New Year’s revelers may be stuck using the stairs when the millennium dawns — Y2K-fearing building managers across the city will shut down elevator service as the clock nears midnight.
At around 11:50 p.m. on Dec. 31, elevators in many residential buildings will halt for 20 to 30 minutes in the lobbies, with their doors open. Management-company officials say the freeze is just a precaution in case a glitch in the power grid causes widespread blackouts.
“It’s the prudent thing to do,” said Craig Lamb, president of J&C Lamb Management Corp.
“We’re trying not to be alarmist,” said Lamb, whose company manages 19 buildings. “But we don’t want anyone ringing in the New Year stuck in one of our elevators.”
Lamb and others have made their decisions despite assurances from elevator operators and Con Edison that their systems will sail through New Year’s Day without a hitch.
“It’s risk management,” said William Lee of Equity Management Group — whose 45 buildings will suspend service. “Y2K problems are not covered in most insurance policies.”
Joseph Petta, a spokesman for Con Ed, said there’s nothing to fear: “We are confident that we will have no interruptions in the electrical system.”
“Everything is a go,” said Ron Massip of Mainco, one of the city’s largest elevator-service companies. “We ran a series of tests on all of our systems that would be effected, and they’re all Y2K compliant.”
Massip, whose company also provides elevator service for the Port Authority, admitted that his company would take some extra precautions.
“To reassure customers, we’ll have a computer staff on hand and extra technicians when the clock strikes — just in case we have a computer glitch,” he said.
Many commercial and some residential buildings have their own built-in generators that will kick in if Con Ed blacks out.
“We don’t foresee even a flicker of a Y2K problem,” said Harry Geruldsen, vice president of the Trump Organization’s properties, which have electrical generators programmed to provide power without interruption if the feared bug bites.