Broken elevators at Harlem apartment complex leave residents feeling 'trapped' and 'scared'
HARLEM, Manhattan (WABC) -- Residents say they are frustrated, angry and scared as the result of being trapped in their Upper Manhattan apartment building for months due to broken elevators - a situation that they say the management company has done nothing to fix.
The only two elevators at 400 St. Nicholas Avenue are out of service. It's been this way for six weeks now. The only option is the stairs.
"Eight floor, I have to walk up every single day," said resident Tami Goodwin.
Goodwin has to make the hike to the top floor after a long day on her feet at work, but some of her neighbors can't do it at all.
"If we have an emergency happen, they can't get out," she said.
The elevators went out because of an emergency back on April 23. They were damaged by a fire. The response to the fire was captured on video by a member of the Tenants Association.
"Every couple of nights it was going on, that there was a fire on this side and the other side," said resident Deborah Walker.
The FDNY confirmed that the two buildings that make up both sides of the Gladys Hampton Houses have had nine fires this year, always in the trash compactors next to the elevators.
But the elevators on the Frederick Douglass Boulevard side were repaired. That's of no help to the residents on the St. Nicholas side who can't get to their apartments that way.
They also think all those fires are no coincidence, but there's no way to know how suspicious they are, since none of the cameras in the building work.
"Sometimes I'm scared to go to sleep, because I won't know whether there's going to be a fire," Walker said.
She says it's especially scary because the smoke detectors never go off, and because residents keep seeing strangers sleeping in the hallways and stairs.
"Homeless people live here. We pay rent, but they live for free," Walker said.
Residents who feel trapped in their apartments have logged dozens of complaints about these issues and more to 311.
The buildings department has received all of these complaints about the elevators.
"My husband is elderly," said resident Annette Roundtree. "You know, he can't walk up and down, and I'm just worried about appointments, going to the doctor. What if something happens?"
They've complained nonstop to Manhattan North Management which is responsible for the private LLC-owned Section 8 building.
"We have been calling and calling. All we hear is 'leave a message,'" Roundtree said.
Eyewitness News also left messages with building management. All calls have also gone unanswered so far.
Some tenants have been withholding rent because of management's lack of response to safety issues, only to be taken to court. They tell Eyewitness News reporter Sonia Rincon that they are afraid of retaliation and can't afford to move.
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