City of Dallas launches investigation as elderly and disabled seniors still trapped in apartment building with non-working elevators
By J.D. Miles
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DALLAS, Texas (KTVT) — Problems continue for elderly and physically disabled residents at a North Dallas apartment complex.
At the Tuscany at Goldmark Apartments in North Dallas, the two elevators used to help senior tenants get up and down one of the 5-floor buildings continue to be out of service.
A new sign posted across from them says the City of Dallas’s Fair Housing Division is investigating after our news story on Friday exposed a problem that has been ongoing for 3 weeks.
“It’s just a big mess and it’s ongoing,” said Brian Embry, whose father is 78 years old and lives on one of the senior living facility’s top floors.
“He has sciatic nerve issues,” Embry said. “He has a herniated disc, and so it’s really difficult for him to go up and down the stairs.”
Embry says that within weeks of his father moving in more than two years ago, the elevators went down, and issues have continued ever since.
State Rep. Ana-Maria Ramos first learned about the problem when she saw it on CBS News Texas. Since then, she’s been working to help get it fixed.
“Online, a lot of people are also alarmed because of the story because this hits close to home for many, many families,” said Ramos. “And so what our office did is we reached out to different state agencies, we also reached out to the City Council person and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. We’ve reached out to [Health and Human Services], Adult Protective Services, to ensure that the residents here are protected.”
Ramos says people in the community have stepped up, volunteering to do grocery runs and even walk dogs for residents who can’t leave their floors.
In a statement to CBS News Texas, the management company, AOG Living, says, “As soon as we learned about the outages, our team immediately contacted the manufacturer for service. We have remained in daily communication as they work to source the necessary replacement parts that are currently on backorder and resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”
They say they’ve also contracted a professional assistance service to help residents with their daily needs.
“The reality is the apartment complex, the management company, needs to look beyond ordering parts and essentially replace the whole system so that residents do not encounter this over and over again.”
“Being that age and being in physical pain like that and having those issues, not just with him, but with the other residents that live here as well, that’s a crisis in my opinion.”
A 93-year-old tenant who lives on the 5th floor canceled holiday travel plans because she doesn’t feel like she can safely navigate stairs.
Another tenant told us they postponed hip replacement surgery until the elevators are working again, and one resident asked a DART transit driver dropping them off to help them carry groceries to their unit.
State and local leaders say it’s a crisis for as many as 184 tenants that needs to be addressed.
“This hits close to home for many, many families, especially during these times of holidays. And a resident here not being able to visit her family member, this really hurts. It hits close to the heart. And I think that’s why so many people are alarmed and want something to happen.”
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