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A study released yesterday showed that the elevator in the Williamsburg building where 5-year-old Jacob Neuman died last month had failed 17 of its previous 21 Housing Authority inspections. That elevator was also supposed to be renovated back in 2004, but it was put off twice due to spending cutbacks. The renovation would have provided the elevator with a door restrictor that doesn't allow doors to be opened while the elevator is in between floors, a device that could have saved Jacob's life. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer plans to propose legislation requiring restrictors, saying, "It is unacceptable that the lack of a $400 device might have cost a human life." The study found that in the last five years 75% of Housing Authority elevator inspections resulted in "unsatisfactory" ratings in what Stringer called "a culture of neglect."
Proper Elevator Maintenance Could Have Saved Young Boy
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does Gothamist ever plan to report on black-on-white crimes ever again?
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i would be so pissed if that was my kid who died because of shitty maintenance
You get what you (don't) pay for.
What's the point of all those inspections if they let faulty equipment continue to operate? The elevator should have been closed after the second failure. After that it's handcuff time for the landlord. Fines they don't care about, jail they do.
"Jacob was the youngest of five children, three girls and two boys. The family lives on the 11th floor of the building, which is part of the Taylor-Wythe apartment complex, owned and overseen by the New York City Housing Authority."
I somehow doubt that anyone at NYCHA is going to jail or even lose a job over this.
What I want to know is why the city is in effect subsidizing this family's decision to have five kids. Could the parents have afforded that many offspring if they had to pay market rent like a normal person?
A 5 yr old kid dies because of a $400 part. Damn it, just tell us and we'll pay for it out of our own pockets. The Housing Authority needs to just disappear and its buildings sold to a non-profit.
And #4, that discussion about "subsidizing offspring" belongs somewhere else.