After more than a year of using hot plates and convection ovens, people who live at the Palisade Towers housing complex are finally able to use a full stove again.
In August 2024, a series of leaks were found in a main gas line. Since then, work has been happening to fix things by switching over the utility from gas to electric.
"It was over $35 million, so it had to be put together piecemeal by different agencies, the city, the county, the state," says Wilson Kimball, president and CEO of the Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers.
Leaders from the housing authority, city, county and state gathered at the complex on Tuesday morning. They said things are moving in the right direction.
"I'm proud to be here today saying that we are standing nearly on the other side of an issue that has been ongoing," says Yonkers City Council president Lakisha Collins-Bellamy.
The new stoves have first been going into buildings 3 and 8. The others will follow.
Officials say families at the complex will be given a set of pots to use on the new stoves. That's thanks to an anonymous donation.
"I have to thank our residents for their participation, for their understanding and for, most importantly, for their patience through this trying time," says Collins-Bellamy.