PETERSBURG, Va. -- Over the past few months, the lone elevator inside the two-year-old Petersburg Public Library has been out of service for weeks at a time, according to one patron.
"They've had people come out and look at it," Ted Jonas said. "They say it's fixed or they are waiting on parts or whatever and then when they do get it fixed, it doesn't last long, maybe a day or two, and then its back broke again."
But Jonas is not in complaining about the constant maintenance issues with the elevator.
"Of course it needs to be fixed," Harold Brown said.
Brown said he is surprised a building just two years old is having these types of issues.
"You have people with disabilities, mothers carrying kids back and forth to the library, older people coming to the library and I don't know who the contractor was for a building that's only two years old, to start having problems, this is just ridiculous," Brown said.
The 45,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art library opened in April of 2014 at a cost of nearly $13 million.
"I signed up for a couple of computer classes and I signed up for a diabetes education class,"Jonas said. "The diabetes class is being held on the second floor and the elevator is broke."
As a result, he has not been able to attend since his doctor warned him against using a flight of stairs for fear of injuring his knees.
A check online showed comments made about the elevator being broken on Aug. 4, Aug. 11, Sept. 12, Sept. 28. It was then fixed on Oct. 12, but was broken again on Oct. 17.
Colleen Miller with the disAbility Law Center of Virginia said she has concerns with the amount of time the elevator has been broken and that it could possibly be a violation of the American's with Disabilities Act.
