Some Queens residents reached out to NY1 For You to get a much-needed lift. NY1's Susan Jhun explains.
After breaking in late November of last year, tenants recently contacted us about the only elevator at a building in the Baisley Park Houses in South Jamaica, which still sat out of service.
"We've had four different dates: March 17, March 27, April 15, April 30," tenant Katrina Townsend said.
All dates by which the elevator was supposed to be working again, according to tenants.
"I'm in a walker now and a cane, but I can't bring it down the stairs," tenant Ondrea Harris.
Townsend, a stroke victim, says she rescheduled all of her doctors' appointments in the hope that the elevator would be back up and running.
"There's a lot of elderly people with heart problems that live on the seventh and eighth floors," Townsend said. "It's hard for them to come down the stairs, but they've been doing it with the hopes of the elevator working tomorrow."
At this point, tenants say they have no faith that the elevator will be up and running anytime soon.
"It's not that we don't understand that the elevators have to be done, we do," Townsend said. "But you're giving us dates and you keep passing those dates. We just want to know when it's going to be up."
We contacted the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and a spokesperson told us that the elevator is receiving a comprehensive modernization, and in order to keep residents in their homes the housing authority took special measures to accommodate safety, which extended the time of the project.
The housing authority spokesperson went on to say that NYCHA apologizes for the inconvenience to residents.
A day later, the elevator was back up a running.
"I'm happy it's up," Townsend said. "It's running. It's over."