Elevator Error

Engineers, architects and construction company officials lobbying for state infrastructure funding made their case unwittingly Wednesday. About 150 of them, all wearing badges warning that improperly maintained state infrastructure drives up operational costs by $1.4 billion, were headed to the Senate chamber. As Dave Simpson of Carolinas AGC recounted the event, a half-dozen got on the second-floor elevator for the short ride to the gallery. But they didn’t arrive. “They got stuck in the elevator and tried to call,” Simpson said, “but the emergency phone didn’t work and the emergency button wasn’t properly wired. So, in extremely warm temperatures, with no easy way out, they started banging on the doors.” They were rescued in about 10 minutes. “The moral of this story,” Simpson said, “is that we ain’t kidding around here. Things need to be fixed.”(Paul T. O’Connor, THE INSIDER, 5/29/14).