Crime-ridden and problem-plagued elevators at Chicago Housing Authority high-rises may be enclosed and equipped with new security systems under a plan unveiled by CHA Chairman Vincent Lane Wednesday.
The new designs, which enclose the exposed elevators, will be tested at three 16-story buildings at the South Side Robert Taylor Homes at a cost of $2.5 million, Lane said. Contract bids for the work are due Sept. 16.
”Public housing residents deserve the same kind of living environment as anyone else,” said Lane. ”This is not a frill.”
The design calls for creating an enclosed first-floor lobby, lobbies on each floor and a third stairwell, inaccessible from the outside and protected by an alarm system. A guard station manned by tenants around the clock and an intercom system residents can use to screen visitors will also be installed, as well as surveillance cameras inside the elevators.
”Right now there is complete access to every unit in the building,”
said Lane. ”Thugs, drug dealers and rambunctious kids can go completely undetected. Right now, anyone from anywhere can walk right into any building. How can residents feel secure in a living situation like that?”
Lane said the authority also plans to create an agency-wide resident identification system to screen those who have access to the buildings.
If the security plan is to succeed, tenants must take an active role, Lane said. He said a new process to screen potential tenants and evict troublemakers will be implemented Oct. 1.
”All the money in the world won`t solve the problems if the residents don`t protect the investment,” said Lane. ”The residents are going to have to be responsible. Residents who can`t control their kids will be evicted.”
Apart from increasing security, Lane said, enclosing the elevators would save the agency millions of dollars in repairs.
”We spent about $12 million last year in elevator repairs,” Lane said.
”This program will lead to significant savings for the authority and a greatly improved quality of life for the residents.
”The high-rise building design that is predominant in the CHA stock is better suited to weather in Florida, not in Chicago,” he said. ”There is no doubt that our elevator problems have been precipitated and aggravated by the exposure of the elevators to the elements.”
The new design, by the firms of Weese Hickey Weese Architects Ltd. and Johnson Reid Lee Architects, will be tested at the Taylor high-rises at 4555 S. Federal St., 4848 S. State St. and 5135 S. Federal St.
Before the work can begin, the elevators` mechanical systems must be replaced at the 27 Taylor buildings, a program that will cost $7 million.
”If this works, we`ll be able to go to (the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) and request money to do this at all CHA high-rises,”
Lane said.
