What heatwaves meant to different new yorkers

Joseph Slade has worked for decades as an OMA mechanic for a major energy company. He’s 69 years old, born and raised in Bedford--Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.  He/him, African-American.

For Joe, making it through the heat is all about balance. For his own energy, and the energy he helps provide to the people of New York.

When I went to chat to Joe, he was on his way in from 149th Street, where he’d spent the past weeks working long days out in the heat. He explained, that’s what you have to do when it’s hot like this. Work, back to AC, work, back to AC. He said, it’s all about balance. We went up to his apartment where he goes to cool off.

Joe adjusts by taking breaks, staying hydrated, and lessening his workload

“​​You don't want to over-exert yourself for some fancy guy.” Joe said, sitting down now. “But sometimes, you’ve got to work hard.”

Joe is an OMA mechanic for a major energy company that provides electricity, gas, and steam to New York City. He maintains pumps, turbines, and water for the city, working with the city's power grid. Balance means budgeting not only his own energy, but the energy shared between New Yorkers.

“When it's super hot, that’s when we have a lot of problems.” Joe explained. 

For example, when people open fire hydrants to stay cool, the water pressure goes down. 

“That makes it harder for us to run the system,” he continued. “Because when everybody’s got a fire hydrant open, it’s like a coffee pot with less water in it. Try to boil it and it’s gonna burn, right?”

The power company has to be careful to avoid a blackout. If an AC is blasting all day, it’s taking a cut of power. If a 50-story skyscraper is blasting AC all day? It’s taking a bigger cut. That’s where most power goes, Joe explained.

Joe’s lived through a handful of blackouts himself, so he knows how long it can take to reboot the system. In anticipation, the operators have to be careful to not overburden the machinery. That's where the grid comes in. To find balance, Joe’s team has to “derate” some areas. That means lowering or cutting the power in some neighborhoods for a little while, to prevent overloads and outages.

How do they choose which areas to cut? 

“Well, the rich--they’re going to keep theirs,” said Joe. 

Mostly, he knows the heat from his own days in the sun. His number one reminder to make it through the day? Water, of course.

Sam Cat, age 63, from Detroit, contractor. He/him, White.

Sam knows how to be frugal in the name of freedom. This year, that means no AC. He’s afraid next year, that might mean no Harlem.

This year, AC didn’t make the budget for Sam. Still, he’s used to adjusting to the ups and downs of his finances. 

Sam Cat, 63,  left Detroit at 30 to pursue acting in the city, but after a decade, he got tired of the low wages. He decided to spend the next 23 years doing contract work across the city. He made good money on short assignments, with breaks till the next gig came around. 

To make the transition in the 90’s, he said, “I made up a resume--partly fake-- and I just walked from the Staten Island Ferry all the way up to the 20s, 30s, handing out resumes for everything. Everything.”

He worked in restaurants and built sets after he’d fabricated a stint in technical theater. He took off as a carpenter, working for lumber stores, and on the Godfather 3 reshoot. He lived in Boerum Hill, Tribeca, the East Village, Alphabet City, Brooklyn again, then back to Chinatown. “And that was all within the first five years!” he said.

In the pandemic though, a lot of that work dried up. He hasn’t worked in a year now, and he’s been burning through his savings. Without AC this summer, he found other ways to pass this heatwave.

He said, “I have two fans, take showers, sit in the bathtub, nap during the hot part of the day-- which means I don't sleep well at night.”

Sam didn’t mind that his transient work has meant affording sacrifices, since it’s bought his freedom. Lately though, the heat has meant he’s spending most of his day inside.

He thinks AC might not be the only thing to become unaffordable soon. He’s watched neighborhoods change quickly, and he knows what gentrification looks like. Though Harlem was meant to be lighter on the wallet, lately it’s been reminding him of the changes he saw in the East Village before it became unaffordable.

“I moved into the East Village in ‘89. It was pretty much just Puerto Ricans and young kids, right? Young people like you, dressed like you. It was just that,” Cat said. “Then, you knew that it was changing once the lesbian couples wheeling baby carriages showed up. Now this is cool shit.” 

Within a couple of years, it transformed. He said, “It became gentrified. Buildings started being gutted, everybody kicked out.” 

He sees the writing on the wall that his time here might soon be up too. Still, he told me I shouldn’t be too worried I’m taking someone’s place. 

“I know it's nice to think that way, but you’ve got to look out for yourself. Have you ever watched people get on subway trains?”

Juana Lopez, 62. From the Dominican Republic. Retired. She/her, Black/Latina.

Juana knows how to take the heat. Since moving from the DR in the 90’s, she’s grateful for all she has in Harlem.

For Juana Lopez, 62, the heat is normal. She grew up in the heat.

Juana came from the Dominican Republic in 1990 at age 31. She’s spent the next 31 years here in Harlem. Since she retired, she spends her days cooking, cleaning, and hanging around the neighborhood. 

She has AC in her apartment here, but she doesn’t mind being out in hot weather. She said she moved to New York because of her country’s poverty. It can be unsafe to spend all day in the streets there. Still, in the heat there, she never considered the idea of an AC unit. 

She said, “Here, there’s a lot of privilege they don’t have.”

I often catch Lopez around the neighborhood at some of the popular spots to play dominoes and at the people-watching benches. Though she warned me about the ever-higher rent and her changing community, she repeated how much she loves life, New York, and our community.

“It's a better life here. I just feel good.” she said. “I love life, the day, saying thanks to God, nature. It’s a privilege to be here.”

We spoke in Spanish, quotes were translated.