BOISE - People living in the historic Idanha Apartments in downtown Boise have been living without a working elevator for the better part of the month.
The elevator broke down on May 5, and management says it has taken a long time to find the problem and fix it.
A tenant we talked to says the outdoor wheelchair lift to the first floor of the building had been broken prior to the building's elevator as well.
Both tenants and management says the lack of an elevator has been a big obstacle for those in wheelchairs or who can't climb stairs very well.
"People's lives depend on this," Idanha resident Ahniah Selene said. "If there's anything I'd like to get across, it's that my life has been interrupted for six to seven weeks. "I've missed out on a lot of things. I want to go to work, I want to go to school, I want to go to church."
A company rebuilt and reinstalled the elevator's motor-generator.
Idanha Apartments General Manager Tisha Bonney said the elevator will be tested Tuesday, and hopefully reopened for everyone to use.
"It's been very difficult," Bonney said. "If you are on the second floor it's a little bit less amount of stairs versus someone whose on the sixth floor. You have to carry your groceries, you have to do your laundry."