This is very uncool.
New York City’s elected officials and community boards couldn’t be bothered with helping residents cope with the stifling weekend heat wave — despite a direct appeal from Mayor Eric Adams’ administration.
The city Office of Emergency Management sent a request to 225 elected officials and staffers — including members of the City Council, state Senate and Assembly, Comptroller Brad Lander, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and the House of Representatives — to volunteer their offices as cooling centers over the short but sweltering stretch.
Not one of the pols or workers offered to open their office’s doors over the sizzling weekend, when temperatures hit well in the 90s, city officials said.
Only six elected officials bothered to respond at all to the request — and even then, it was only to say they would allow their office to be used as a mini-cooling center on weekdays.
The half-dozen pols who responded were state Sen. Leroy Comrie and council members Nantasha Williams and Selvena Brooks-Powers of Queens, Councilwoman Ana Sanchez of The Bronx and state Assemblyman Michael Novakhov and Councilwoman Alexa Aviles of Brooklyn.
City Hall said it was obviously disappointed by the lack of help.
“We are doing everything in our power to help New Yorkers beat the heat, including opening cooling centers across the five boroughs. But we cannot do this alone,” a mayoral rep told The Post on Monday.
The OEM had insisted in its letter, “All that is needed to participate is a working air-conditioner and 1-3 chairs.
“As the heat wave continues into the weekend, we ask elected officials to join the City’s Cooling Center Program, an important resource designed to keep New Yorkers safe during extreme heat days,” it said.
“We’re always looking for more to join, particularly on weekends (when fewer of our existing partners are able to operate) and in neighborhoods where there is high heat vulnerability due to elevated surface temperatures and lack of air-conditioned living spaces.
“With this in mind, we’re seeking opportunities to engage new partners – such as the offices of elected officials and community boards like yours – that already have trusted and respected roles in the city’s diverse communities,” OEM said. “We’d like to partner with you to expand the Cooling Centers network and give New Yorkers access to more cool spaces where they can cool down when the program is activated during extreme heat days.”
Comptroller Lander, who issued a critical report in 2022 on the availability of the city’s cooling centers, complained last week that many of the Big Apple’s 500 such sites were closed during the Juneteenth holiday Wednesday.
“If you’re telling people to get to a cooling center, then the cooling centers have to be open,” Lander admonished last week.
A rep for Landers was asked by The Post why the comptroller’s office was not a makeshift cooling center and responded that a “mayoral agency” — the city Department of Citywide Administrative Services — “controls entry, hours of operation, and access to the public spaces of the Municipal Building.” Landers’ office is in the David Dinkins Municipal Building at 1 Centre Street.
Sen. Comrie, whose office is located on Farmers Boulevard in St. Albans, Queens, said he has not hesitated in using it as a cooling center, although only during office hours on weekdays. He said that over the weekend, he was giving out rain barrels to help constituents with flooding problems.
“We got a request to participate, and we signed up — we’ve been a cooling center for awhile,” Comrie said.
He said it was important to have a resting spot for elderly residents in his district during extreme heat.
A staffer for Assemblyman Novakhov said the office participated during the weekdays but not on Saturday or Sunday.
