PACC Catches Heat for Lack Thereof at 277 Gates Avenue

Article by Brownstoner.com

March 17, 2009
PACC Catches Heat for Lack Thereof at 277 Gates Avenue
In the last two decades, the Pratt Area Community Council (PACC) has developed over 600 units of affordable housing in more than 60 buildings around the borough of Brooklyn, building a good reputation in the process. Now, however, a group of tenants at 277 Gates Avenue, one of the group's hallmark projects, is calling foul over persistent heating problems and other quality of life issues. A Daily News article earlier this month detailed claims of the tenants association that the building has been without heat for days at a time this winter, as it has in past winters. "[The boiler] never really ran the way it was supposed to," concedes PACC's property manager Stephanie Blue in the article. We contacted PACC's head Deb Howard who told us that PACC is in the process of getting the NYC Housing Development Corporation to approve the replacement of the boiler, a move that's necessary because it requires dipping into reserves held in escrow at HDC; HDC's engineers are scheduled to do a site visit today. In a recent blog post, the president of the tenants association also cites problems with sex workers using the bathroom in the laundry room, a charge that Howard says PACC addressed last year when the problem was first raised by installing a new lock on the laundry room door and telling tenants to call the police if they saw anything suspicious. "We are a member of the FTAP program and have agreed to prosecute any illegal activity occurring on the premises, if the police make an arrest ," says Howard.