SAN ANTONIO, Tx — Residents at a high rise for seniors downtown are feeling trapped in because of faulty elevators.
There are two elevators at the Victoria Plaza Apartments. Pauline Ramos, a resident of the apartment complex says one of the elevators is completely out of service and the other one breaks down multiple times a week for hours at a time.
“We have several residents here that are blind, that don’t have a limb, that are in electric wheelchairs, and walkers,” Ramos says. “If the elevator doesn’t work, they can’t come out.”
Ramos has lived at the 9-story, 185-unit high rise for seniors and the disabled for two years. She says the elevators have been a constant problem for the past year.
“It’s scary because you don’t know if you’re going to get stuck in there and for how long,” Ramos said. “You don’t know if it’s going to fall down. How secure is it?”
Ramos says she has reached out to Opportunity Home, which manages the property, and District 1 City Councilwoman Sukh Kaur for help and hasn’t been able to get anyone to listen or help.
We confirmed that the San Antonio Fire Department has responded to 7 emergency calls related to the elevators at the Victory Plaza Apartments over the past year. In 3 of those instances’ residents had to be rescued from the elevators.
Ramos, who uses a walker says she has had to struggle walking up six flights of stairs to her apartment when the elevators don’t work.
“A neighbor helped me up because I was getting ready to pass out,” Ramos said.
Opportunity Home told us they are reviewing maintenance records and will follow up with us once they have more information.
We contacted Councilwoman Sukh Kaur and code compliance to find out if anything can be done to help the residents at Victoria Plaza Apartments. So far we haven’t heard back, but we will update if they respond.