Exclusive: Some East Harlem residents say mobile boiler at NYCHA houses has been covering their apartments in soot

NEW YORK — Some residents in East Harlem say their apartments are covered in a black tar-like substance due to work being done by the city.

They tell CBS2’s Lisa Rozner it’s been going on for seven years and no one from the city is helping them.

Many of the residents have lived there for more than a decade, and they say a massive mobile boiler has made their lives hell. The boiler is connected to NYCHA’s Metro North Plaza Houses.

People who live on the floors directly above it say they’re now experiencing health issues.

Every time residents on East 102nd Street hear the sound of the boiler, they know dark plumes of smoke are about to billow out.

Marilyn Morales, who lives across the street from the mobile boiler in a Section 8 building, showed Rozner how the particles wind up on her bed. After rubbing her hand across her sheets, her palm was covered in a black substance.

“This is what I’ve been breathing for seven years. This is what I’ve been dealing with,” she said.

She says she doesn’t open the windows, yet her shades are almost black, and her couch and window sills are filled with the charcoal-like substance despite her daily cleaning.

Even after washing her hands, she said they still had the residue.

“And this is on a daily basis, anything I touch,” Morales said.

It gets on her 4-year-old granddaughter’s hands, and the soles of flip-flops that Morales said had only been worn at home were covered in the black substance.

She goes through half a bottle of Murphy soap to clean the floor.

“I have two granddaughters that have been diagnosed with asthma,” Morales said.

“Sometimes it smells like gasoline,” one woman said.

“It’s toxic. It’s very toxic,” tenant Deborah Rowley said.

In Spanish, Luisa Reyes said recent x-rays from the doctor showed dark spots in her lungs. She is not a smoker.

“You’re not supposed to be concerned in your apartment about anything that’s shooting out of that stuff,” tenant Theresa Creighton said. “The coughing.”

“It’s unhealthy for the whole block. It’s unhealthy for the people who live in housing right there,” Rowley said.

“I’ve reached out to NYCHA. I’ve reached out to housing. I’ve reached out to 311. I’ve reached out to the borough president. I’ve reached out to management. I’m at my wit’s end Morales said. “They have to come to a middle ground here. You’re ruining lives while you’re trying to get them heat and hot water.”

The managers of the building across the street from the boiler sent CBS2 the following statement:

“Some years ago, a temporary external boiler, owned by NYCHA, was placed across the street from 315 East 102nd Street. Soot has been coming out of this boiler, which has affected our residents with apartments facing in that direction. We are in contact with NYCHA to ensure they safely and promptly address this issue or remove the boiler.”

NYCHA told CBS2 they are “scheduling an inspection of the unit and will take any necessary actions based on the inspection results.”

Con Edison also released the following statement:

“Con Edison installed a new gas service to the building in March. We are now waiting for the completion of certain plumbing work on gas equipment inside the building and the issuance of a Department of Buildings certification that the work has been done.”

As for why the mobile boiler has been there for seven years, NYCHA says it’s because there is a problem with equipment dating back to Hurricane Sandy, but they do expect a new boiler to be online in the next few months.