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Security
Dealing with the Unforeseeable
In 2004, a NewsChannel 4 helicopter corkscrewed and slammed onto the roof of a Brooklyn apartment building, shattering into pieces. In July 2006, Dr. Nicholas Bartha blew up his Upper East Side townhouse that he was about to lose in a divorce settlement. That explosion leveled the four-story building. In October 2006, New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and his flight instructor were flying a small plane that crashed into The Belaire, a 40-story apartment building with 183 apartments. 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
Walking the Line Between Safety and Privacy
When it comes to the things that people value most, personal safety and security rank right at the top of the list. That's especially true in a day and age filled with ongoing anxiety over everything from identity theft to car jackings to terrorist attacks. All that most people want is to feel safe and secure, especially in their own homes. 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
Technology Greeting You at Your Door
When it comes to living in New York City, having a doorman in your condo or co-op is a luxury that almost everyone wishes they could have. A doorman has many functions, among them providing a sense of security and collecting packages for residents when they aren't home. 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
How to Care for at Risk Residents
New York City is famous (perhaps infamous) for its residents' philosophy of minding their own business—dress as a giant chicken, sport a revolutionary haircut…nobody minds. This attitude is great if you're a young person expressing your inner bohemian—but somewhat less great if you're an elderly person or someone with a mental or physical handicap, or a kid with working parents taking care of younger siblings. Who looks out for these folks when there is a fire, power outage or other emergency? Read More
Keeping Up with Today's Strict Safety Measures
Everyone likes to think that they are safe all the time, but often people take for granted that everything in their condo or co-op is up to snuff and they forget about simple things like changing batteries in smoke detectors or securing window guards. One look through the morning papers and you will read about someone who neglected to take a proper safety measure in their home. 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
Taming Mother Nature's Fury
The deep freeze of winter will fall on New York from January through March, and though the city hasn't had the most severe winters in recent years, weather has a way of tricking us into complacency and hitting hard when we let our guards down. Because of weather's unpredictability during winter, precautions need to be taken to protect those who live in the city. Just one slip-and-fall or other weather-related accident might result in a costly lawsuit that could have been prevented. 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
Do Not Pass Go!
Inside most multi-unit residential buildings, there are many areas that should be strictly off-limits to everyone but trained building staff—and we’re not just talking about the manager’s inbox. Machine rooms, elevator shafts, compactor areas, roofs, and other places used to house potentially dangerous equipment or materials are all spaces that must be kept secure for the safety of the residents—and to avoid costly liability issues for the building itself. Read More
Safe and Secure
With so much talk these days about costly security projects designed to benefit buildings over the long term, it's easy to overlook a far more approachable option. Updating older video-based surveillance technology with a digital security system that is appropriate for your building can be a simple and cost-effective way to not only protect yourself, your neighbors and your property, but also your cooperative or condominium's bottom line. Read More
