Oct 2, 2006 6:15 pm US/Eastern
Bronx Tenants 'Fed Up' With Non-Working Elevator
by Tamsen Fadal
BRONX (CBS) ―
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Residents living at 1694 Davidson Avenue, in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx, say the elevator in the building has been broken since May.
Angry residents living in a six-story apartment building want to know when their elevator is going to be fixed. They say it's been broke since May and it's difficult for people who live there to get around.
It's happening at 1694 Davidson Avenue in Morris Heights. That is where Jose Delos Santos lives. Delos Santos walks with a cane. Not long ago, this Bronx resident had a car accident and now to make matters worse, he's living on the 5th floor of the Morris Heights apartment building with a broken elevator.
Delos Santos says he tries to limit the amount of times he goes up and down the stairs, "This morning I came down, I will not go back up there till 2-3 O'clock in the afternoon. I will find something else to do not to go up and down twice a day because I can't."
Plus, he says getting his laundry bag up and down the stairs is next to impossible, so he washes his clothes in the bathtub. Delos Santos explained, "I do two, three underwear or what I am going to use for the week in my bathtub and hang them inside to dry"
Residents like Rosa Primitiva say their complaints have not changed a thing. Primitiva said, "I'm a retired person, I'm 76 years old, what if I have to walk all the way up to the sixth floor. And we keep telling them and they don't do nothing. I don't know what's the problem"
According to the Bronx Heights Neighborhood Community Corporation, which manages the building, it is an old elevator and the motor is broken and they are trying to repair it. A spokesperson from the management office told CBS 2 that it's only been down for about a month, but residents like Leslie Allen say otherwise.
Allen, "That's not true. You can talk to anybody else in the building. They will tell you it's been over six months. "We have senior citizens in the building, as well, some just went under surgery just recently, we have to help them up the stairs all the time. They just don't care."
The city department of buildings says there have been ongoing complaints about the building and violations have been issued. But, the next step could be criminal charges. According to the building's management they are waiting for the elevator company to get a new motor.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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