2014-07-29

Dear Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council Members and Council Staff,

This past Monday the City was hit with a significant amount of rainfall that flooded several of our elevator shafts and as a result those elevators were shut down. At the time, we believed that those elevators could/would be back in service within 48 hours. Unfortunately, the damage was much more extensive than we thought. On Tuesday we arranged to have our elevator consultant meet with the elevator service contractor at each site. Based on those site visits this is the prognosis:

Mid Rise at Roosevelt Towers, the east side elevator needs to completely dry out before it can be restarted. Using the equipment with any moisture could cause more significant damage. At this time we anticipate having the car back in service no later than the end of this week.

Mid rise at Jefferson Park has one of two elevators down. There are several issues here but it is also believed that one of the controllers shorted out and needs to be replaced. Unfortunately the manufacturer is still on a planned shut down so the parts cannot be obtained until next week. At this point the estimated downtime is three weeks. Again, there is a second elevator in this building that is running.

Unfortunately the elevator in the 30 Churchill Building at Burns Apartments was seriously damaged. It was apparently in the basement at the time of the flood and part of the car was underwater for a lengthy period of time. Given that the elevator is almost 50 years old and several of the components were not water resistant, including the wire wrap, and the entire system shorted out and the elevator is no longer usable and must be replaced. We are working on an emergency procurement but anticipate a two month turnaround.

The elevator at Burns services 55 apartments for elderly/disabled households. Of those, 52 apartments are currently occupied. Over the past couple of days I had nine staff persons meet with each of the 52 residents to explain the status of the elevator and to access his/her needs for the next two months. This process is still happening as I write this but we have identified 9 residents that need to be relocated quickly and we believe that we have enough units available to move these residents within the next week. We also have a couple of residents that need to be accommodated immediately and they will be placed in hotels. For those that do not wish to relocate, the CHA is arranging for staffing (tenant coordinators) between the hours of 8:00 am to 10:00 pm to assist residents with groceries, laundry, mail and other issues that might arise. We also understand that during the two months in questions those that remain could change their minds and we are prepared to relocate those residents as needed.

We have informed the City Manager, Inspectional Services and the Fire Department and I believe that Terry Dumas reached out to Ellen Semonoff as well. I wanted to be sure that you were all aware of this serious situation in case a constituent contacts you with questions or concerns.

Please feel free to contact me if you need any further information.

mjj

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Michael J. Johnston, Esq.
Deputy Executive Director
Cambridge Housing Authority
362 Green Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 520-6212 Phone
(617) 520-6420 Fax