RICHMOND, Va — Residents at a Richmond apartment complex have been living without air conditioning for more than two weeks, even after city officials recently increased its oversight of the complex in hopes of improving conditions there.
Maelea Tweedie, who has lived at the Legacy at Imperial Village for five years, said the heat inside her apartment has become unbearable.
She's set up portable fans throughout the unit in an attempt to get some relief, but she said it's not enough to keep her cool.
"You know when you're baking and you open up the oven door? That's it," Tweedie said.
She showed CBS 6 a thermometer in her bedroom, which measured the temperature at 91 degrees on Wednesday.
The heat has also caused her to wake up sweating in the middle of the night, she said.
"I'm livid. I'm angry. I pay a lot of money to live here," Tweedie said. Tweedie said her monthly rent is $1,500, which includes utilities.
According to an email property manager Judy Walton sent residents last week, chillers in the complex's Dogwood building stopped working following a power surge on August 16.
Walton had anticipated a fix by September 1, according to the email, but Tweedie said that date passed without resolution.
"There's no excuse," Tweedie said.
In an updated email Tweedie received Wednesday, Walton said repairs were taking longer than expected "due to several components that are difficult to source." She added that work was underway to install a temporary chiller by Friday.
City Spokesperson Michael Hinkle said code enforcement cited Imperial with a violation for the AC outage two weeks ago.
On Tuesday, he said the city issued a secondary violation, which now compels management to address the failures immediately.
A previous CBS 6 investigation found that since 2021, Richmond opened at least 180 city code cases at this property but did not impose any fines.
According to the city, a majority of those cases resulted in violations, with inspectors observing repeat problems.
That reporting caught the attention of Mayor Danny Avula, who directed sweeping inspections of the entire complex and a stronger oversight plan.
"I didn't feel that that was anything that would encourage me or make me feel better about living here," Tweedie said about that plan.
She added, "The city was here, and they did start making some little improvements. Thank heaven... but what are their priorities?"
Meanwhile, a caregiver of a resident who lived in a different building on the complex, said she was thrilled with the city's actions and observed noticeable improvements.
Since the increased scrutiny from the city, the Dogwood building experienced an AC outage in July and again in August.
"That's what has made me the angriest because they knew they had a problem. They had it last year, and then they get it this year," Tweedie said.
Tweedie believes it's time for the city to implement some more stringent accountability measures.
Management did provide Tweedie with a portable cooler, but she said it only provides relief for a small section of her living room.
CBS 6 reached out to Imperial Village for comment for this story, but we have not heard back.
