DAYTON, Ohio — People living in an apartment building in Dayton said they’ve been dealing with a broken elevator for months.
They want it fixed.
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News Center 7’s John Bedell was in Dayton, where he talked to residents, plus he talked to the city, and pressed management and ownership for answers.
We’re talking about the Holden House in downtown Dayton.
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People who live there told us that, with no elevator, they worry about their neighbors with mobility issues, plus first responders getting in quickly for emergency calls in the nine-story building.
John Bedell: “What floor are you on?”
Ben Day: “Three.”
John Bedell: “Three?”
Ben Day: “Yeah, and mine’s easier.”
As part of following Ben Day’s story, we followed him Friday up the stairs.
Ben Day: “I got a friend of mine who’s waiting on you.”
He’s upset about what’s not working at either end of this climb.
John Bedell: “And when you push it, it doesn’t work still?”
News Center 7’s John Bedell pushed the door.
John Bedell: “Yeah, ‘elevator out of service.’ Doesn’t work.”
Ben and his neighbor talked to us about their frustration over the elevators in their building not working for months on end.
“To go to the store and get groceries and then come back and then having to carry them up four plus stairs, you know, that’s hard,” said William Hurley of Dayton. “That’s hard on anybody.”
The building gets Federal money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to help with rent for low-income residents.
We first talked to Ben and William in February.
Since then, Day said ownership has fixed some issues.
But there are still the two elevators.
“We were told that it could be up to four to nine months for that repair,” said Steven Gondol, the City of Dayton Director of the Department of Planning, Neighborhood and Development. “And then a full modernization could take 12 to 24 months.”
The property has been on the city’s radar for years.
Gondol said they stay in touch with ownership and monitor the building, including those older elevator repairs.
Gondol said the holdup is for “considerable issues” that require “a broader scale of work.”
“I would say this is not the norm,” he said. “This is a more extreme situation.”
John Bedell: “Hey how are you? I’m John with Channel 7.”
Management gave us the owner’s number, and it was a San Diego area code, and we had to leave a message.
John Bedell: “Hey Joey, it’s John Bedell. I’m a reporter at Channel 7 in Dayton, Ohio. I was by the building earlier when you were on the phone with your building manager.”
…asking what Ben wants.
John Bedell: “What do you guys want done?”
Ben Day: “The elevator.”
The city told us they’re trying to find a middle ground where they can keep people housed. While also holding the owner to the service contract so once the parts and service is ready, the repair work starts.
We also called HUD, but the person we needed to talk to wasn’t in the office on Friday.
News Center 7 will follow up with HUD.
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