Woman Goes Straight To Mayor For Answers About Ceiling Collapse In Public Housing Apartment
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A few days ago, a ceiling collapsed on top of a couple while they were bed in a Brooklyn public housing apartment.
On Tuesday, a woman who lives in the apartment and is fed up with the problem - and the supposed solution - took her anger and frustration right to the mayor, demanding answers.
CBS2's Hazel Sanchez reported Tuesday on what was being done to help.
When Tricia Jeter could not get answers from the New York City Housing Authority about how it allowed the ceilings in her apartment to collapse, she decided to go ask Mayor Bill de Blasio in person.
She showed up at a news conference regarding senior housing, and the mayor's staff invited her to speak to him in private.
"I'm kind of thankful that I got an opportunity to meet with him and let him know exactly what my family and I have been going through since 2017," Jeter said.
The Jeters live in a fifth floor apartment in the Weeksville Gardens public housing complex in Crown Heights. The ceiling in one of the bedrooms gave way around 2 a.m. Sunday, showering chunks of plaster and insulation onto a young couple as they laid in bed. Fortunately, they weren't seriously injured.
It was the third ceiling collapse in the apartment in 11 months. The Jeters said their home is unsafe and unlivable.
NYCHA temporarily transferred the family to another public housing development with no furniture.
"They're displaced and living on the floor while the homeless are being put up in hotels. Some may argue that that certainly doesn't sound fair for hard-working families," Sanchez said to de Blasio at the event.
"We certainly want people to be in a decent situation," de Blasio replied. "Obviously, we will follow up on this case and make sure that they're put someplace else that's appropriate or give them the help they need."
The Administration for Children's Services brought beds for the family Tuesday afternoon.
Jeter said the mayor promised to find her family new housing and his office will look into how NYCHA failed them and possibly other tenants.
"If we ever have a situation where a manager is not properly supervising and making sure their employees are doing quality repairs, that manager is probably not going to be there much longer," de Blasio said.
The Jeters said they are hopeful they will feel and be safer in the new apartment the mayor promised to find for them. But they said his words will mean nothing if the city allows what happened to them to happen to someone else.
