Boston City Council Demands Answers on Broken Elevators Trapping Ruth Barkley Residents

BOSTON -- October 16, 2025, Boston City Council grills housing authority chief over broken elevators and unsafe conditions at Ruth Barkley Apartments. The Committee on Housing and Community Development, chaired by Councillor Liz Breadon and convened on dockets sponsored by Councillors Edward M. Flynn and Julia M. Mejia, heard BHA Administrator Kenzie Bach report that open work orders have dropped from 17,059 to 655 over the past year and that a full-modernization contract for eight remaining tall elevators, worth more than $19 million in total capital spending, was signed this month, with a notice-to-proceed meeting held October 15. Flynn, who represents more public housing residents than any other Boston councillor, rejected Bach's framing: "You paint a very positive picture about the elevator system at Ruth Barkley. That is just not the case." Disability rights advocate Dawn Oates, testifying remotely, alleged that dozens of vendor invoices went unpaid for up to two years and that the first RFP to modernize 42 Harrison Archway drew no bidders, raising questions about whether BHA's payment record deterred contractors. Residents described missed chemotherapy appointments, anxiety attacks from elevator entrapments, and one account of a woman arriving only in time to throw herself over her son's casket after being trapped for two hours. Flynn formally requested all 911 calls to Ruth Barkley over four years; the council will submit additional written questions to BHA.