2008 Dec
2008 December Vol. 28, No. 12
Focus on...Safety & Security
Building Doormen as Security
Jane Jacobs, the late, legendary urban planner whose grassroots activism
prevented Robert Moses from turning Battery Park into a series of bridges,
highways, and on-ramps, wrote at great length of the importance of well-used
sidewalks keeping neighborhoods secure. The more eyes on the street, she said,
the safer that street.
Read More
Educating Residents to Save Lives and Property
Whether it affects a small portion of one unit or the entire association, a fire
is easily one of the most devastating and destructive events that can happen in
any multifamily building. New technology and current regulations have made
fires easier to prevent, control and extinguish, but residents and building
staff still must be educated about what to do in an emergency situation, as
well as how to prevent a fire from occurring in the first place. Read More
Avoiding Toxins in Your Building
Some building hazards—things like cracked sidewalks, broken windows or crumbling masonry—are obvious to even an untrained eye, making it easy to conduct repairs and
prevent further deterioration and potential injury.
Read More
Look Out Below...and Above
Falling bricks. Rickety scaffolding. An errant nail and an unsuspecting foot.
Things can go wrong during renovation and restoration projects no matter what
the size and scale of the work at hand. Whether the job is tackling a new façade on a high-rise or putting new shingles on a townhome, anything can happen.
That’s why state and local governments put so much effort and energy into ensuring
the safety of passers-by and why co-op and condo managers turn eagle-eyed and
protective of their residents when large projects loom.
Read More
New Equipment for a Safer Community
Over the past two decades, New York City has become a safer place than it once
was. But events in recent years, both at home and abroad, have made Americans
more aware of security—how much they have, how much they’d like, and how much security they really need in order to feel truly safe in
their homes. The answer to those questions involves assessing and adding up the
costs and benefits of a security program, and tailoring that program to one’s particular building, community or home.
Read More
Making it Safe, Secure, and User-Friendly
Of all the responsibilities that come with being a manager of a residential
building, few are as important as ensuring the safety of your residents. Read More
FCC-Mandated Analog-to-Digital TV Changes Comng Soon
On September 7, 1927, 19-year-old Philo T. Farnsworth created the first
television system that could not only display, but transmit signals between
separate rooms. Now more than 80 years later, another historic date in
broadcast transmissions is upon us. On February 17, 2009, all full-power
broadcast television stations in the United States will stop broadcasting on
analog airwaves and begin broadcasting only in digital.
Read More
A Room with a (Rotating) View
Buckminster Fuller, a thinker, inventor, artist, mathematician, (the list goes
on,) once said, “People should think things out fresh and not just accept conventional terms and
the conventional way of doing things.” Fuller, most famous for his invention of the geodesic dome, sought to solve the problems
facing mankind before they were insurmountable, thinking so far ‘outside the box,’ that he based most of his designs on the tetrahedron. Thinking so far into the
future that, decades ago, he was trying to solve the problems we face today.
Read More
Hiring the Best for Your Building
So your condo or co-op’s management company is getting ready to hire a new service employee. It could
be a doorman, it could be a maintenance man, it could be a swimming-pool
supervisor. Is this a simple process, or a complicated one? And, above all, how
much security is needed in a given position within your building or HOA? Is
checking a few references enough? Or, in this day and age, is a rigorous
screening process necessary—especially because residents’ security and privacy may be at stake? Or does it depend on the job—and the size of the development? Read More
Turn Bad Times Into Good Times
To quote Charles Dickens, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” but in this case, the reverse is true. Read More
Making New York City Safer, Cleaner and More Livable
Digital cameras…camera phones… smartphones. These terms weren’t even in our vocabulary ten years ago, yet today, many New Yorkers carry this pocket-sized technology with them everywhere they go. One of the goals of the administration is to tap the potential of new technology and put it to work for city government. Recently, we took a big leap into the digital age by equipping the 911 and the 311 systems to accept photos and videos sent through mobile phones or uploaded through the city’s website at nyc.gov. Read More
Be Safe and Secure In Your Home
The expression “Better safe than sorry” is known by everyone. As apartment dwellers, it is important not to take
advantage of the sense of security felt by having a doorman posted at the door
or hallways lined with sprinklers and let our guards down. There are several
areas where being proactive can make all the difference. Read More
Security Service Integration and Training is Key
Push aside old notions of ineffective security officers. The security officer of
the future has arrived. Today’s security officer may be navigating tours on a Segway to patrol airports,
transit stations, manufacturing facilities, apartment or condominium complexes,
shopping malls and campuses. With the advent of the broadband revolution, you
may find today’s highly skilled and trained security officer piloting, what looks like, the
Starship Enterprise of technology, with a host of IP-connected digital
applications that include closed circuit television (CCTV), life and fire
safety systems, and remote online access control systems. Read More
Q&A: Certain Dogs Banned from Co-op
Our co-op board issued a list of breeds of dogs they considered “aggressive,” which will no longer be permitted, other than those already grandfathered in. I can’t remember them all, but it must have been close to 30 breeds. They claim they got this list from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and the Center for Animal Care and Control (CACC). The residents in our building are sophisticated people, not people who abuse their pets causing them to be “aggressive” and “hostile.” Read More
Q&A: Additional Maintenance for Excessive Water Use
I live in a 47-unit building and many of my neighbors have two or three children living with either one or two parents in the one-bedroom apartments. I believe that those apartments should be paying additional maintenance to cover the cost of our building’s water bills. Has this question been raised before for another building? What did they do? Read More
Q&A: Possibility of Proxy Duplication
Two weeks prior to our annual condo election, the unit owners receive their proxies in the mail. However, a board member, who was up for re-election, obtained a proxy from the managing agent two weeks earlier than all the unit owners. I addressed this issue at the annual meeting. His reply was that he was going on vacation and that he only received one proxy from the manager. However, he was back from vacation before the meeting. Also, he submitted several proxies at the meeting. Should he have had access to a proxy before every other owner as he could have duplicated the proxy and used it to gather other proxies? There is no way to know. Read More
