As chronic quality-of-life issues and vast infrastructural deficiencies continue to afflict the Pomonok Houses community, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) this week addressed residents’ concerns during a property walkthrough at the development.
Assemblyman Daniel Rosenthal was joined by the Interim CEO of NYCHA Lisa Bova-Hiatt, alongside members from the Federal Monitor’s team and Pomonok Residents Association President Tamika Williams-Moore. For more than two hours, officials discussed and surveyed a litany of challenges afflicting the 35-building, 4,200 unit residential development. Pomonok Houses was built in 1952 and has the largest concentration of individual buildings in all of Queens County.
Among the issues raised were infrastructure challenges, unsanitary conditions and a pattern of failure to address basic quality-of-life issues. Public safety concerns were also a focal point of the meeting, and centered on inoperable locks at entryways, unsecured access points to roofs and other sensitive utility areas, and dozens of extinguished exterior lights that create hotspots for illicit activity.
Rosenthal and the Pomonok Residents Association were hopeful for change by the end of the walkthrough, and NYCHA agreed to maintain a schedule of recurring meetings as progress is made on these pressing concerns.
“Far too many times we are met with unfulfilled commitments and we are hoping that something will be different this time. We understand that NYCHA lacks funding for infrastructure, but we need contingency plans to get us through to 2025 and beyond,” Williams-Moore said.
The persistent uphill battle for NYCHA to address basic quality-of-life issues facing Pomonok residents is disconcerting, Rosenthal said.
“All New Yorkers deserve to feel safe in their homes and their communities. I would like to thank the new NYCHA CEO, Lisa Bova-Hiatt, and her team for their willingness to conduct a site visit and engage in an honest, but frank conversation about the compounded challenges faced by the Pomonok community in order to look forward, collectively, and work together to improve the lives of residents,” Rosenthal said.
