Clogged toilets on the rise, elevators, students complain, are not

Inefficient elevators, clogged toilets and slow responses have been among the many things high rise residents have had to say about their housing experiences this semester.

Although steps have been made since the High Rise Renovation Project began in 2004 to modernize the buildings, residents say they are still unhappy with the quality of facilities.

"After a semester in the high rises, I already want to move to a better accommodation. Everything here is old and rusted," said Engineering sophomore and Rodin College House resident, Aditya Kaji. "Luckily, our elevators are not as bad as Harnwell's."

One elevator in Harnwell College House is being renovated each semester. Car three, the first elevator to be renovated, was completed over the summer. Another elevator is currently being renovated and is scheduled to be ready by the spring semester.

Building residents have been complaining that one elevator attends to almost all calls while the other two seem mostly unresponsive, especially at peak times.

Facilities director of communications Jennifer Rizzi acknowledged this complaint in an e-mail on behalf of Facilities director of operations Kenneth Ogawa.

She attributed problems to "old, non-renovated cars running on outdated, inefficient floor dispatching controllers," referring to the software that controls the elevators.

She added that the problem was "compounded by having one new car running with two old cars."

The new elevators are installed with computerized microprocessor elevator dispatching controllers, wrote Rizzi. These are expected to make the elevators more efficient.

Wharton sophomore and Harnwell resident Manoshi Kamdar, who lived in the building this summer, said the situation then was much worse.

"Almost every night, two of the three elevators would not work," she said. "The only working elevator would stop on every floor on the way up and on the way down."

Kamdar said that climbing down 21 floors was often faster than waiting for the elevator.

In addition to elevator issues, many high-rise residents complain of clogged toilets and plumbing problems.

As of Friday, Facilities had received 119 calls for clogged toilets in Harnwell, 180 in Harrison College House and 137 in Rodin this semester.

Rizzi attributed this in part to a 1992 water conservation law that requires toilet manufacturers to reduce the gallons of water per flush from 3.5 to 1.6 gallons.

Rizzi added that the current toilet design is also a factor, and that a "new style toilet is being recommended for all future dormitory renovations."

Residents are also unhappy about the response to facilities complaints.

Wharton sophomore and Harnwell resident Cameron Rouzer complained that Facilities are "just not prompt." He said they responded three hours later than he was told to expect them.

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