New York's Murray Hill Apartment Residents Blast Superintendent Over Carbon-Monoxide Poisonings
February 19, 2004 -- The superintendent in charge of the Murray Hill apartment building where two men died from carbon-monoxide poisoning was overworked and unresponsive, angry tenants said yesterday.
"This might not have happened if Richard Zafra had been around, if he had returned my pages," said Alisha Davlin, 30, a teacher who has lived at 535 Third Ave. for the past year.
Davlin, who tried in vain to reach Zafra on Sunday when she and other residents began to smell fumes from a backed-up furnace, said "The owners know he was taking care of too many buildings. He was stretched too thin."
Residents said Zafra was in charge of at least two other nearby buildings owned by Pan Am Equities Inc.
The company did not immediately return calls.
Retired pilot Harvey Needleman, 68, and his partner Joaquin Polanco, 40, died in bed Sunday after gas from a furnace with a soot-clogged exhaust pipe spread through the building.
The Manhattan DA's Office said it was investigating Sunday's tragedy.
However, residents at 270 Park Avenue South, which Zafra also supervises, said he has always been responsive and "he's the most efficient super you could ask for."
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