Hundreds of public-housing residents have endured bitterly cold days and nights with inadequate heating since the agency installed the new systems last year. Even without the review, the systems won't be fixed until after winter.
Many tenants also complain of gas bills that far exceed the stipend they receive for utilities.
Wallace Cole, the city's senior mechanical inspector, said he is requiring an engineer to make sure that the systems get fixed correctly, without creating additional problems. I think they need an engineer to make sure that we don't have the same problems in July with the air-conditioning that we've had with the heating system. After conducting tests, the authority determined that the heating problems were caused by poor air distribution, not the small size of the units. The housing authority's board had planned to consider contracts yesterday to redo the duct work and install dampers in 612 apartments in Happy Hill Gardens, Cleveland Avenue Homes and Piedmont Park. The authority also wants to add insulation and enclose ducts that were left exposed.