Residents urge Newport News to address maintenance, elevator failures at Lift and Rise and Legacy Landing

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Residents of downtown Newport News raised urgent housing-condition concerns at the Dec. 10 City Council meeting, telling the council they have endured ongoing maintenance problems, absent property management and elevator failures at the Lift and Rise and Legacy Landing apartment buildings.

Lily Robinson, who identified herself as a resident near the building, said she circulated a petition and asked the council to convene a meeting with all stakeholders, including the Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority, building management and developers. Robinson said residents have had heating problems, no property manager on site, and that maintenance requests have gone unanswered for months.

Robinson said a building elevator repeatedly failed inspection and that residents who are wheelchair-bound live on upper floors, increasing safety concerns. "We are demanding y'all. We are pleading y'all. I'm tired," Robinson said as she delivered a petition and urged council action.

Council staff and the city clerk acknowledged receipt of the petition and said staff would follow up with the speaker after the meeting. Robinson asked specifically for a town-hall-style meeting that includes all parties involved in development and management of the properties; she said earlier outreach had not produced timely responses.

The council did not take immediate formal action on the petition during the meeting; staff indicated they would meet with the resident and coordinate next steps. The petition and testimony asked the city to use its authority to require better management, to enforce inspections and to convene a forum that includes property owners, developers and housing-authority representatives.

The comments were part of the meeting’s citizen-comment portion and were not associated with a specific agenda item.