Neighbors in one Oakleaf apartment complex say they’re struggling to get up and down their stairs.
They say it’s because the elevator in their building has been out of order for more than two months.
Many of the residents who live in the Millstone Village Apartments are older and have disabilities.
Melvin Garrett is 90 years old.
“Being 90, carrying things other than yourself up and down a set of stairs is not a good thing,” Garrett said.
The World War II veteran and his wife moved to Millstone Village because each building has an elevator.
Neighbors, many of them who are older and have disabilities, are having to climb multiple flights of stairs because their apartment elevator is out of service. One man took a fall recently. Neighbors say the elevator has been broken for nearly nine weeks. @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/8pKS44vcQM
— Kevin Clark (@KClark_News) March 14, 2018
“We could live on any floor, and only have to walk from the elevator to the apartment,” he said.
Now, he and his wife have to walk up two flights of stairs to their third- floor apartment.
Disabled veteran Aaron Watkins lives in the same building.
He has neuropathy in his feet and struggles with balance.
Watkins even took a fall coming down the stairs the other day.
“I’ve complained quite a few times,” Watkins said. “My wife has complained numerous times, and it kind of just goes in one year and goes out the other.”
Neighbors tell Action News Jax there is another woman who lives on the third floor. They say she can hardly move, let alone climb two flights of stairs.
“She’s trapped in her house right now,” Watkins said.
Neighbors say their complaints to the leasing office have fallen on deaf ears.
They were told the elevator had to be replaced, or that management was waiting for parts.
When we asked about the delays, Millstone Village Apartments told us to call its corporate office. Action News Jax left both voicemails and emails with the South Florida office.
Action News Jax asked the state of Florida for any and all inspection reports and documents associated with Millstone Village elevators.
For the last two years, Millstone passed all their inspections.
However, there was one complaint with one elevator from August of last year: that it was out of service.
Comments written on the report say that Millstone did not keep maintenance records.
“We just want the truth,”Garrett said. “Tell us when this elevator is really going to be up and running.”
Cox Media Group
