FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Ongoing elevator outages at a Fresno apartment complex are creating serious challenges for residents, especially those with disabilities who rely on them for daily mobility.<\/p>\n
At “The Link at Blackstone” on Blackstone Avenue, both elevators have been out of service for months.<\/p>\n
One has reportedly been down since January, while the other stopped working about a month ago. <\/p>\n
Signs posted at each elevator notify residents that the elevator is \u201cout of order.\u201d<\/p>\n
For tenants who can use stairs, the inconvenience is manageable. <\/p>\n
But for others, like third-floor resident Jimmy Hepner, the situation is far more serious.<\/p>\n
Hepner, who uses a wheelchair, says the broken elevators have left him effectively trapped in his apartment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what it takes, but my God, it\u2019s not good for us,\u201d Hepner said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of older people up here, it\u2019s not just me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Without a working elevator, Hepner has no accessible way to leave his unit. <\/p>\n
He says the issue has already forced him to cancel multiple medical appointments.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had to cancel three of them already,\u201d he said. \u201cThen I had another doctor\u2019s appointment I had to reschedule.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond the inconvenience, Hepner says the situation poses a serious safety risk. <\/p>\n
After two fires near his apartment earlier this year, he fears what could happen if another emergency occurs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll have to lie here if there\u2019s a fire,\u201d he said. \u201cIf they don\u2019t come get me, I can\u2019t go anywhere. I\u2019m stuck up here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The situation raises concerns about accessibility and tenant safety, particularly for people with mobility challenges.<\/p>\n
FOX 26 reached out to city officials for answers, who directed questions to Cal\/OSHA regarding regulations and tenant protections in situations where essential accessibility features, like elevators, are not functioning.<\/p>\n
For now, Hepner says he has rescheduled his medical appointments for next month, but if the elevators remain broken, he may be forced to delay them yet again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Ongoing elevator outages at a Fresno apartment complex are creating serious challenges for residents,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-290745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}