Bronx residents fed up with lack of answers after living without cooking gas for nearly a year
NEW YORK -- An apartment building in the Bronx has been without cooking gas for nearly a year, and residents say they aren't getting any updates or answers.
They've filed nearly two dozen complaints with 311, but there's still no action from the building.
The sign on the front door at 58 Marble Hill Ave. says "gas leak." It's dated April 22, 2022.
Nine months later, residents were given hot plates.
"It's not effective," resident Bolivar Bencosme said.
"We didn't have Thanksgiving, Christmas," one resident said.
"I'm putting a lot of my budget into ordering out, you know, bugging some of my family that live in the neighborhood to see if I can use their kitchen," Bencosme said.
"I'm limited to do only, like, things that are just fast," another resident said.
Residents say even more frustrating than having no cooking gas is having no updates.
"The landlord no say," one resident said.
"We don't get no feedback. We don't get no answers," another resident said.
"If we got an answer, we understand this thing happens a lot, but we haven't really gotten an answer as to what is really going on and when we gonna get the gas back," another resident said.
CBS2 called the landlord and left several messages.
The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development issued a violation in October for failure to provide adequate gas to one apartment.
A Con Edison spokesperson told us it turned off gas in response to an emergency call last year after leaks were found on "customer piping."
After repairs were made, paperwork filed and a safety test done, service was restored to heat and hot water.
It says when "the pipes are owned by a customer, it is the customer's responsibility to fix the pipes."
The plumber told Con Ed: "Additional repairs were needed before gas service for cooking could be restored. At this time, we're still waiting for documents indicating the necessary repairs have been made by the customer's plumber."
Residents say they haven't received a break on rent. At least one resident told us he's withholding it for now.
"At this point, it's not so much the issue of the money anymore. It's just I need my gas back," Bencosme said.
HPD says it's taking steps to hold the owner accountable for addressing the issue.
