You may remember this Help Me Howard... We caught a condo association breaking the law... After that they promised us they would allow an 88-year-old woman to install a ramp so she could get around in her electric tricycle... Then the condo association broke their promise. What did Help Me Howard do then? Here is Patrick Fraser with tonight's story.
 
(WSVN) -- We first met Bessie Jacobs two years ago...

She says, "I am happy... I lived to 88."

And it wasn't easy... When she was one she contracted polio... When she was five she was hit by a trolley... smashing her face... but nothing stopped her...

She says, "I'm still lucky... 'cause I could have been worse off than I am..."

Bessie was always independent ... To get around... she used her electric tricycle...

She says, "If I wanted I went to the post office... I went to the bank..."

But Bessie had called us because her condo association president ripped out the ramp from the storage room where she kept her tricycle...

"Has her... taking away your ramp affected your life?" asks Patrick.

"Yeah... I can't use the tricycle," says Bessie.

Howard discovered the condo board was breaking the law.

7News Legal Expert Howard Finkelstein says, "Under the fair housing act, it's clear as a bell... A disabled has a right to modify the premises-- so Bessie is allowed to have the ramp."

And, with that, we thought we had it resolved.

Concord Village told us... if Bessie would pay for a new ramp... she could have it installed.

Bessie agreed... but then got double crossed...

The board blocked the installation of the ramp, and then, in a move that dumbfounded us, the condo president locked Bessie's bike in the storage room and refused to give Bessie a key.

"I have been homebound-- since they took the ramp away..." Bessie says, "and I was a prisoner."

With Concord Village refusing to obey the law... Bessie's backers decided to play hardball...

"This was a wonderful collaborative effort between the Center For Independent Living-- Help Me Howard, Hope Incorp...," says Randall Berg, who is helping Bessie.

Randall modestly left out one person... himself... He sued Concord Village in federal court... 

"We're having to file it because the condo association has refused to allow Mrs. Jacobs to reinstall a wheel chair ramp..."

Randall won... A judge ordered the association to allow Bessie to install her ramp...

And it was put in... Bessie's neighbors came out to watch...

"I am delighted," she says. "I am so excited that I can again use it..."

Missing was the condo president who broke the law...

She was voted out of office...

But the condo owners won't forget her... since her illegal actions will cost every one of them.

Howard says, "Bessie's legal bills to get her ramp installed are over 23,000 dollars... By law the condo owners have to pay her attorney... That's why, if you own a condo, you have to keep an eye on your board... and make sure they aren't breaking the law."

Bessie now has what she wanted... access to her bike... her ramp... and her freedom...

"So I can do all my own shopping and chores without having to ask favors of other people," Bessie says.

But of course none of her friends have ever minded helping her out...

"We're very happy for you," says a neighbor giving her a kiss and congratulations...

And Howard doesn't want me to tell you this because he is too modest... but what the heck... He owns a condo at Concord Village... as an owner, he will also have to help pay Bessie's attorneys fees... so, by fighting for her-- he cost himself money... but, like he told me in the beginning... "I know this can cost me, but what that condo board is doing to Bessie is wrong... so let's help her..." 

"I knew there was a reason I liked him..." Bessie says.

Condo commandos confounding you? Let us do a special assessment of your problem.

It's free to you... and even better ... Your condo board will hate to see us coming...