Fall River tenants frustrated over broken elevator

November 27, 2018 11:47 pm

FALL RIVER, Mass. (WLNE) — For many residents of the Border City Mills apartment building, not having a working elevator is more than just a nuisance.

“I was told that it should be up within 24 to 48 hours,” said resident Stephen Gardner.

Gardner took a picture last Monday, showing the elevator out of order. More than a week later, these tenants are still waiting for it to be fixed–many of them elderly and disabled.

“I’ve seen residents being carried down flights of stairs by whether it’s healthcare professionals or just other residents trying to help each other out,” said Gardner.

“Very tough. My doctor says I’ve got the lungs of an 80-year-old man,” said a man who lives on the third floor and has COPD. He says his quality of life has taken a major hit.

“I come home at night and I just stay home. I don’t want to have to go on the stairs. I canceled everything until the elevator is back up,” the man told me.

Gardner was about to move out–until the elevator broke.

“There’s not a moving company in the area that’s willing to move up and down four flights of stairs,” said Gardner.

In an email to Gardner, a rep for the management company, Connecticut-based First Merchants Group, said the elevator “should be seen as a convenience, not a necessity” and suggested Gardner should keep his 39-week pregnant wife in the apartment.

“I just received a lot of condescending and just rude demeanor in a situation where really all we’re looking for is some empathy and some answers,” said Gardner.

First Merchants Group tells me they’re doing everything they can to get the elevator fixed as soon as possible, but the vendor they have to use under the contract was closed for the holiday weekend. Still, some tenants believe more could have been done.

First Merchants Group disputes the date the elevator broke, saying it was last Wednesday, not Monday. Regardless, they say a replacement part will be installed tomorrow, but then it could take days for the state to inspect the elevator.