Due to a broken elevator, apartment residents have been unable to move for two weeks. To the anger of the somewhat older residents of the flat in the De Mare shopping center in Alkmaar. “You just don’t just go outside anymore,” says one resident. Another remarks that the weather is just right: “We would like to go to the terrace below. It is the only outing we have left.”
In the video you can see exactly how long it takes before the replacement stairlift is upstairs – NH Nieuws
“They do shoot a rocket to the moon, but they don’t have what parts for an elevator,” says Harrie Smit, one of the angry residents. On March 12 in the morning the elevator broke down and he called the emergency line of his landlord. “A mechanic came late in the day, but he couldn’t fix the problem.”
“I’m more likely to be in Amsterdam by train than to be upstairs with this stairlift”
“What is really annoying is that there was no solution at all during the first week,” says resident Barbera van Dorth. That week she and many other elderly residents of the flat did not go out at all or hardly at all.
A stairlift has now been installed for emergencies, but it does not make Barbera very happy. “I’m more likely to be in Amsterdam by train than to be upstairs with this stairlift.”
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Other residents also do not like the stair lift. Some do not dare to go in and others depend on a scooter that cannot be taken down. “The pram is now downstairs, but to carry both children and the groceries up six floors is very annoying,” says another.
“We find it very annoying for the residents, but because we only knew after a week that the elevator could not be made quickly, we installed a stairlift as an emergency solution,” said spokesperson Monique Kerssens of housing corporation Woonwaard.
Woonwaard informed the residents in a letter. “If residents are also stuck at home with the emergency solution, they can contact us to see how we can help them further.”
The elevator should work again in mid-April, Woonwaard writes. “The delivery time of the parts makes it take longer”. According to the spokesperson, the elevator will be upgraded immediately during the repair. “This will make the elevator more reliable in the future.”
According to the apartment resident, it is not the first time that the elevator in this apartment breaks down. “We had the same problem four years ago. Even then, a stairlift was installed as an emergency solution,” says Harrie.
Five weeks without a lift
They find it ‘scandalous’ that they now have to wait until mid-April for a working elevator. “The letter states that it will be repaired in the week of April 11 to 17. Then we won’t have a lift for five weeks,” Harrie calculates.
“There are older people and people with walking difficulties living here.” The lack of a lift is also problematic for Harry. “Before I get up, I rested three times, my tick is not so great anymore.”
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