Ideas, potential projects, things to think about - in no particular order
In-person Board meetings
Mini-split AC/Heat
Salt & Sugar rain-associated ceiling leak
Building Power - research, policy, plans. implementation - anticipating EV charging and all-electric living units
Communication - Website, newsletter, blog, surveys, roster w/pictures, social gatherings, blast emails, elevator/wall announcements
Partners - Ballard Alliance, City Council, City Light
Board building - education, participation. institutional memory, sharing duties, philosophy (community vs. transactional-self interest)
Reserves and major spending plans (outside painting, elevator)
Metropole building sign somewhere over lobby entrance?
Steel pipe fence on west side of concrete apron outside transformer room where dumpsters sit waiting for collection - to keep them from rolling off into the space next door?
West lobby door sticks open?
Package delivery issues - door codes, telephone entry issues, wrong address
Survey units for water heater age and ten-year replacement policy
Landscape
Review problems associated with March building partial power failure (e.g emergency lighting)
Disaster response
Security - understanding problems and finding solutions through tech and behavior
(from Cheryl Deboise and Justin Ping)
As I mentioned earlier today, Justin & I met early this week to discuss safety, and here are the notes from that meeting. We also talked to a couple of other residents. Justin plans to reach out to CWD for some advice, and I reached out to Praetorian (although was out of town, so I'll call back this week) to review our suggestions and get their input.
Here are the notes I took from our discussion today about safety improvements at the Metropole:
The garage may be the highest risk area of potential entrance to the building. If someone is able to follow a resident into the garage, they can take the elevator to the lobby.
add cameras at each building entrance to provide visibility into how people get into the building. provide board members access to camera footage - this will require recording device and internet connection. The recordings would only be viewed by a board member when an issue occurs to prevent residents feeling like their privacy is being violated.
Consider adding a large sign on the floor of the exit from the garage to make it easier to remind residents on their way out of the garage to wait until the garage door closes before moving onto 57th street.
Note on suggestion of adding handles to the inside of the doors in the lobby to allow residents to pull the doors closed behind them, since it sometimes takes a longer time to close
found out that the magnetic closer on the doors may be broken if there is a handle on the inside that is pulled. The design of the doors is not meant to have the doors pulled. It can break the magnetic closure, which can cost up to $20k to replace
Explore potential to have the garage door and lobby entrance / exit door close more quickly to limit risk of people following a resident in
Consider putting a planter, or other structure in the alcove next to the building entrance to help deter people from camping / sleeping in that area
place placards in key areas (lobby, elevator) to encourage residents to call Praetorian at 253-250-9737
Encourage all residents to put this number in their phones, and take their phones, keys and fobs with them when they leave the building
Should a resident encounter someone suspicious in the lobby they should consider the following steps:
don't confront the person
call Praetorian and ask that they come to the building to assist
Consider calling 911 if the situation warrants
Enter the building using your key using one of the other entrance doors
if possible, walk to the mezzanine level before calling the elevator to go to your unit
consider going to another public area while waiting for the police or Praetorian (might go to QFC)
If you are in the lobby when someone enters, do what you can to deescalate the situation (don't yell or be aggressive towards the intruder)
Be aware of your position in the lobby and work to get into a position where you can exit safely
Don't try to get past someone and in the elevator where you could be trapped and the person could enter the elevator with you
When you are in a safe place - call one of the board members and/or someone else in the building to support alerting other residents
Don't use the garage door opener to walk into the garage, as this will leave a lengthy time that could allow you into the garage
Create a method to share resident photos with others in the building to support ability to identify other residents
Create more opportunities for resident gathering to promote community and hopefully increase feeling of mutual accountability
I also suggest we consider an alert system where residents could sign up for alerts if an incident occurs so we could alert others to not go into the lobby (for example) until Praetorian shows up. Justin is going to check with CWD about potential forms and/or advice for residents to get this type of alert in place.
Cheryl