Residents of an Alphabet City apartment complex say they haven’t showered in nearly two months after Legionnaires’ disease-causing bacteria turned up in their water system, and they want to know why their mayor seems to have forgotten about them. Tenants at Haven Plaza, a 371-unit development on Avenue C, rallied Thursday alongside local lawmakers to blast what they called a confused and sluggish response from both city health officials and building management. Two residents fell ill with Legionnaires’ disease — one in May 2025 and another this past May — before a positive test for Legionella bacteria in June set off a chain of events that left tenants navigating contradictory guidance about whether it was safe to bathe at all.
Kathy Nataadiningrat, who has lived in the complex for 42 years, said residents feel invisible while Mayor Zohran Mamdani focuses his attention elsewhere. She pointed to his recent call to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his botched rollout of a list of luxury second homes that might face a new pied-à-terre tax, and even a splashy double-decker bus tour of three new housing complexes — all while Haven Plaza tenants were told variously to boil water before bathing, take baths with hoses, or avoid showering altogether. “Everything is uptown, not us little people down here,” Nataadiningrat said. Dana Cruz, the tenants’ association president, said management has refused requests for mobile showers, rent relief, and drinking water, leaving residents in the dark about the remediation plan. A copy of a health department plan obtained by one resident shows plumbing work only began Tuesday and calls for periodic water shutoffs over a 30-day treatment period.
The frustration at Haven Plaza comes as Mamdani faces broader scrutiny over his administration’s handling of a separate Legionnaires’ outbreak on the Upper East Side that killed seven people. City Council Speaker Julie Menin has scheduled an oversight hearing and proposed legislation requiring the city to proactively identify cooling towers that building owners failed to test for Legionella and automatically disinfect them. At Thursday’s rally, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, and Councilman Harvey Epstein all pressed the health department to move faster. Catholic Homes and Wavecrest Management said in a joint statement that the city approved their remediation plan, which includes a full water treatment and disinfection effort. City Hall and the health department did not return requests for comment.