A D.C. government employee was riding the elevator up to her office last year in the Marion S. Barry Jr. Building when it suddenly fell. The elevator car dropped several stories with the employee trapped inside, injuring her shoulder, according to a co-worker. The incident was mentioned during a D.C. Council hearing earlier this year.
During that February hearing, Department of General Services bosses were called to answer questions about the agency’s management of District-owned buildings. Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George rattled off some alarming statistics about the 269 elevators across DGS’s portfolio:
• City regulations require that elevators’ certificates of inspection be renewed every 24 months. But only two of DGS’s 269 elevators (less than 1 percent) were in compliance with this requirement as of the February hearing, according to Lewis George.
• Nineteen of the 269 elevators were certified between two to five years ago; 130 were certified between six to 10 years ago; and 118 have no certificate on file, Lewis George said.
• The median installation date for a D.C. elevator is 2002.
In particular, elevators have been a chronic problem in the Marion Barry Building, which is home to many Metropolitan Police Department offices, as well as some offices for the Department of Health Care Finance and the Office of Contracting and Procurement.
Internal emails dating back to at least 2021 and continuing into this year show employees regularly raising concerns about the building’s elevators with Reginald Greene, a DGS building manager. Employees constantly complain about getting trapped in the elevators and describe their attempts to pry the doors open and escape; they request updates about when broken elevators will be fixed and grouse that the constant outages cause delays in getting up to their desks in the mornings.
There is often little or no formal notice to employees when an elevator is out of service, according to employees’ emails and complaints sent to councilmembers, making the problem even more precarious and unpredictable.
Some employees have stopped taking the elevators altogether, out of fear for their safety. They instead choose to walk up several flights of stairs.
“I can’t get in the elevators anymore,” says Jessica Sharac, who works on the ninth floor. “How terrifying falling would be, but I also don’t want to get stuck. You always imagine these nightmare scenarios where you’re the last one leaving on Friday afternoon, and then you’re stuck there through the weekend.”
Other than the falling incident mentioned during the Council’s oversight hearing, which happened on Dec. 5, 2023, Sharac says she’s heard of at least two other similar incidents. One happened in June and is documented in internal emails; the other, she says, happened around Oct. 9 (though she only has secondhand knowledge of the most recent incident).
Sharac also recalls hearing about an elevator-related incident from August, where a high-ranking government employee was trapped for so long that they missed an important press conference.
“People weren’t happy to hear that, but we thought because it happened to a bigwig, something might be fixed,” she says.
John Stokes, DGS’s associate director of external affairs, says all 12 elevators in the Marion Barry Building are in good condition and downplays the extent of the issues.
“When you have 12 elevators, every once in a while you’ll have an elevator be taken off line just for maintenance,” he says.
In a follow-up email from Stokes, DGS says it is “committed to safe and reliable operations for over 300 elevators in our portfolio. Every elevator is inspected monthly by licensed and certified personnel. Our inspection frequency is significantly higher than private properties. In FY25, we are doubling our inspection, testing, and maintenance capacity to enhance service, both qualitatively and quantitatively. In the Marion Barry Jr. Building, operational challenges arose due to elevator modifications associated with renovations in the building. This spring, we instituted weekly servicing by technicians, which has resulted in increased reliability.”
But Sharac says she hasn’t noticed much change. “If this is improved maintenance, we’re not seeing good outcomes so far,” she says.
On the evening following the elevator drop that injured an employee, Greene, the DGS building manager, emailed an update with “excellent news concerning the elevator situation here at MBB.” He continued:
The elevators, all 12 passenger elevators, have been up and running since about noon today. … The elevator company had no hesitation deeming all the elevators safe and fit for regular use. I know that being on any mechanical device that has a likelihood of malfunctioning or experiencing the random or infrequent malfunction can be frightening. We understand and acknowledge this reality and want to avoid or limit the potential of exposure to such an occurrence at all costs. With that in mind, and based on the assurances of the experts in this field, we have fully returned to normal elevator operations in the building.
The next morning, Sharac sent a follow-up question:
Good morning,
What was the cause of the malfunction?
Greene sidestepped her question in his reply:
Glad everyone is safe and the safety features on the elevators worked perfectly to prevent a major crash. All is corrected. Thanks
Safety issues notwithstanding, the chronic elevator issues at the Marion Barry Building have resulted in some amusing email exchanges. Employees raise concerns about their safety and offer “kind regards” as they express frustration with the ongoing malfunctions. They repeatedly ask (“with all due respect”) for updates; and they tell the building manager to “please advise” when an elevator is in or out of service (some employees apparently enter elevators without knowing they had been malfunctioning earlier in the day).
