Gravesend Seniors Sue Landlord To Stop Elevator Repairs That Would Leave Them Trapped
Three elderly, disabled Gravesend residents, along with Public Advocate Leticia James, are suing their landlord to block elevator repairs that they say would leave them trapped for months in their high-rise apartment building.
Yevgenya Feldman, 90, Konstantin Berezovsky, 83, Lyubov Vaksman, 65, all live on top floors of 49 Bokee Court and suffer from various medical conditions, such as heart problems, diabetes, and arthritis, that prevent them from moving up and down the stairs easily. Their lawyers have filed a federal lawsuit demanding reasonable living accommodations be made for their clients during the four-month-long elevator repairs, citing the Fair Housing Act, disability rights laws, as well as state and city discrimination laws.
The tenants were only notified last month that the elevator would be shut down in January, according to a press release from Legal Services NYC:
The residents, who live on the fifth and sixth floors of the building, received notice on December 2nd that the 60-unit building’s only elevator would be shut down for a 16-week period beginning the second week in January. The notice suggested that residents who were unable to walk the stairs “make arrangements to perhaps stay with family or friends,” but did not offer any accommodations to the disabled as required by law.
Due to their health conditions, the tenants would be unable to attend doctor’s appointments or leave the building in an emergency, the lawsuit claims. In addition, Feldman and Berezovsky would not be able to attend senior daycare programs, where they receive two meals a day.
“The proposed elevator removal at 49 Bokee Court poses a very real and imminent danger to our low-income, elderly, disabled clients who are in no position to locate, pay for, and move to other apartments by themselves,” said Pavita Krishnaswamy, Deputy Director of Litigation at Legal Services NYC’s Brooklyn Program.
The tenants have requested living accommodations on the first floor of their building, or in another building that has a working elevator. Beach Haven Apartments, which owns and manages five buildings in Gravesend in addition to 49 Bokee court, has ignored repeated requests from them and from City Councilman Mark Treyger.
James and Legal Services NYC’s Bronx office filed a similar lawsuit in on behalf of disabled residents of four Bronx buildings in September, and since then, additional tenants, as well as the Center for Independence for the Disabled of NY, have applied to join the lawsuit. They are seeking damages against the landlord as well as stricter laws from the Department of Buildings.
“Landlords must, by law, provide disabled tenants with accommodations that are suited to their needs,” said Public Advocate Letitia James in a statement. “Unfortunately, some New York City landlords don’t understand the Fair Housing Act, which mandates those accommodations. Cases involving elevator outages are far too common in our city and we cannot allow disabled tenants to be mistreated.”
Feldman suffers from heart problems, hypertension, depression, and back and foot pain; Berezovsky suffers from heart problems, arthritis, hypertension, and diabetes; and Vaksman, suffers from diabetes, hypertension, and arthritis.