Sunday, January 10, 2010

New website tracks heat complaints

From the Daily News:

A new Web site gives a platform to enraged New Yorkers who live in buildings without heat or hot water.

The site, www.heatwatchnyc.org, allows chilly tenants to vent their frustrations online on a forum that its creator hopes will shame absentee landlords into fixing the problems.

Penny Fearon, a Brooklyn mom, hatched the idea three years ago when she was forced to endure a brutal winter in a heat and hot water-deprived building.

"I promised myself and my neighbors that I would do something about it," said Fearon, 49, who got help launching the site from a tech-savvy neighbor, Michael Brown.

Launched in October, the site has already drawn considerable attention. It features a map of the city littered with icons denoting buildings where problems were reported. When users click on the icons, messages written by frustrated tenants pop up.

Fearon said the site is not intended to be used as a replacement for the city's system for solving heat-related problems. The city advises residents without heat or hot water to contact 311, which will then forward the complaints to the Department of Housing, Preservation and Development.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

there already is a system in place
call 311 and the city will take your landlord to court, you don't have to go.