Bloomberg tweet generates controversy among residents of public housing

Mayor Bloomberg is seeing some backlash over what was supposed to be a triumphant tweet. On Tuesday Bloomberg tweeted: “Power is now back on at all our NYCHA public housing.” According to the New York Daily News, what that tweet glossed over is the fact that 15,700 tenants in 81 New York City Housing Authority buildings across Brooklyn and Queens still lack heat or hot water, following Hurricane Sandy. And according to some residents, elevators are still not working in some buildings despite having power.

NYCHA counted that some 699 elevators were knocked out during the storm; two weeks later, one in 10 remains out of service. The final two public housing complexes to get power restored were the Red Hook Houses and the O’Dwyer Gardens in Coney Island, officials said. However, these developments remain without heat or hot water.  In both instances damaged electrical gear and boilers have contributed to the city’s delayed response to restoring the essential utilities.

After posting the tweet, the Mayor immediately received a barrage of criticism via the social networking site. One NYCHA tenant tweeted: “Now that you FINALLY got that done, when is the heat & hot water going to be back?” Another miffed and perhaps comic-booking loving tweeter wrote: “TWO WEEKS LATER POOR PEOPLE HAVE POWER. EXCUSE HULK IF HE MAD INSTEAD OF IMPRESSED.” [NYDN] —Christopher Cameron