Comment on Lee pledges $5.4 million to fix elevators in public housing

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee plans to announce on Thursday that he'll spend $5.4 million for immediate repairs to the constantly malfunctioning elevators in public housing high-rise buildings that have left some senior and disabled tenants stranded for days at a time. [...] the commitment won't be enough to stave off a lawsuit that a local attorney says he will file next week against the San Francisco Housing Authority on behalf of 24 tenants who live in Clementina Towers South of Market. Tenant rights attorney Joseph Tobener filed a notice of intent to sue last month, and said he'll make it official next week by filing a lawsuit against the Housing Authority. The plaintiffs, who pay a third of their income in rent, say the agency has committed breach of contract and elder abuse, violated the federal Fair Housing Act and inflicted emotional distress. Several tenants say they've experienced claustrophobia and panic attacks after being stuck in the elevators, which lately have been lurching to floors that don't match the buttons pushed and freezing up with their lights out for several minutes. Found $5.4 millionThe Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development found $5.4 million in this year's regular operating budget to spend on immediately fixing elevators in nine public housing high-rise buildings, including Clementina Towers, Ping Yuen in Chinatown and Rosa Parks in the Tenderloin. Beverly Saba, president of an association for senior and disabled tenants in public housing, praised the mayor and the Housing Authority for the new money for elevator repair. Lee promised last year to remake the Housing Authority after The Chronicle revealed a number of problems plaguing the agency, including employee lawsuits filed against now-fired Director Henry Alvarez, allegations he steered contracts to friends and political allies, and a score by federal inspectors rating it as one of California's two worst public housing agencies. New federal programWith the help of the mayor's office, the Housing Authority has qualified for a new federal program to let private and nonprofit developers manage the properties in exchange for rehabbing them.