WASHINGTON, DC -- "It just makes me real nervous," Gwen Epps said.
It shouldn't be this hard. But to use the wheelchair lift in her Northwest apartment, she has to get off of her motorized scooter and lift all 90 pounds of it onto the platform.
"And try to keep from falling because I've got weakness in my legs," Epps, a senior citizen, said.
The whole unit seems to rattle as it moves up and down the staircase. Epps laments when it reaches the top: "See none of the arms go up. I have to push the arms to get off the thing."
She's not just inconvenienced. She's scared to death.
"I think I'mma die," she said. "I think it's going to come apart and I have these nightmares that the whole thing will just fall apart on me when I get on there."
She's been afraid for years – complaining to management that the wheelchair lift is often out of service. She even called the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) for help. DCRA is responsible for inspecting them, too.
But when the agency was slow to respond, Epps reached out to WUSA9 after we exposed failures in the agency responsible for making sure elevators are safe.
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The problem is the property has changed hands many times. NOVO Properties said it took over the apartments two years ago and did not install the wheelchair lift. The company did finally register the chair with DCRA this summer, though, after receiving violation notices in December 2017.
We asked the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs how could the lift go unregistered for 12 years. The agency's answer: "It is the responsibility of the property owner to acquire the proper licensing and inspection to be be in compliance."
"Mr. Payne checked in to it. He's the DCRA inspector and he found it's never been registered," Epps said.
"No certificate of inspection, no license to run was ever issued," said elevator inspector Audrick Payne. Wheelchair lifts fall under elevator inspections.
Audrick Payne is one of three certified elevator inspectors with DCRA and he's calling the agency out. He testified before the D.C. City Council and told us about elevator safety violations that go unchecked at hotels, hospitals, stores and apartment buildings throughout the city. And, he told WUSA that it happens "every day, every single day."
We uncovered years of neglect to the elevator at Hillcrest House Apartments in Southeast. An inspector even flagged it as a life-and-limb hazard. But, still it somehow managed to slip through the cracks and got a certificate to operate despite being unsafe.
Only after our story aired did DCRA finally step up issuing notices of infractions. The managers at Hillcrest House Apartments were fined more than $12,000. Residents tell us that the elevator is working, for now. DCRA says the matter is currently in adjudication.
A few weeks after Epps told us about her broken wheelchair lift, Payne, the DCRA inspector, checked the work done by an outside company.
It passed re-inspection. Epps no longer has to hoist all 90 pounds of her chair onto the lift. But she's not confident it will always get her where she needs to go safely. Epps' attorney with the Legal Counsel for the Elderly said that the building management hired a company to fix the lift after Epps contacted DCRA and called WUSA9.
"When I come out that apartment I pray. Every time I get on this thing I pray!," Epps said.
D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson has been hitting the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs hard and wants to break up the agency after years of oversight hearings and countless citizen complaints.
He's proposing breaking the agency into two departments. One for construction enforcement, the other for licenses and consumer protection.
But it won't easy. He anticipates an uphill battle with the Mayor on his proposed legislation. That's why he wants to hear from you and any safety issue you may have with your elevator.
