Our elevator inspection is overdue by six months. It took 3 years for the last one even though it’s a law that the city get it done every year. When I inquire, I just get told we are on the list. My friends and neighbors tell me it’s a corrupt racket where the inspectors are in with the management company’s to make sure it doesn’t get done. We only have one elevator and it’s always breaking down. We are desperate and can’t afford a new elevator as the management wants. Please help. We live in Skokie, IL.
Maybe contact “the media” to see if they would be interested in doing a story?
Leave a nice watch or bottle of whiskey on the inspector’s desk.
I’m not saying you should bribe an official - that might be illegal.
But, while working for an architect in my college years we frequently had to accidentally leave things in the various inspector’s offices to get our inspections done in a timely manner. These varied from 30yr old scotch to a $4000 watch.
^Seconded. Some of the Chicago suburbs are known for their [del]corruption[/del] tendency to expect more from the taxpayers than just their taxes.
I can’t offer a cite because I don’t remember the name of the town, but there was some Chicago 'burb where the new police chief got hired, quickly found out that the local towing company towed about 10X more cars annually than there were people in the town, started asking questions, and quickly got fired.
Back some years ago I lived just outside of Chicago. The cops on the Outer Drive were universally known as “three wheel toll takers”.
In particular, you might try contacting the Tribune’s What’s Your Problem? column. This seems like the kind of problem that would go over well with them
About 1980 the elevators in the store that I maintained were 18 months since the last yearly inspection. I called the state inspectors office in California. I got the do not worry about it we will inspect them when we can. I requested that the state send me a letter stating that the elevators and escalators had not been inspected because the state inspectors did not have time. I insisted, just incase there was a problem and a customer made a point about the elevators being out of inspection. I was told that they would get back to me. the next day I got a call that the inspector would be there next Monday morning.
I am not sure what your problem is. Do you want the elevator inspected in the hope that it will not pass and thus force the owner to make repairs? When you say you “can’t afford a new elevator” it sounds as if you are an owner (condo or coop). If you are an owner, getting an inspection is not really going to help you. Getting an inspection will not make the elevator work.
Ask nicely by phone a few days in a row. Then send a certified letter. Keep track of your contacts, with dates, times and the name of the person(s) you spoke to. Then call whichever local newspaper or TV station is most aggressive about lazy/crooked officialdom.