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They aren’t showering Zo with compliments.
Steamed tenants in an Alphabet City apartment complex haven’t showered in two months after Legionnaires’ disease-causing bacteria were found in the water system — with many raising a stink over Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s focus uptown and beyond.
The residents at Haven Plaza — alongside local lawmakers — held a rally Thursday blasting the confused, plodding response by city health officials and the five-building Avenue C complex’s management.
The slow-motion effort not only overlapped with a separate outbreak on the Upper East Side, but also unfolded at the same time as Mamdani’s attention-grabbing call to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and botched rollout of a list of luxury second homes that “may” be hit by a new pied-à-terre tax.
“He’s not acknowledging us at all down here,” said Kathy Nataadiningrat, who has lived in Haven Plaza for 42 years. “Everything is uptown, not us little people down here.
“There’s been no attention down here until now that everyone’s here today.”
As Nataadiningrat and other frustrated tenants rallied for attention, the social media-loving socialist mayor went on a splashy “site-seeing” tour on a double-decker bus to three new housing complexes.
Haven Plaza was built in the late 1960s as part of an urban renewal program.
The 371-unit development, run by Catholic Home of New York and Wavecrest Management, has since undergone a major renovation, but many tenants argued recent problems show their home is being forgotten.
Two residents fell ill with Legionnaires’ disease, the first in May 2025 and another this May. The positive test for Legionella bacteria in June prompted a flurry of what tenants contended was confusing advice from city health officials and inaction from management.
Many tenants, including Nataadiningrat, said health officials variously told them to take baths with hoses, avoid showering or to boil water before bathing.
“There is no sense of urgency to actually resolve this problem,” said Dana Cruz, the tenants’ association president. “Our tenants have been directed to not shower.”
Cruz also blasted the seeming slow pace of fixes. She argued Wavecrest and Catholic Homes have refused requests for mobile showers, rent relief and drinking water as tenants waited for a plan.
“Residents still do not know what this plan looks like,” she said. “We have no idea the vendor, the chemicals, how long, the timing — none of it.”
A copy of a health department remediation plan provided by resident Simeon Rose, 63, shows plumbing work kicked off Tuesday. The plan calls for periodic water shut offs and a 30-day treatment period.
“This neighborhood is always the end of the list,” Rose said. “During (Superstorm) Sandy, it took us six, eight weeks to get electricity, which is ironic because we are right next to ConEd.”
An assortment of pols at the rally — including Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and lefty City Councilman Harvey Epstein (D-Manhattan) — likewise took Mamdani’s health department to task.
“No New Yorkers should be uncertain of the safety of their tap water,” said Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal.
“For months, no use of showers. For months, uncertainty of their water.”
In a joint statement, Catholic Homes and Wavecrest Management officials said the city health department approval their remediation plan.
“This includes implementing a full water treatment and disinfection plan,” the statement reads. “Residents should continue to follow DOHMH’s recommended guidelines and will be notified of any service disruptions.”
City Hall and health department officials didn’t return requests for comment.
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