Community Environmental Center and other agencies receive $12.9 million from DHCR for affordable housing weatherization

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

Richard Cherry, president of Community Environmental Center

Long Island City, NY (July 23, 2010) — Community Environmental Center (CEC), the Queens-based non-profit organization dedicated to energy efficiency and green building, along with Sunset Park Redevelopment Corporation and the Opportunity Development Association (ODA), have been awarded $12.9 million by the New York State Division of Housing and Urban Renewal (DHCR) to bring energy efficient retrofits to Lindsay Park, the 2700-unit affordable housing complex in Brooklyn, announced Richard M. Cherry, CEC’s president.

The award — one of the largest in DHCR’s history — comes through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. CEC is coordinating the weatherization, which will begin in Fall 2010.

CEC’s Cherry joined New York State Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez and DHCR Commissioner Brian Lawlor on stage at P.S. 250 on the evening of July 20, to speak with Lindsay Park residents and address any concerns. Tenants will receive new windows, energy-efficient light fixtures, energy efficient refrigerators, and new smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Rooms will be tested for the presence of carbon dioxide, and basement pipes will be insulated.

“These retrofits,” Cherry told the appreciative crowd, “will save you over $2,000,000 a year, which otherwise would be coming out of your pockets for energy bills.”

“The windows,” he said, “are double-paned, with insulation between the panes, so you will be less subject to cold and heat. They will also lessen noise from the outside. You will feel as though a blanket surrounds your apartment.”

Refrigerators, Cherry explained, will only be replaced if they predate 1993 or are inefficient. “This is not a replacement program,” he advised, “but an energy efficiency program.”

NY State Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez

Assemblyman Lopez, who has represented Brooklyn’s 53^rd District since 1984 and helped work out the arrangements for the State grant, assured the Lindsay Park tenants, to great applause, that “no one’s rent is going up.” The Lindsay Park Housing Corporation will contribute an additional $500,000 toward the cost of the weatherization.

Windows were particularly on the minds of most of the tenants who lined up in an aisle of the auditorium to ask questions. Manufactured by Crystal Windows, the new, aluminum windows will be fitted to the frames in the apartments, will accommodate air conditioners and will tilt into rooms for easy cleaning.

Others on stage at the town meeting included DHCR Assistant Commissioner Daniel Buyer; DHCR Regional Supervisor Pauline Morgan; Gary Brown, Director of Sunset Park Redevelopment Corporation; Jay Silverberg, managing agent for the Lindsay Park Housing Corporation; and Lindsay Park’s board of directors.

Representatives of A.S.K. Construction, which will be installing the windows, and Riverdale Electric, which will be installing the lighting, were also on hand to answer questions.

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CONTACT: Alexis Greene, Community Environmental Center, 718-784-1444, ext. 156; agreene@cecenter.org

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