NYCHA Waits Year To Fix AC In Bed Stuy Seniors' Cooling Center

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — The cooling center at the Brevoort Houses — where thousands of residents have waited weeks for the water to be turned back on in their homes — was stifling hot for two summers because NYCHA waited a year to fix its broken air conditioner, residents said.

The Brevoort Houses cooling station at 280 Ralph Ave. — a senior center where locals were supposed to find refuge from what can be lethally extreme heat — was equipped only with a pair of fans after the air conditioner broke almost a year ago, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams announced Friday.

“They would rather these seniors sit in heat,” Adams said. “Yet those in charge are going home and clicking on their central air… hell no.”

NYCHA fixed the ventilation system on Monday, just three days after Adams told reporters the housing authority had ignored residents' pleas and his own offer to pay the $12,000 they needed to fix the air conditioner.

And even though it took just one day for NYCHA to fix the broken ventilation system, it was not in time to prevent Charlene Taylor from passing out from the heat on the cooling center floor.

Taylor fainted on July 16 — the same day the water was turned off in almost 900 Brevoort Houses apartments — after she wandered out into the heat to look for fresh water, she said.

Taylor ended up in the Kingsbrook Emergency room with an IV in her arm because she could not find water or a cool place to sit down, she said.

"It was horrible," said Taylor. “I'm a human being, I have rights just like anyone else."

Photo courtesy of Charlene Taylor

New York's 530 cooling centers, typically located in senior centers, libraries and community centers, are supposed to provide a safe haven during extreme heat, which claims the lives of approximately 100 New Yorkers and sends about 450 people to the emergency room every year.

More Americans die from heat-related illnesses during heat waves than all other natural disasters combined, and about 80 percent of those people don't have access to air conditioning, according to the city’s health department.

But even though health officials note older people are among those most vulnerable to heat stroke, for Marie Gilmore, 64, losing the center was a question of mental health.

The lack of air conditioning meant Gilmore lost the place she went to exercise and socialize with her friends and neighbors, she said.

“When you get older and you're retired, it’s good to be around other people," Gilmore said. "I tend to get depressed every now and then.

"It's important to come here."

Header photo by Kathleen Culliton