Lynne Patton and Brian Benjamin left a building at the Douglass Houses after being freed from a trapped elevator. Photo by Michael McDowell.
The federal official whose job is to oversee the New York City Housing Authority got stuck in an elevator in the Frederick Douglass Houses, the housing project between 100th and 104th Streets, on Tuesday.
Photo of firefighters responding to the Douglass Houses by Michael McDowell.
Department of Housing and Urban Development Regional Director Lynne Patton has been staying at the Douglass Houses this week as part of a fact-finding tour of NYCHA. She was in an elevator just before noon on Tuesday with television reporter Monica Morales, State Senator Brian Benjamin, tenant leader Carmen Quinones and photographers when it stopped.
Stuck in an elevator at Douglass Houses with @lynnepattonhud @pix11news Fdny on its way. pic.twitter.com/hHPqSV9dLo
— Monica Morales (@monicamoralestv) February 19, 2019
FDNY showed up and they were out in about 10 minutes.
Stuck in @nychagram elevator with @lynnepattonhud My photographer @shashi.sharma1 shot this. A Senator, federal officials, two still photographers, and a tenant president. @PIX11News pic.twitter.com/40p4kqBjy1
— Monica Morales (@monicamoralestv) February 19, 2019
Apparently, the elevator failed due to “overloading.”
More from @nycha on the case of the stalled @LynnePattonHUD elevator pic.twitter.com/6JPMwJDu9q
— Courtney Gross (@courtneycgross) February 19, 2019
The Douglass Houses has had severe maintenance issues for years, and we’ve been reporting them. Apparently, there are now just three maintenance workers for the entire 19-building complex.
.@LynnePattonHUD and Douglass Houses tenant leader say there are only three maintenance workers for 19 buildings here
— Courtney Gross (@courtneycgross) February 19, 2019
SHouldn’t the headline have been: Top Trump official here to clean up decades of neglect by Democrats gets stuck in elevator?
I hear that blame is the number one thing that actually fixes problem. Healthy for relationships, healthy for the world.
Bill Williams, you’re absolutely correct. People offended by your comment are reacting emotionally. Facts don’t care about feelings.
No.
@Bill Williams, the headline should read, “Top Trump Event Planner Gets Stuck in UWS Housing Project Elevator.” You’ll have no argument about public housing neglect, but Lynne Patton is there for a few weeks and photo ops like these.
Bill – Poverty and sub-standard housing isn’t a problem germane to NYC – both Republicans and Democrats are responsible on a national level for this worsening problem. But you seem to have the answers – or, are you the kind who just sits on your butt and shouts at the wind, while blaming others? Why don’t you become part of the solution, or at the very least, take an economics class to understand the issues.
Maybe it should be Top Trump official gets caught overloading elevator with government pork.
Re: “Apparently, the elevator failed due to “overloading.””
NO, Not at All!
More likely it failed because of the TOXIC VIBES emitted by that Trump appointee.
The De Blasio administration has not done right by NYCHA, but it is ludicrously uninformed to blame “neglect” solely on Democrats.
the national disinvestment in public housing started under Reagan and has mainly been a Republican project, though Democrats have not covered themselves in glory. Republicans have pushed myths about failure and tried for decades for privatization; the Clinton wing of the Democratic Party, as with many other issues, has gone along.
At the local level, @BillWilliams seems to forget that we had Republican Mayors in NYC for 20 long years. the lead paint scandal started under BLOOMBERG, though it sadly continued under De Blasio.
Corporate Goldman-Sachs Democrat Alicia Glen was the Deputy Mayor in charge of public housing under DeB. The odds are that she knew about the lead paint scandal. Why is no one asking that question?
The lesson to be learned here is actually critically important: if caught in a stuck elevator, the VERY first thing to do is use your mobile phone to call the Fire Department. DO NOT try to force the elevator door open, DO NOT try to use the trap door or to otherwise self-evacuate. People get killed when doing these things.
FDNY is trained and highly skilled in the dangerous evolution of evacuating people from stalled elevators. If building maintenance personnel, elevator mechanics or anyone else tells you to get out before the Fire Department arrives, refuse to do so. Exit only on instruction from the Fire Department.
What a chuckle now they know what the tenants go through
NYCHA Developments Elevators Need An Upgrade Period. They Should Really Think About Building More Buildings To Move People In So People In General Wont Be Stuck, Due To Mental Illness Like Anxiety!
Let’s do a major overhaul of elevators at the Frederick Douglass Complex plain and simple.
This is not a Democratic or a Republican issue but a human issue provide adequate elevator service in FICHA housing.