the management company in charge. Tenant association president Cleveland Manley said the experience is not what the church's late pastor Wyatt Tee Walker would have wanted when he opened the apartments decades ago.
"He fought for the people of the community and everything, and I stand on his shoulders to fight for the people," Manley said. "The tenants is frustrated, but going forward we're trying to get things done, and hopefully the new management will come in and meet with us."
The tenants have secured a lawyer who has offered to represent them for free, if other problems with the property continue.
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