John Hamilton has lived at a Salem public housing high-rise for seniors and people with disabilities for six years. In that time, he has frequently faced disruptions caused by malfunctioning elevators. Sometimes it lasts just a day or two, but sometimes more than a month.
“I’m in a wheelchair. My legs don’t work,” Hamilton told GBH News before a community meeting at 27 Charter St. organized by the Charter Street Tenant Association. “One [elevator] stopped two feet under the first floor, which meant that I was trapped there. The doors would open, but I couldn’t get out, and then the doors closed and I couldn’t open them.”
Hamilton says residents of the 12-floor building with 110 units — all of whom are elderly or disabled or both — are constantly worried and frustrated about the elevators. At the beginning of May, both of the elevators were broken at the same time, he said, even though they had just undergone a five month-long refurbishment…