Allan Appel Photo
… the mayor ponders the appropriate Jewish blessing to inaugurate a new elevator at a skyscraper community chock full of reliably voting senior citizens.
Mayor John DeStefano, who has crammed his schedule with daily photo ops in the run-up to a competitive Sept. 13 Democratic primary, addressed that conundrum Thursday evening with Helen Drucker (pictured with him above) and 75 other residents of the Jewish-community-run though non-denominational Tower One/Tower East senior living complex.
A crowd of dignitaries including state Sen. Toni Harp and Police Commissioner Richard Epstein joined the mayor at the festive gathering in the swanky new lobby. The ceremony marked the debut of a long-awaited third lift at Tower One, were State Senator Toni Harp, and Police Commissioner Richard Epstein.
As with the mayor’s other photo ops, many in strategic voting wards (like one earlier the same day), this event was not technically a reelection “campaign” event. It was officially part of his duties as the city’s chief executive. Senior towers are considered prime campaign territory because of the concentration of voters who, with the right organization, can be easily transported to the polls or “helped” with absentee ballots. (Click here and here for reports on a gubernatorial candidate’s Tower One visit last year.)
Mayor In the new elevator with Dorothy Giannini-Meyers, and (front row) Linda Kantor, Dave Schancupp, and Tower CEO Richard Slutsky.
The elevator dedication was the culmination of a $3.5 million Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-sponsored project that included renovation of 24 apartments, the new lobby, and the elevator, according to Tower One’s Board Chair Dave Schancupp.
Getting a large elevator after 40 years is a blessing for Tower One’s 200 residents, about 60 percent of whom use elevator-space-consuming walkers or wheelchairs.
Schancupp said that when the building went up 40 years ago, the average resident was in his or her 60s and 70s. There were far fewer support devices. HUD considered two elevators sufficient and refused to build a third.
Now the average age at the complex is in the 80s, with many residents in their 90s. So walkers and wheelchairs abound. The old elevators hold about four people each with walkers or wheelchairs; the new accommodates about eight.
Before the new lift, Doris Dimenstein said, she often worried she might have to wait and wait and not get down from her apartment in time to get her early morning ride to do volunteer work at St. Raphael’s.
Just as much of a concern, she added: “I also worried I couldn’t make it up in time to watch Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.”
Those days are history.
Pearl Karmasin, on right.
Pearl Karmasin, who has been living on the 20th floor of Tower One, talked about the elevator as if it were an overachieving grandchild. It’s so fast, she said, “it doesn’t even take half a minute” to get up to her apartment.
She compared the experience approvingly to Space Mountain at Disneyworld, which she recently visited with her grandchild.
Before the ribbon was officially cut, Tower One/Tower East’s volunteer rabbi, Benjamin Scolnick, took to the podium to offer a blessing, which turned into a challenge. Since he knew no formal blessing for an elevator, he offered one dollar to anyone who could cite an appropriate Biblical passage. The group of politicians and elders considered the question.
Scolnick, whose regular post is with Temple Beth Sholom in Hamden, awarded the prize to excited Tower resident Ruth Landau Levy Cohen, who suggested the Jacob’s Ladder episode from the Book of Genesis.
“You should go in safety because you’re all angels,” the rabbi riffed on the Genesis story of Jacob’s dream of angels ascending heaven. Then he added in a more down-to-earth vein: “Come down to be with people; go up [when you become a little tired of people] to your place to rest.”
Before the mayor was invited in for a ceremonial elevator ride, he joked with residents that now that they had three elevators, it wouldn’t be long before they’d begin a new round of complaints that they need a fourth.
Plus, he said, that had it been up to him, he’d have put a seat in the elevator.
Was this a form of politicking in the guise of kibitzing? It was difficult to determine.
(l-r)Velma Schneider, Sid Silverman 7 Pearl Karmasin give thumbs up to walker-friendly lift.
In addition to the elevator dedication, Dorothy Giannini-Meyers was on hand to see the complex’s board room dedicated to her; she recently retired after 21 years as president and chief operating officer.
She cut the ribbon with Tower One brass including Linda Kantor and Jim Vlock, two of the original founders of Tower One/Tower East two generations ago.
The mayor greeted and shook heads with residents and their families members as he made his way into the elevator for the ceremonial ride. Just as the doors were about to close, he said he preferred not to discuss the ups and downs of the campaign.