Staten Island Mom Wins Right to Install Lift for Daughter with CP

Maria Stasinski was finally given permission to install a lift to help her bring her five-year-old daughter, Giuliana in and out of her condo at the Richmond Mews complex in Bulls Head, Staten Island after a long and tough battle with the board.

Long Battle Fought and Won

Ms. Stasinski has been vying for permission to install the lift, which was donated to her by a charity, but the board at the condo refused on the grounds that there was the potential of a safety hazard.

Pleased at the decision by the board, Ms. Stasinski expressed her appreciation but also a bit of bitterness.

“I’m happy that the wheelchair lift is in, but I’m not thrilled with the fact that … it took this much time,” said Stasinski, 37. “Giuliana’s missed so much therapy and so much school.”

Borough President Gets Involved

The condo’s board was finally convinced to allow Ms. Stasinski to install the lift on the front steps when Borough President James Molinaro, got involved in the dispute. Molinaro brought the two sides together in his office last month where they were forced to come to a reasonable agreement.

“It was unacceptable that … this child could not have a lift there,” Molinaro said. “When you have a situation like this and you see what the family’s going through, you go out of your way to accommodate it. Even if you have to bend the rules about it, so what?”

Lift’s Safey Assured

The president of the board, Gary Serventi, was convinced to allow the lift when he received guarantees that the lift would be installed in a entirely safe manner.

“We had no objections to having something put in, but we just wanted to make sure it was being done right. Or else, unfortunately, the next headline would have been, ‘Board’s negligence injures somebody,'” he said.