Comment on No lift for holiday spirits at Springdale senior home

A broken elevator will keep holiday spirits grounded for a number of seniors at a six-story Springdale apartment building -- trapping many disabled residents in their homes for Thanksgiving. Thompson, like others in the 41-unit senior housing apartment building, have been cancelling their doctor appointments because they can't get down the stairs. "On Thursday the contractor said they cannot get the elevator working, that the electrical system is completely shorted out and needs new control panels and wiring -- not a new cab -- but basically new everything else," Freedman said. Freedman, who serves on the city's finance board, said he has provided workers to help carry things upstairs for residents and in the next week or two he will be offering residents shopping services until repairs are finished. Frank Marro, whose 90-year-old father lives in the building, said the repair work on the elevator makes him worry about the condition of the rest of the building. Four years ago, the Department of Housing and Urban Development which has a contract for low-income apartments at the building, threatened to discontinue its Section 8 housing contract at the Eleanor Roosevelt and move its clients elsewhere because the building failed annual inspections in 2009 and 2010. Other issues in the reports included damaged locks as well as doors and ceilings that had holes, cracks or peeling paint. A three-year resident, Ramina-Belmali, who suffers from heart disease, diabetes and asthma, says she got dizzy and fell on the stairs last week.