NY Guyanese complain of lack of cooling centres during heatwave

The residents of Woodhaven and Richmond Hill, where thousands of Guyanese are settled, are complaining that the New York City government has failed to provide them with adequate cooling centres for relief during an ongoing heatwave with temperatures soaring to almost 100 degrees Fahrenheit, some 15 degrees warmer than in Guyana.
The thermometer mercury has been soaring since the first week in July with very little let up. Weather men say temperature is expected to remain high for the next six weeks. The scorching heat has killed several people over the last month.
Richmond Hill bounded by the Van Wyck Expressway and neighbouring Ozone Park, is teeming with Guyanese, Caribbean and Punjabi immigrants.
The neighbourhood does not have a central community centre that neighbourhood advocates believe is desperately needed for residents.
There are no cooling centres in Woodhaven and Richmond Hill to pacify angry residents who lack access to air-conditioning in their homes. The residents are infuriated over the absence of cooling centres on weekends, unlike other neighbourhoods where community centres abound.
Cooling centres provide a stopover during a heatwave, and are normally located in either libraries or senior centres. Residents without air-conditioning can spend their days at the library in Richmond Hill, Lefferts Boulevard or Woodhaven on weekdays for a cooling relief.
On weekends, the Lefferts Library is open as a cooling centre, but only on Saturdays. No cooling centre is opened on a Sunday in the area. Advocates for the Guyanese community say the city keeps them out in the heat, while providing several cooling relief centres for more privileged neighbourhoods.
Richmond Hill library is not open on Saturdays or Sundays and the neighbourhood does not have a senior centre. The closest cooling centre is in Cypress Hill, Brooklyn, where thousands of Guyanese are also settled.
Civic leaders lament that seniors looking for a place to gather are forced to cluster in local Guyanese shops.
“Richmond Hill is the orphan child of Queens,” said Albert Baldeo, a Democrat district leader. “There has always been a paucity of social services, job centres, health centres. We have been reduced to a neglected neighbourhood, forgotten.”
Elected representatives have not made Richmond Hill a priority in their advocacy for services because residents generally do not come out to vote as they do not see voting as being important while they struggle to put food on the table for families and clear other expenses.
Guyanese-American Vishnu Mahadeo, Executive Director of the Richmond Hill Economic Development Council, has argued that since Richmond Hill possesses no single elected representative on the state, city or congressional level, funding is scarce for any social services. He chided elected officials for neglecting the community and called on residents to become politically proactive.