TO THE EDITOR:
This is a letter concerning the recent interest in campus elevators, between the high number of Davis entrapments and the library’s response.
As one of the campus wheelchair users, I often feel a spiritual connection with the UNC elevators. When people ask about my location, the answer is probably in an elevator. It’s just a side effect of not being able to use the stairs. I mean — don’t get me wrong, I could get down the stairs, it just wouldn’t be that pretty.
But spending so much time in the elevators, you begin to bond with them: “How’s your day been? Got any plans later? Why the hell are you being so slow!?”
The DTH recently covered the fact that there have been over 190 elevator entrapments in recent years, but what they failed to cover were the number of general breakdowns. In Koury alone there have been five breakdowns that I know of, leaving me stranded on an upper floor. This has happened at Lenoir multiple times as well, leaving me unable to get food for the day.
Worse still are the response times to the breakdowns. I’ve had to wait two, even three hours for a technician to arrive plus the time it takes for the repair, just so I can get to the first floor.
For most people, an elevator breakdown is an inconvenience. For wheelchair users, it’s a real problem. Carolina needs to invest more in elevator maintenance. They need to hire more elevator technicians, and increase the number of routine elevator check ups, decreasing the number of breakdowns and lowering response times.
Chris Corsi
