Line break leaves 500 National City tenants without gas service — for 3 months

Hundreds of residents of the Park Apartments in National City have been without gas service for three months after construction crews broke a main line, cutting off gas-powered heat and water.

The break occurred on Sept. 5 at the site where crews are constructing Union Towers, according to an email from the complex’s management obtained by inewsource. The project will have 94 affordable housing units in two buildings. 

But while the line was repaired, gas service has not started again because lateral gas lines feeding the complex could not pass necessary pressure tests, said Stefanie Tellez, public information officer for the city.

That failure indicated a leak or leaks in the system, requiring additional repairs. Those are expected to be completed by Dec. 19, she said.

Meanwhile, residents had only cold water for more than a month. Laundry service in the buildings was also shut down, according to the email. 

In all, 184 units with 529 residents have been affected by the line break. 

Tellez said that the complex’s management supplied residents with electric hot plates for cooking, space heaters and temporary electric water heaters. 

Because of the break tenants were not required to pay rent for October and November. But on Oct. 23 management sent another email informing residents that because hot water service was “fully restored” on Oct. 13, tenants would begin paying 75% of the rent this month.

During the public comment portion of the City Council meeting, one tenant complained about the disruption in gas service. Alejandra Diaz said that while water heaters were deployed they were inadequate. 

“It’s not hot water, unfortunately,” she told the council.

The shutoff also impacted the Thanksgiving holiday. Unable to use her oven, she said she had to cook her holiday meal at her sister-in-law’s home.

She asked for the city to investigate the ownership of the complex “because we feel it is an injustice that here they are wanting to charge us for rent, for them just giving us the bare minimum. We expect to experience this again during Christmas, perhaps New Year, for which we think it is not fair.”

The Park Apartments is a sprawling, 450-unit complex for low and moderate income residents at 24th Street and D Avenue in the heart of National City. It was built in the late 1960s by the influential labor union San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council.

Earlier this year an inewsource investigation detailed how millions of dollars in rent, laundry and other revenue generated from the tenants is funneled into political action committees controlled by the union.

Those committees then fund political causes favored by the unions, from city council and school board campaigns to ballot measures and propositions. 

Management of the apartment complex did not respond to requests for comment.