NEW YORK—With $10 billion in recovery money and thousands of Sandy evacuees still not home, the New York City Council has a new committee to keep an eye on things. The Committee on Recovery and Redevelopment, which has yet to hold its first hearing, will look at issues ranging from Build it Back to protecting coastal communities.
“We’re going into a lot of different issues,” said committee chair Mark Treyger on Monday. Treyger said the first issue they plan to tackle is failing boilers around the city that are leaving entire buildings without heat during extreme cold spells.
Treyger said during his first week on the job as a new Brooklyn council member, a boiler built only to function down to 40 degrees went out of commission during a cold spell at the O’Dwyer Gardens housing project in Coney Island. He said it’s not the first time it has happened.
“This is a problem that’s not just in my district,” said Treyger of failing boilers, and added that he’s heard of similar problems in Red Hook at the Rockaways.
Treyger and Council Member Ritchie Torres, who chairs the Committee on Public Housing, plan to hold a joint hearing on the issue soon. A date has not been set yet.
Treyger’s district includes the neighborhoods of Bensonhurst, Coney Island, Gravesend and Sea Gate. Some of them were very hard hit by Superstorm Sandy.
