East New York residents say they've been without a working elevator for at least a year
It’s not just an inconvenience, but tenants say it’s dangerous, and the elderly and disabled are suffering the most.
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For months, residents in an East New York apartment building say they’ve been climbing up flights of stairs everyday— not by choice, but because their elevators haven’t worked.
It’s not just an inconvenience, but tenants say it’s dangerous, and the elderly and disabled are suffering the most.
For Desiree Dingle and Desiree Fair, every trip home is a struggle.
“I'm asthmatic,” said Dingle. “Every day it’s taking me 45 minutes to get somewhere. I'm on the fifth floor. It’s not five flights. It's nine flights.”
Back in December – a flood inside this six-story building led to one of the elevators being out of service for months.
The other elevator broke at least a year before that.
To make matters worse, the route they have to take every day to get to their apartments is no easy trek.
As they exit the lobby of the building, it’s a walk around the block to the only doors leading to the staircase.
“Our stairwells lead to the outside of the building,” said Fair. “They don’t lead inside.”
“I have not done laundry in a month,” said Dingle. “I have not done any big grocery shop. I'm picking up little things here and there because I can't carry, like I would like. This is just ridiculous.”
Tenants tell News 12 they’ve put in several 311 complaints about the broken elevators. Somehow the tickets end up being closed by the city without an actual fix.
“If this was your mother, your grandmother, who had to deal with having to climb several flights of stairs to get to her apartment– how would you feel? I would think that this would be resolved quickly," said Fair.
In the lobby also sits dozens of packages too heavy to carry up the stairs and a laundry room now underutilized.
Signs posted only a few weeks ago tell tenants the repairs won’t be a quick process, but they fail to say how long it will actually take.
News 12 reached out to building management for answers but has not yet received a response.
