By Jesica Ramirez August 9 at 10:05 AM
ELMHURST, NY— Jansinta Morelos came across a small water leakage in the pipe in her bathroom Friday morning and was worried her bathroom would flood into the neighbors’ downstairs. “It was scary because the hole could get bigger causing a bigger problem,” she said adding this isn’t the first time she came across such an issue.
“It isn’t the first time a water leakage happened,” she said. Morelos stood looking in discontent at what she saw.
Tenants on 45th Avenue reportedly find themselves faced with an issue in their own apartments that make them agitated. Dealing with their superintendent, who lives floors beneath residents, is difficult because he disregards the urgent need to fix damages. Residents say it’s complicated to do simple things such as turning on water in the sink.
“We had to complain about something almost every other day,” said a man living in the building who wished to remain anonymous. The resident commented he visits the superintendent’s office often and said, “Several times I had to personally go to the office for something bothering me. It has become a problem.”
The superintendent has told residents he would come to their apartment soon and fix damages though “he doesn’t stay true to his words,” the man said, “It’s been two weeks since I told him about a cracked wall in my living room and I see him often chilling.”
The building is constructed with wide lengthy hallways and a spacious center room extending to another side where more tenants live. People can walk through the center room to reach to the other part of the building. Both sides have a staircase and an elevator that residents use on a daily basis. However, the elevator on one side of the building has a consistent record of having technical problems while the elevator on the other side works fine.
“The amount of times this elevator keeps getting stuck is unbelievable!” said Amelia Flores, another resident of the building who uses the elevator daily.
The elevator has a button to push in case of emergency with a speaker to communicate with responders. Flores says, “I got stuck in the elevator once before for a short time before first responders came to fix the the elevator.”
The elevator rescue operators have become familiar in the building. Flores stated the elevator rescue operations operators weren’t surprised to receive a call from the building since they’ve been to it before.
“It was funny but sad,” Flores said, “when they put me on hold I heard them say, it’s the building on 45th Avenue again.”
Operators have not been seen in the building for a few months but that doesn’t mean the elevator has been working perfectly. The superintendent has been fixing the elevator!
Fixing an elevator is expensive because on average, a service call to fix an elevator is $120 and the cost for repairs is $75 per hour.
Residents are happy the superintendent fixes the elevator. Despite having the staircase as an alternative, they worry children can get hurt.
“It’s important for the people living here because most of them are elderly, parents of children, or simply need it for their folding tote,” the superintendent said adding “the staircase would give the residents a hard time bringing down their folding tote.”
Residents, though, question why the superintendent takes longer to come fix issues in their apartment.
“It doesn’t make sense,” said resident Emilio. He added last year he had a small hole on the ceiling and dust fell down onto the sink. Emilio reported it to the superintendent.
“A week went by and I even went twice to his office in case he forgot and didn’t get it fixed until almost a week later,” said Emilio.
The last two years were the busiest time for the superintendent because he received a lot of complaints from residents. “It’s hard to be in each of their apartment to fix the problem when people need me elsewhere,” the superintendent said. “Depending on what the problem is it can take a few days.”
Residents understand that the superintendent can be stressed out but they want everyone in the building to be free of harm.
“We’re all happy living here. The issues don’t always happen,” said an Indian man who recently moved in.