Queens' Vulnerable Residents Don't Have Local Cooling Centers

QUEENS — New York City is under a heat advisory for the next few days, but the city has allocated fewer resources to helping some of Queens' most vulnerable residents stay cool in their neighborhoods.

In response to forecasts that the city will feel hotter than 100 degrees through Tuesday or Wednesday, the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) has opened hundreds of cooling centers throughout the five boroughs — but, many areas of Queens with residents that are at high risk for dying during extreme heat events don't have access to a cooling center in their neighborhood.

As of Monday there was not a cooling center in the southeastern Queens neighborhoods of Hollis, St. Albans, Springfield Gardens, Laurelton, Cambria Heights, or Queens Village — all of which are among the areas where residents have the highest or second-highest risk of heat injury or death, according to the Department of Health.

When Patch reached out to the OEM with questions about these disparities the agency said in a written statement that "many sites that served as cooling centers in previous seasons remain closed due to COVID-19 pandemic but should be open in the coming weeks to New Yorkers," likely alluding to Queens Public Library branches, which usually operate as cooling centers, but are not right now.

The agency also said that New Yorkers can access outdoor cooling options like showers and drinking fountains, many of which "are located in neighborhoods across New York City that may not have traditional cooling centers available at this time."

The OEM did not mention Queens, or any of the neighborhoods named by Patch, in their response.

Borough-based disparities in cooling centers

Queens is the second-most populated borough, but has the second second-fewest number of cooling centers among the five boroughs.

The city has set up 35 cooling sites to serve Queens' 2.2 million residents. By contrast, Manhattan, which is home to roughly 600,000 fewer people than Queens, has 16 more cooling sites.

In its written statement to Patch, the OEM did not specify how cooling center sites are chosen, but said that the agency "leverage[s] trusted programs that are known and valued by the communities they serve," and "remains dedicated to providing cool spaces for all New Yorkers during periods of extreme heat."

Racial disparities in heat vulnerability

In addition to disparities in the number of cooling centers per-borough, the centers that are in Queens are not equitably distributed.

By the city’s own estimate, risk factors for heat-related death across the city are rooted in structural racism, which limits Black New Yorkers’ access to resources — including health care, neighborhood resources, and air conditioning.

Based on city data from 2000 to 2012, two times as many Black New Yorkers die of heat-related illnesses compared to the city’s white residents.

Despite this acknowledgement and data, cooling centers are limited in areas of Queens that are overwhelmingly populated by low-income Black people, while some whiter, wealthier neighborhoods have more resources.

There are four cooling centers in the vicinity of Bayside, a neighborhood where residents are at the lowest or second-lowest risk of heat injury or death.

By contrast, anyone who lives in Laurelton — a southeastern Queens neighborhood that has a population of more than 90 percent Black residents — would have to take two or three busses for 40 or 50 minutes in order to get to the nearest cooling center. (With the exception of seniors, who can go to a seniors-only cooling center that’s closer.)

While the OEM anticipates being able to open more cooling centers will open in the “coming weeks” New Yorkers will still need to get through the next couple of days of extreme heat.

Find a cooling center by you by calling 311 or visiting the city's Cooling Center Finder. The city also has a list of places to hydrate, refresh, and stay in the shade here.