Battling in Baltimore Over Shabbat Elevator

There's an interesting article in the Baltimore Sun regarding a vote against installing a Shabbat elevator in a Baltimore area building:

The vote from the Strathmore Tower condominium board was simple: Down with the Sabbath elevator.

But what some thought was a straightforward vote has erupted into a religious and racially tinged controversy to others in this majority senior citizen-occupied condominium complex in Upper Park Heights.

The supporters - most of whom are Jewish - say the option for a Sabbath elevator wouldn't have cost extra money and would have aided Orthodox Jewish and disabled residents while helping resale prices. Foes say such an elevator is inconvenient and could cost more.

Residents of the building allege that this was a discriminatory move on the part of the board majority who voted against the installation of a Shabbat elevator, as the elevators would have cost around the same price and would have helped many of the building's elderly, Shabbat-observant residents. They feel that considering the comparable cost, choosing the elevator with the Shabbat option would make sense from a convenience and resale value perspective.

There are other buildings in the area that have chosen to install elevators with the Shabbat option, even if the lack of a sizable Orthodox population in some of those building keeps them from activating it.

It isn't even only the building's Orthodox residents who support a Shabbat elevator:

But even residents who aren't Orthodox, or have no need for a Sabbath elevator, say the decision makes no sense.

Doris Lippens, who practices Reform Judaism, says the elevator will raise property values and accommodate Sabbath visitors who are Orthodox. "I would look forward to the fact that on a resale, having the Sabbath elevator to take people up to the seventh, eighth, ninth floor would be a good selling point," Lippens said.

She, like many other residents, says religious and racial tension is not always evident. "It's under the surface, basically," she says. "But every now and then the ugliness peaks out."

Obviously, the board majority gets to make the final decision here - and it looks like they have. But it's really a pity to see them being so shortsighted as far as installing an elevator that at least provides the option to be used as a Shabbat elevator in the future as demographics in the bulding change. Because as we all know, sometimes demographics change faster than people expect.

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