Elevator woes at condo building strand Southwest Side woman at home for days: ‘Like in prison, like in house arrest’

Kazimiera Ptak, 84, is frustrated by faulty elevators at the Ford City Condominiums, which sometimes mean she has to stay days inside her home. (Elvia Malagón/Sun-Times)

Kazimiera Ptak spent the Fourth of July weekend stuck inside her Southwest Side condo because the building’s two elevators stopped working.

“Like in prison, like in house arrest,” the 84-year-old said in Polish through translation from her daughter. Ptak, who uses a walker, missed church service — an important weekly trip for her — and instead spent the days cooking and watching television.