Residents Of Upper West Side Apartment Complex Without Gas For Days
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Consolidated Edison has shut off gas at a high-rise apartment complex on the Upper West Side.
The 671 units at 1 Lincoln Plaza have been without gas for four days and counting.
"It's really bad, we don't have gas in this building, we can't cook we can't do anything," said a resident named Melanie.
"This sort of thing is absolutely very horrific for the people in the area, but yet at the same time it's a safety problem and I think that we have to address that with Con Edison so all of us have to be very patient about it," said resident Frank Figarella.
According to building management, gas was abruptly shut off Monday morning when Con Ed noticed two small gas leaks in the meter room during a routine inspection, CBS2's Meg Baker reported. Gas was turned off to the entire 47-floor tower as a precautionary measure after the East Village explosion in March.
Five restaurants in the building had to scramble to make due with hot plates.
"Little bit of a scramble, we got a strong team here so we got everything together and the whole team is ready to go," said Travis Se, the head chef at Épicerie Boulud.
All but one restaurant had working gas as of Thursday morning. Cafe Fiorello is still using hot plates, Baker reported, they expect to have gas back by Friday night or Saturday morning. The restaurant is open with minimal changes to the menu.
As for residents, management said a team of five is in the building conducting integrity tests on each section of the building. Con Ed then has to come back to do a final check up.
Residents have hot water. The affected gas lines are those used for cooking and dryers.
