The residents of Friendship Towers finally may get the relief they have been seeking after Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed vowed that their malfunctioning air conditioning system will be fixed by the end of the week.
A group of senior citizens held a protest Sunday outside Friendship Baptist Church, which owns the 100-unit residence alongside Northside Drive, to ask for help from their landlord. A chiller installed more than six weeks ago was supposed to fix the A/C but has not.
On Tuesday, Reed released a statement that said in part: “My Office of Constituent Services and the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department have been engaged with the residents of Friendship Towers, providing water, food, fans and access to cooling centers. The living conditions for the residents of Friendship Towers are at crisis level as a result of the recent heat wave. In conversation with the leadership of Friendship Baptist Church, I have secured their promise to have the building’s central air conditioning fully repaired by the end of the day on Friday, July 24.”
Reed also said the church will pay to temporarily house any resident of Friendship Towers who wants to stay in a hotel until the air conditioning is repaired.
Friendship Tower Inc. issued a statement Tuesday night that said a second commercial grade air conditioning unit was craned to the roof of the building earlier in the day for installation.
It said of the 99 residents in the building, only five have requested to be moved and all of them have been accommodated.
“Our goal is to continue to proactively address the needs of all of our residents and continue our efforts to quickly bring this problem to an end,” the statement said.
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