Rafael Steps Into The Storm

Rafael Ramos was woken up at 6 a.m. by a phone call: A woman on Norton Street had no heat in her bedroom.

That was how Wednesday began for Ramos, the deputy director of New Haven government’s Livable City Initiative (LCI). He spent the rest of the day roaming the city, helping people with snow-related problems and attending to his regular duties as a watchdog for renters in New Haven. As part of its mission, LCI makes sure renters are living in safe and warm homes.

As the city dug out from 19 inches of snow, Ramos drove around in a city-issued Chevy Cavalier. He found neighborhoods alive with people shoveling the snow, playing in the snow, or stuck in the snow. Neighbors joined together to help with all three activities.

Eleven a.m. found Ramos, who’s 53, driving east on Whalley Avenue. He had already re-lit a cold furnace pilot light on Chatham Street and lent out a couple of space heaters to a home on Saltonstall Avenue. It’s important to respond quickly to complaints of no heat, he said. ​“When people are desperate for heat, they do desperate things.” Like turning on stove burners, or lighting up kerosene heaters indoors, he said. ​“We have zero tolerance for no heat.”

At the corner of Sperry Street, Ramos came upon a maroon Buick with bald tires, stuck in the snow. He jumped out, pulled a shovel from his back seat, and helped a mom and son get un-stuck, with the help of other passersby.

“I love you guys,” the son said. He gave Ramos a quick half-hug. ​“If I had any money, I’d give it to you.”

Then it was on to Norton Street, to the apartment of the woman who had called at 6 a.m. Ramos had ascertained that she had heat in the rest of her apartment and so hadn’t rushed over earlier.

Armed with a couple of $1 thermometers, Ramos waded through a snowbank toward an apartment building at 94 Norton St. It’s a spot he visited just over a year ago, on a similar complaint.

On Wednesday, Ramos was greeted first by the building’s super, who griped that the tenants had unreasonable expectations about heat. They want to walk around in the apartments in shorts in the middle of winter, he said.

In apartment A5, Ramos (at left in photo) tacked a thermometer to the wall. He instructed Sharvele Howard (at right), who lives there with her husband and kids, to keep an eye on it and call LCI if it goes below about 63 degrees. The law says landlords have to heat their apartments to at least 65 degrees. It was 71 degrees in the apartment when Ramos was there.

Ramos also took the opportunity to inspect leaking ceilings in the apartment. He did the same at two other apartments, and handed out another thermometer to a man who had complained about lack of heat.

“Am I going to get in trouble for this?” asked a woman after Ramos inspected a gaping hole in the corner of her ceiling. She said she was afraid the landlord would try to kick her out for complaining. Her top floor apartment was piled with stuffed animals and plastered with family photos.

“No, you need not worry about it,” Ramos reassured her.

Back out in his Chevy, Ramos wrote up his notes. If the thermometers indicate the heat is going below 65 degrees, Ramos will cite the landlord, he said. If it’s not fixed, the matter could end up in court.

“I know it’s difficult to regulate the heat in a big multi-family building,” he said. ​“But the law is the law.”

Ramos continued to cruise, waiting for further calls for service.

“It’s quiet up in that [LCI] office,” he said, as he drove past City Hall. ​“Quiet is a good thing.”

It stayed quiet as Ramos passed a snow-covered Wooster Square.

Then, at 12:30 p.m., another call. LCI had gotten a tip about an illegal basement apartment on Woodward Avenue. Complaints like that need to be checked out immediately, Ramos said. Since basement apartments sometimes don’t have proper exits, the city needs to act right away. There could be a fire at any time, a catastrophe in an apartment without multiple egress points, he said.

After wading through the snow, Ramos discovered the house in question had full-sized windows on the basement level, easy enough to escape through in a fire. Whether or not the apartment is zoned properly or on the city tax rolls is not up to him, Ramos said. ​“As long as they’re safe, they’re OK with me.”

From Woodward, Ramos drove to Fair Haven, where he found a backhoe pushing snow onto the street. He jumped out and told the operator, in Spanish, to move it. (It’s illegal to shovel snow into the street.) Even as he did so, a maroon Kia tried to power through the pile and nearly got stuck.

Continuing his tour, Ramos found neighbors clearing sidewalks and shoveling out parking spots for each other. James Denslow, on Pierpont Street, said he’d been at it for six hours already.

“It’s the big dig,” Ramos said.

Most streets had been rendered passable by city plows, but some streets in often-overlooked Cedar Hill hadn’t seen the trucks yet, to the chagrin of neighbors.

Ramos crossed into East Rock, where snowshoers were enjoying College Woods …

… and snowblowers were active.

In Newhallville, Ramos came across Alderwoman Alfreda Edwards, who was digging out several cars on Sheffield Avenue …

… including one that had only just become visible.

Troy, Justin, and Junior, firefighters from the Dixwell Station were digging out hydrants on Division Street.

Ramos passed by the Church Street South housing project, where kids were sledding on a small hill at the corner of Union Avenue and Church Street.

At 3 p.m., just after Ramos had decided to take a break, he spotted another stuck car on Whalley. He pulled over, jumped out, and lent a hand.