'Russian Roulette' Elevators Terrify Legal Aid Society Staffers

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — The elevator was on the 23rd floor when it suddenly began to plummet and Valerie Clerk, trapped inside, thought she was going to die.

“I thought that was it,” said Clerk, 59. “I thought that was the end of it.”

Clerk works at 111 Livingston St., the high-rise office building that houses the Legal Aid Society and Workers Compensation Board, where occupants rallied Wednesday afternoon to protest elevators that malfunction on a daily basis.

“Our jobs are hard enough,” said Mike Pate, a Legal Aid staff attorney. “Do we really need the stress of riding an elevator that’s comparable to the Cyclone at Coney Island?

“It’s getting ridiculous.”

The Legal Aid staffers accused developer and building owner Abraham Leser of ignoring complaints that elevators shake, stall and open between floors, causing some people to crawl out and risk injury, Pate said.

Those concerns are backed up by city records. Building representatives are slated to appear at an Environmental Control Board hearing on Sept. 17 to discuss an open violation for failing to maintain the elevators and occupants have logged 27 Department of Buildings complaints about the elevators that date back to 1998.

“It suddenly started shaking then dropped quickly and debris fell,” one person reported of a 111 Livingston elevator on May 5. “Afterward it was shaking and shot up to the top floor.”

Leser, who did not respond to Patch's request for comment, bought the 23-story, 397,650-square-foot building in 1995 and, in 2017, refinanced the mortgage to leverage a $120 million loan, city records show.

The Brooklyn developer used $80 million to refinance a loan on another building, the Commercial Observer reported, and $40 million to buy another building, said Pate.

The Legal Aid staffers, who have watched mechanics complete temporary fixes for years, organized after management told them not to expect substantial repairs until 2020 at the earliest, said Pate.

“They’ve basically been condescending, patronizing and non-responsive to our reasonable demands,” he said. “Essentially they’ve been putting bandaids on something that is bleeding to death.”

Pate, Clerk and the dozens of workers who protested on Livingston Street Wednesday hope they can garner support from city officials and pressure Leser into making substantial repairs before someone is seriously injured.

Until then, Clerk will keep coming to work because she has a family to support, she said.

“You take your chance with your life every day,” Clerk said.

“It’s like playing roulette,” added Pate. “Do you feel lucky?”

Photos by Kathleen Culliton