Seniors who live in a Fort Lauderdale apartment building say their elevator still isn’t working and they have no way to safely get up and down the stairs. NBC6’s Kim Wynne reports
It’s not easy for 72-year-old Hattie Tai to get around these days.
She has polio, which makes it hard for her to use her left hand and leg. It’s a disability that’s made the last few weeks painful, living on the third floor of an apartment building where the elevator keeps going out.
“We don’t want no trouble,” she said. “We just want the job done.”
NBC6 first interviewed Tai in July after she and other residents from Northwest Gardens II, a public housing complex for seniors, contacted us to say the elevator had been out for six weeks.
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Flyers were put up stating that repairs would start soon.
Tai said the repairs started after our first story aired – but she said it didn’t last.
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“The guys came,” Tai said. “They did whatever they said they were gonna do. It worked for a few days then went out again.”
She and other residents said they feel like they’re still getting the runaround.
“You’re supposed to care about seniors,” she said. “They’re not showing that they care.”
“Elevator went up halfway, then stopped,” said resident Don Mizell. “It wouldn’t keep going.”
Earlier this week, the elevator got stuck with him inside, Mizell said.
“It was scary,” he said.
The 75-year-old walks with a cane and also lives on the third floor. He said he was trapped for 15 minutes.
“This is a building full of elders, seniors with health issues,” he said. “This is the last place that you should be having elevator problems. People in wheelchairs, blind people, old people.”
NBC6 reached out to the chief operating officer for the Fort Lauderdale Housing Authority multiple times for a written statement but have not gotten a response.
When we spoke with him last month by phone, he said the elevator had only been out for three weeks, not six.
Meanwhile, Tai said she’s been getting by having groceries delivered and having people run errands for her.
But she said she shouldn’t have to.
“We’re paying our rent so why should we be inconvenienced like this?” she said.
