closed #133458
Unsafe Buildings
- Case Date:
- 8/19/2013
I am writing this in regards to an elevator issue in which I was apart of at Smallwood Plaza. I am concerned about the safety hazard their elevators pose. On July 26, 2013 3:30 pm I had just come home from work at about 3:00 pm. I parked my car in the B1 garage of Smallwood so I could move my things back and forth easily. I went up to my apartment (the elevator seemed normal at this time), put my phone to charge, rested a bit, and then went back down to my car because I was moving. After packing my car, I went back to the elevator to go back upstairs to my apartment, on the 7th floor. I keyed my card to go up, the elevator started rising, and I heard a peculiar sound. The best way I can describe this sound is that it sounded like chains rubbing against each other. Then, the elevator shook and jolted. Luckily, I didn't get hurt, but I was forced to the other side of the elevator because of the jolt. I immediately pressed the emergency button as well as the alarm button. After waiting for 5 minutes with no response, having no phone because I had left it to charge, I started to panic and hyperventilate. I waited for 30 minutes alone in this elevator. I looked for the emergency phone in the box and was horrified to see that it wasn't there. I had pressed the emergency button for 30 minutes. I had looked up at the security camera thinking, "can't you see me?!" Thirty minutes later, a girl on the other side of the elevator said: "is anyone in there? I replied: "yes can you please open the elevator?!" "I can't it's not opening. I will go get help, ok?" I was thankful that someone had heard me. A couple of minutes later, a maintenance guy showed up. He opened the elevator with his hands, and gave me his hand so I could climb down because the elevator was stuck in between floors. It took a little more than a week to fix the elevator. After my incident, I first talked to someone in the City of Bloomington building and he said to talk to Smallwood first and then report back if nothing was resolved. I talked to the Smallwood office management. Their response to me was "It happens, it's normal." Appalled, I said, "Well, will you let me know what happened?" and she replied "what do you mean" and I said: "well, with the elevator..." and she said: "I can take your name and number and have my manager call you" Whitney, the woman I had this short conversation with, seemed to be completely dry and not concerned about this situation. I never heard from the manager or the office. I find this issue to be a huge safety hazard to the public. Please let me know what will be done about this situation. Thank you, Priscilla Massey