Several residents of an apartment building in Northeast D.C. have reached their boiling point after going without air conditioning for days amid the intense heat and humidity.
The thermostat inside Renee Robinson’s apartment at Paradise at Parkside read 86 degrees Tuesday. She and several others at the complex on Hayes Street NE have had no working air conditioning for 10 days.
"Here it is the 13th I still have no air. My son is 3 years old. My son has asthma," Robinson told News4. "It’s no way he should be in the house consistently with no AC."
Robinson said her AC went out on July 3. She called the Paradise at Parkside business office on July 5 after the long holiday weekend and they told her someone would come by to fix it, she said, but nobody came.
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Robinson said when she called the office again two days later, they told her there were dozens of maintenance requests ahead of her.
The complex provided box fans to her and some of her neighbors, but, with temperatures in the 90s, it doesn’t do much.
"The high for today is 95 degrees. It's already 86 degrees in my house. It’s just like, what do y’all want us to do at this point?" Robinson said.
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The apartment building's office once again promised to send someone out on Tuesday morning, but Robinson grew impatient.
She called her D.C. councilman and News4 looking for help.
"I feel like I'm just being ignored. Like, it doesn’t matter and the only way to get some type of resolution is to do this way because if it's not this, it's going to be one of us falling out and being in the hospital and then it’s a lawsuit," Robinson said.
News4 reached out to the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs and the building's management company, CTG.
A few hours later, the company emailed News4 and said it was working on nearly a half-dozen units, including Robinson's.
Below is the full statement from CTG:
"We have had an opportunity to speak with DCRA this morning. They have identified two units that have called concerning AC issues. We contacted the first unit located in the ... building referenced by DCRA. That tenant advised that she did not have an AC issue. The second unit is located in the ... building per DCRA. An AC maintenance request for that unit was received yesterday. We responded to that unit today. No one was home. We completed an inspection and determined that thermostat and filter need replacement and tenant debris blocking some of the vents in the unit needed to be cleared for proper air flow. That work is being done. As to the .. building, we identified a unit in this building that placed an AC service request. That unit is being serviced now. A fan motor and run capacitor being replaced. As of the time of this email, we just received a follow-up call from DCRA who provided info on 3 other units with possible AC problems. We are inspecting those units and will make any necessary repairs."
