Jul 23, 2006 11:59 pm US/Eastern
Queens Residents Angry? That's An Understatement
Heat Just One Thing Pushing People To Boiling Point
By Claire Leka
ASTORIA (CBS) ―
James Molfese is no longer calling his apartment in Queens home sweet home. He said it's unbearable.
No lights. No refrigerator. No air conditioning. All he has is a battery-powered lantern.
"There's no electric for seven days," Molfese said. "No hot water in building. Con Ed is doing nothing about it."
Here in Astoria on 37th Street most of the residents on the block are still without power. They've been without power for seven days now.
Jerome Derese said they haven't seen a Con Ed truck on their block since Wednesday and when they call the power company to find out what's going on, they don't get any answers.
"What can we do?" Derese lamented. "What can we do?"
The whole block is fed up. Many residents said they feel like their street in Astoria has fallen through the cracks. If you walk up one block to 30th Avenue near Steinway there are a handful of businesses and apartments there that have had power restored in the last 24 hours.
"I'm very upset," said Astoria's Fotios Velis. "It's like an oven in the apartments. I can't believe it."
And as the blackout drags on with no end in sight, Velis is running out of patience and doesn't know what he'll do if his apartment and his block remains dark into this week.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
