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Low-income residents of the rooming house on 73 Whitney Ave. were expecting a reprieve from the cold when the superintendent turned on the building’s furnace on Thursday. What they got instead was a basement full of black smoke and deadly levels of carbon monoxide.
The incident was not the only recent trouble at the building, which houses residents on a night-by-night basis. It lost its license to operate as a rooming house on Aug. 12 after officials from the Livable City Initiative and the police department refused to renew it, citing a number of violations of the city’s housing code. According to LCI officials, owner Tony Mihalakos failed to fix the problems revealed by an annual inspection. More than two months later, the tenants were still living in the building when the property manager turned on the furnace —” two weeks after tenants say the heat was supposed to come on.
When he did turn on the furnace, it malfunctioned, fire marshal Joe Cappucci explained.
“It was pumping black smoke into the basement when we got here,” he said. He added that one of 73 Whitney’s residents was hospitalized with nausea, dizziness and vomiting, possible symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning.
It could have been much worse. Resident John Thompson said that he and others were awake when the malfunction happened and were able to call for help. “Carbon monoxide rose up into the whole first and second floor, we saw smoke everywhere,” he said.
Cappucci said carbon monoxide levels were dangerously high everywhere in the building, ranging from 900 parts per million in the basement to 100 ppm on the top floor. Even that lowest concentration, he said, was deadly.
“Prolonged exposure can kill you,” Cappucci elaborated. “Your carbon monoxide meter at home is set to go off as soon as it hits 9 parts per million.”
Firemen at the scene moved quickly to air out the building, opening doors and setting up fans. But they couldn’t let the residents spend the night. Rafael Ramos of the Livable City Initiative explained that, as in situations where fires render buildings temporarily uninhabitable, the fire department had called in the Red Cross to provide housing and food for the residents.
“You Will Not Be On The Streets”
As the police split them up in groups of four to collect their essential belongings, Ramos tried to reassure the residents that they would not be stuck out in the cold after the Red Cross stopped paying for their rooms at the Econo Lodge.
“After the first few days, LCI and the property owners will make sure you have a place to go,” he told them. “You will not be on the streets.”
But Ramos acknowledged that the residents might not be able to come back to 73 Whitney. The building, on prime downtown real estate by the Audubon arts district, is expected to be renovated and turned into condominiums by a new owner.
“We’re going to give them [the tenants] their condemnation letters,” Ramos explained. “The letters will tell them that they may be eligible for relocation money.” He said their alternatives might be an improvement, citing a number of other buildings with 24-hour security and counselors who can refer residents to a variety of city programs. Some of 73 Whitney’s current residents, however, might be unable to meet the income requirements or follow the substance use policies that would allow them to move into available units.
Mihalakos, who also owns nearby Clark’s Dairy Restaurant, would not comment on the case. His attorney could not be reached for comment. Ramos said on Monday that Mihalakos told inspectors that he’d made the necessary repairs to the furnace’s back wall on Friday, but when they checked, the deteriorated parts were still in the same dangerous condition.
“The stack is full of soot,” Ramos said. “He doesn’t like to spend money — “he could have killed everyone in that house.”
Monday, the door was boarded up, and an “unfit for human habitation” sign from the LCI was plastered on the front. The residents are staying at the Econo Lodge for now, but exactly where they’ll end up next remains in question.
At least for Ramos, even an uncertain future is better than the current condition of 73 Whitney.
“We want something more for the residents,” Ramos said. “We want something a little better.”