Seniors housing project suffers elevator problems

By Timothy Pratt

Thursday, Sept. 23, 2004 | 9:38 a.m.

A four-story, federally subsidized housing project for senior citizens had an elevator breakdown for the third time in three days, according to Parviz Ghadiri, executive director of the Las Vegas Housing Authority, managing agency for the project.

One of the two elevators at Sartini Plaza project, 900 S. Brush St., was out of service for about 30 hours until it was fixed about 7 a.m. today, Ghadiri said this morning.

The building -- named for Arthur Santini, who had Ghadiri's job for 17 years until a stinging federal audit forced him to retire in 1989 -- is home to 200 low-income people who must be over 62 to qualify for an apartment.

At some point Monday, Ghadiri said, one of the project's two elevators broke. Then the following day about noon, the other one went out of service. About 8 p.m. the same day -- eight hours later -- both were fixed, the official said.

Then shortly after midnight the first one that went out of service broke down again, Ghadiri said.

The official said agency employees had called 55 disabled residents to see if they needed accommodations at an area hotel while the problem was being fixed -- though the official couldn't specify when the calls were made or how many of the people were reached.

Two of Sartini Plaza's tenants accepted the Housing Authority's offer to put them up Tuesday night at Arizona Charlie's, Ghadiri said.

The official also said that while both elevators were out of service his agency had posted guards from a private security guard company at every floor in case there were any emergency.

Sartini said part of the problem in fixing the situation at Sartini Plaza was that the company that made the elevators' motors had gone of out business. The housing project opened in 1983.