Since September 2013, The Ubyssey has published more than five articles on how Ponderosa Commons is basically falling apart. From free-falling elevators, to compensation complaints in regards to poor living conditions, Ponderosa has been under intense scrutiny since its opening in the fall of 2013.
Since then, students have had little tolerance with the university and how they have been dealing with the situation.
Alyssa Brazeau, a third-year student living in Ponderosa Maple House, said that “right before the official move-in date for most people in September, the elevators were broken. They got fixed just in time.”
That would have been a sight to see — hundreds of students with half a dozen suitcases each, lugging their belongings up a single staircase.
“There’s just a big consistency issue,” said Brazeau. “There’s always something wrong with one or the other elevator — which is convenient for the repair people who get paid a fair amount whenever they get called in. Lately the elevators have been fine, but it’s just a matter of time. It sucks because the rent is expensive, so you don’t expect these problems on a regular basis.”
Elevator issues escalated when Ponderosa Maple House experienced a free-falling incident in October 2015. What started out as inconveniences turned into concern for student safety — and students aren’t taking it lightly.
A Reddit user posted this image of a letter to UBC signed by annoyed residents of Marine Drive 5, whose elevators were out of service in December 2016. The passive aggressive note showed how Japan’s infrastructure upkeep was far superior to UBC.
![['']](https://storage.googleapis.com/ubyssey/media/renditions/elevators.original.jpg)
More recently, another image was posted on Reddit directed towards Student Housing and Hospitality Services.
![['']](https://storage.googleapis.com/ubyssey/media/renditions/Screen_Shot_2017-02-24_at_5.01.27_PM.original.png)
“If students had $1 for every time we weren’t able to use this elevator since MAY OF 2016, we could easily pay a full month’s rent by now. We all pay in excess of $840/month for a high-rise that consistently has only one working elevator. You’re making us want to move off campus, because this poor upkeep is far from being worth $840/month. Unfortunately yours, MD 5 Residents,” the note reads.
No compensation or announcements have been given to the residents since the summer when the elevator was out for a solid two months. While there are two elevators in the building, it’s so big and in demand that the wait time gets out of hand.
“It has broke five or six more times in the last month,” said Sam Du Bois, Marine Drive resident. “It’s been out currently for two weeks. It’s never been working for more than a week, I would say, since the summer.
“It’s just inconvenient, shitty and a little worrying that they can’t build an elevator that works for longer than a week,” said Du Bois.
The south elevator in the Nest has also been out of service for over a week, but no passive-aggressive signs have appeared yet. With all the new buildings popping up around campus, clearly UBC needs to step up their repair game or just pick a better company to build elevators.