A few snippets of those threads (which have been lightly edited for length), including a six-figure repair bill, are below:
The Marion S. Barry Jr. Building at 441 4th St. NW Credit: Darrow Montgomery
***
On Jan. 25, at 2:33 p.m. Rhonda Robinson, director of the MPD’s Court Liaison Division, alerted Greene and other members of the department:
Good afternoon,
An officer advised that he had to pry himself out of one of the elevators a few minutes ago. If facing the Court Liaison Division (CLD), it’s the elevator on the right closest to the CLD check-out counter. It’s the same elevator that malfunctioned about a month ago.
***
On Jan. 26, Portia Shorter, human resources officer with the Department of Health Care Finance, wrote to Greene:
Good afternoon Reginald,
It was brought to my attention that an MPD worker got stuck in the elevator. Please provide an update to whether other elevators were placed out of service excluding the existing one (#9). Thanks.
Greene replied:
Yes, currently have 3 elevators out of service. Thanks.
To which Shorter followed up:
Please specify which elevators or send out a communication to be distributed to staff for awareness purposes. Thanks!
***
On April 20, 12:20 p.m., Greene emailed Supervisory Physical Security Specialist Alan Coleman:
Hello
Did watch command receive a call from elevator #8 here at MBB this morning between 8am and 8:30am please? Thanks
Four minutes later, Coleman inquired with LaNita Brandon, training coordinator for the Central Communication Center at DGS, cc’ing Greene.
Good Afternoon: Ms. Brandon
Can you advise if there were any calls from the any [sic] elevators with a person trapped in the elevators (441 4th Street) today.
Brandon replied by 12:44 p.m.:
Good afternoon,
At 0810 Hrs. the CCC received an elevator call from elevator #8 at 441 4th St. NW. Officer T. Wilson was notified at 0811 Hrs. Operator Hughes talked with the woman inside and the woman stated that she was stuck and going to jump out of the elevator as soon as the doors open. The woman in the elevator stopped speaking through the elevator phone and Hughes repeatedly said “Hello.” Hughes stated that she could hear the elevator doors chime as they open and close. Operator Hughes later phoned the site back and spoke with Officer T. Pratt who stated that the woman was standing outside the elevator when security came to check on her status.
Regards,
LaNita Brandon
***
Also on April 20, at 12:15 p.m., Diana Karczmarczyk emailed an urgent request to Greene and Devanté White, with DGS:
Good afternoon Mr. Greene and Mr. White,
I am writing to see if you can please share an update on the status of the elevators on the south side of 441 4th St. NW. I previously raised concerned [sic] about these elevators earlier this summer after I heard reports of folks getting stuck in elevators multiple times. I also heard about an employee having a serious injury after the elevator fell. In addition, out of the 6 elevators on this side of the building it was … common to have only 1 or 2 functioning on a daily basis. … After communicating my concerns … I understood that a member of DGS was going to be present in the building on a daily basis to repair any issues so that we had fully functioning elevators. There was a clear change in the number of operating elevators over a period of time this summer.
However, seeing that we are back to having only 1 functioning elevator this week, I wanted to express my concerns again about the safety of the elevators and the lack of available elevators for the employees and guests that visit this building. It is incredibly concerning to me that we have 5 out today. I am worried for the safety of employees and visitors and think that this is a priority issue.
Can you please advise on what is being done to address the broken elevators, reduce the amount of issues with the elevators (as I heard again today a story of someone being stuck in an elevator), and ensure that the proper amount of elevators are available on the south side of [the] building?
Thanks for your prompt attention to this matter.
White replied:
Good afternoon,
Currently have one elevator down on the north and 4 on the south. We are working on getting the elevators serviced.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
At 12:26 p.m., Karczmarczyk responded:
Thank you for the quick response to this concerning matter. We all look forward to this being resolved quickly. Do you know when we can expect the elevators to be safe and fully functional again?
White, at 12:28 p.m.:
I currently can’t give you a time line
Thank you
At 12:36 Karczmarczyk fired back:
I understand. However, this is a significant safety issue. What is your goal to address this? This morning a 5th elevator was not functioning and stuck on 1C on the south side. The lines of people waiting are already growing as multiple departments in the building have community members that need to visit to conduct business. The strain on 1 fully and 1 partially working elevator is a legitimate concern.
Thanks for understanding my urgency (and that of everyone that relies on safe elevators to conduct business in the building). I would like assurance, that I am happy to pass along to others, that this matter is a priority for DGS and will be addressed as soon as possible. I will continue to check in to see if you have an update.
I am happy to take this to the next level to share my concerns if that will help to expedite this matter.
At 12:40 p.m., White offered:
The north side elevators are quicker, at this time.
Unsatisfied, Karczmarczyk replied again at 12:50 p.m.:
With all due respect, Mr. White, that response does not address my concerns about the south side, the safety of our elevators, and the reliability of the elevators in place. In addition, if there is a preference for folks to use the north side then signs and directions need to be added in the lobby.
Please advise who I can connect with to expedite the request with your leadership and get the reassurance I am seeking that this is a priority concern?
