Anybody at the New York City Housing Authority who paid proper attention to his family's application would have seen that 18-year-old Christopher Williams is disabled and in a wheelchair, having lost his right leg as a manifestly innocent victim of gun violence.
Yet, the housing folks went ahead and placed the former Fort Hamilton High School football star and homecoming king in a 12th-floor apartment in a Brooklyn building slated for elevator renovation that would make his new home inaccessible for more than three months.
Williams was only informed of the impending shutdown when a notice went up in the 13-story building in the Walt Whitman Houses. The notice was posted between the two elevators, only one of which rises above the seventh floor.
72 HOUR NOTICE
Elevator construction is scheduled to begin at:
Date - 9/13/10
Construction of each elevator will take approximately 14 weeks.
Thank you for your understanding and patience.
Williams had shown uncommon courage and grace after being shot nine times with a .45-caliber automatic three years ago.
He kept his spirits up even when he was told the amputation was too high up his leg for him to wear a prosthesis. He now found himself ambushed by a piece of official paper that gave him three days to find a place to live for more than three months.
"If I can't get upstairs with the elevator, what am I going to do?" he asked. .............(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/09/19/2010-09-19_homes_so_close__and_yet_so_far.html