Lights out for 46th Street tenants
Tenants of three Sunset Park buildings held an emergency rent strike rally in front of Assemblymember Felix Ortizs office on July 9, after living for years with spotty electricity, heat and hot water.
In the summer, the lights go off every 20 minutes or so. In the winter, there is no heat or hot water, said Sara Lopez, head of the tenants association of the three attached buildings at 454, 553 and 557 46th Street. There are lots of children living here and people who are sick. In the winter, we have to use space heaters, so at nighttime, it can be dangerous.
When fire marshals were called to the building a few weeks ago after a power outage which residents say happens multiple times a day they found a small plastic fan cooling off the fuse box.