White replied at 3:32 p.m.:
The elevator contractor is on site.
***
On April 24, Mya Burroughs, a staff assistant to Ben Stutz, the COO of DHCF, emailed Greene:
Good afternoon Mr. Green [sic],
I’m writing to seek clarification on the status of the elevators. This morning, I did see the elevator company on-site briefly, with a couple taken out of service.
Elevator #6 was one that just so happened to be taken out of service. To that end, our agency risk officer, Candace Nelson, brought to my attention her eyewitness account of staff having to squeeze through the elevator door to exit on the 2nd floor North Side.
The door would only open 8 -10 inches wide. After watching them pry themselves through the doors, which they finally closed the elevator went down.
No sooner than two minutes later, the same elevator bell dings on the 2nd floor. Candace and I hear a loud voice, almost like yelling. I ask Candace if she heard a noise, and then we both hear it a second time.
Realizing there was someone stuck again, I started banging on the door. They finally opened it, and it was one of our IT staff members and another lady.
As of 1:15 p.m., I checked the lobby area and loading dock and did not see the company still onsite.
Yet, we have witnessed 2 groups of people get stuck on the same elevator even after its inspection today.
Can you please advise on why an elevator was placed back in service if there are unresolved issues?
Kind regards,
***
On May 2, following a separate morning email thread about someone who had to be extracted from an elevator by firefighters, Stutz emailed Greene at 12:25 p.m.:
Regi,
We are hearing that multiple elevators are out of service. Can you provide an update?
Thanks
Greene replied less than an hour later:
Yes sir will check the status now
Stutz responded with an update:
Elevator 6 doors not functioning again. Just came to 2nd floor and doors got stuck trying to open.
… to which Greene replied:
Ok we will shut 6 down
Stutz again:
I’m sorry but why is This elevator … still operating? I just had someone again get stuck when the doors didn’t open and went to another floor. This elevator has over ten complaints in two weeks – why is it operational?
***
May 3, at 10:06 a.m., Shorter, a DHCF human resources officer, emailed Greene:
Good Morning Reginald,
There’s something seriously wrong with elevator #6 as this morning two HR team members got stuck. For some reason, the doors are not opening once it reaches the 2nd floor. I am requesting that elevator #6 remain offline until a thorough inspection can be performed. I am available if you would like to discuss further.
Greene replied about 30 minutes later:
Good morning,
I just rode #6 and it works perfectly see attached video. I have to have the alarm pushed and or some way to recreate the issue. We cannot recreate the issue and diagnose the problem.
By 10:45 a.m., Stutz, with DHCF, chimed in:
Regi
Sorry but I don’t see how this video makes any difference. Sure, it works once, but over the last two weeks, we have reported and I have experienced elevator six get stuck as have multiple staff from dhcf. I’ll have nearly 7 reports in the last two weeks.
The more prudent course of action would be to stop trying to force the issue. Shut this elevator down. Also I don’t appreciate the answer to our staff getting stuck to be a video of you riding it. My staff aren’t making it up.
At 11:08 a.m., Melanie Williamson, another DHCF employee, added to the conversation (part of the email was redacted before it was provided via the Freedom of Information Act):
Reggie – a group of Deputy Mayors were just here for a meeting yesterday and got stuck in elevator #6 and this morning someone else just got stuck. They warned me to not use the elevator, and asked why “we” wouldn’t have blocked it off.
***
On May 29, Janice Sullivan, a director in MPD’s Technical and Analytical Services Bureau, wrote:
Reggie,
FYI – While Assistant Chief Coligan was on elevator #12 Southside the door only opened a couple of inches on the 7th floor. When he rode down to the lobby it opened completely.
Greene replied:
Ok we will take it out of service
And Sullivan wrote back:
Thanks, I just unknowingly got into it and it would not open on the 7th floor.
Thanks again!
***
On June 12, Davonte Prophet, an accountant with building management company Spectrum Management, provided Greene with the expenses billed by Schindler Elevator, the manufacturer of the elevators in the Marion Barry Building:
Good Afternoon Mr. Greene,
Please see attached a list of all service calls Spectrum has incurred at MBB since the elevator recladding has commenced. To date, we’ve incurred $110,099.33 in service call expenses charged by Schindler Elevator.
Please let me know if anything else is needed or you have any questions.
***
On June 25, 2024, Shorter notified Greene of another dangerous malfunction:
Good Evening Reginald,
A DHCF employee got stuck this evening in elevator #11 at approximately 4:23pm. She entered the elevator from the lobby, the elevator went up and dropped three times but eventually stopped on the 9th floor. Although the elevator stopped on the 9th floor, the light indicated 7th floor. It is apparent this elevator has [sic] malfunction. Please have someone inspect the said elevator and place it out of service. Thanks.
Greene replied:
Will do, we were on site and called FEMS to have her removed. Thanks.