nws park hill

The Park Hill Apartments in Clifton.

(Google Images)

I'll do Donald Trump one better.

"The Democratic Party has failed and betrayed the African-American community," he has become fond of saying.

Truth be told, just about everyone has failed and betrayed most communities of color in America.

An overstatement? Perhaps. But it's hard not to think that after reading a story on SILive the other day and on Page 3 of the Staten Island Advance on Tuesday.

The story didn't involve a tragic shooting or a string of drug ODs. It was simpler than that.

"5 days without gas, and Park Hill residents want some answers," the headline read. It went on: "It was turned off Sept. 21, leaving tenants to fend for themselves."

The story was a bit sketchy on the whys gas was turned off. National Grid, acting on a Building Department request, cut it off at 185 and 225 Park Hill Ave.

The Building Department web site made mention of a complaint made about some unauthorized work and the installation of a gas line. Who is doing the work and why we don't know.

We do know that 306 families at 185 Park Hill Ave. and 150 families at 225 have no natural gas to cook or for hot water.

Through no fault of their own. For five days!

Now, with the gas still off, residents are making their way through day six.

Park Hill, part of the Clifton community, is not a garden spot of Staten Island. It's a tough community where crime is common and kids go to sleep to the sounds of gunshots at night.

Building violations are common, ranging from mold to cabinets falling off walls to leaking sinks to broken stoves.

I get it.

But what we also need to get is that there are a lot of families in Park Hill. Good families. Families trying to make it through the day, raising their kids, begging them to keep out of trouble. Stay away from drugs and guns. Go to school.

Some, maybe many, afraid to go even out at night.

And then they suffer the insult of their gas being shut off with no notice and no idea why or when it will be back on.

Where is the Staten Island outrage? The kind of community outrage we see when someone cuts down trees to build a house, or the political outrage we see when a builder refuses to widen a road as part of a construction project?

Park Hill people had to demonstrate in front of the management office to get any attention.

Imagine if this were 450 families in West Brighton. Or Eltingville.

People would be screaming. Their elected representatives would be screaming. It would be Page 1 news in the Staten Island Advance.

But no. It's Park Hill.

There's hope on the horizon, however, for those people at 185 and 225. Election Day is near. Soon people may well be coming to their neighborhood, promising them the moon -- and even a ride to the polls.

And maybe they'll have their gas on by then, too.