By ANGELA MARSHALL
Just as Bob Cratchet was turned down when he asked Scrooge for more coal in Charles Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol," the residents of a local apartment building say they were turned down when they asked for heat on Christmas Day. According to one resident of 46 North Village Avenue, when she asked her superintendent to fix the heat, she was told to go boil some water.
"He was very, very rude to me," said Jenny Cepero, who lives in the apartment with her husband and daughter.
All through the day, tenants said, they waited for the heat to come on, but it never did, and as night fell, they did what they felt they had to do -- they called the police.
Officers responding found the temperature at the apartments to be 52 degrees, much colder than the minimum of 65 allowed by law after 11 p.m. Between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m., apartments must be at least 68 degrees.
It was not the first time residents of the Village Avenue apartments, which include those at 42 North Village Avenue, have had to seek outside assistance. Rockville Centre Building Department workers are all too familiar with the landlords, John Boumakis and John Lapsadis. And they are quickly becoming acquainted with the building's new superintendent, Theodore Gonzalez, who was given a ticket by police for failure to supply heat and is scheduled to appear in Village Court on Feb. 6.
Thomas Bunting, building inspector, said the Village has been receiving complaints from tenants and issuing tickets to the apartments' owners for years. Eighteen tickets were given to each co-owner last week. Offenses ranged from lack of heat and hot water to blocked fire escapes, broken windows and frayed wires.
Steve DeClue, building-department superintendent, said complaints had come in about other apartments during the past year, but that incidents were isolated.
Attempts at speaking with either owner or the superintendent of the Village Apartments were unsuccessful.
"Every winter we have to go through the same thing," said tenant Cepero, who said she has been fighting for proper treatment since 1986. More than once, the tenants have taken the owners to court. "We are not asking for luxury," she said.
