Jacob Neuman, a 5 year old Satmar boy was killed yesterday when an elevator he was riding became stuck between floors. He…
…tried to jump to the nearest floor but lost his footing and fell 10 floors down the shaft to his death.
The building is part of New York City's public housing and has a history of elevator problems:
…"Every other day the elevator is broken," one of the boy's neighbors in the building, Pessie Gelb, said. "We keep telling people that it's broken and that older and injured people need it. We've requested many times that they fix it. But they don't."
Another resident of the building, Chaya Mandel, said: "This happens to me at the elevator — I open the door and there's no elevator."
The Teamsters Local 237 is responsible for the maintenance of the elevators, its president, Gregory Floyd, said. Mr. Floyd said a lack of federal funding had made work on the elevators difficult. "The Teamsters work with what they are given," he said. "And they are not given enough."
Records on the Web site of the New York City Department of Buildings show that eight complaints have been lodged with the department about the elevator since 1999, the most recent of which was received on January 21, under the category "defective/inoperative." Three other complaints that fell under the same category were lodged in 2007.…
When told by The New York Sun of the concerns residents had about the elevator, Mr. [Howard] Marder [a spokesman for the New York City Housing Authority] said: "I am not going to deal with anecdotal stories."
My guess is Howard Marder will be dealing with those "anecdotal stories" for many days to come – unless the mayor fires him this morning.
Coverage: