NY Cooperator December 2020

December 2020 COOPERATOR.COM continued on page 11 and communities in New York and New Jersey for nearly 40 years. He says that the year’s upheavals and crime statistics have not appreciably changed his business, or his clients’ requests. If anything, he says, “a lot of the clients have pushed up their projects, to upgrade technology that they were already going to do anyway.” Many projects that were on the back burner prior to the pandemic—or that were stalled at its onset— were accelerated once lockdowns eased and associations had a chance to continued on page 10 It’s become axiomatic that over time, technology gets smaller, more efficient, and more capable of multiple increasingly sophisticated and specialized tasks. Think about your mobile phone. There was a time in the not-so-distant past that its predeces- sor, the car phone, was tethered to the in- side of your vehicle, and its sole task was to make voice telephone calls. Now consider your current smartphone. It’s everything from a multi-option means of communica- tion to a pocket-size encyclopedia, placing pretty much the whole of accumulated hu- man knowledge in the palm of your hand. Technologies developed for use in the real estate industry have gotten smaller, more efficient, and more multifaceted with each successive generation, too. And now with the coronavirus being a looming pres- ence over nearly every aspect of multifamily life, developing technology may also offer tremendous unexpected benefits to miti- gate COVID’s unexpected consequences. The Intersection of COVID & Tech When developers—both real estate and software—initially devised technologies as refinements for residential buildings and their occupants, chances are they weren’t anticipating that those innovations would one day be used to combat and control a public health crisis like COVID; emergen- cies like fires and power interruptions, sure. Keeping residents and their property safe from intruders and other threats, certainly. But a highly infectious, potentially deadly microbe sweeping the globe and bringing the business of everyday life to a crawl, or even a grinding halt? Not so much. Zachary Kestenbaum is the CEO of BuildingLink, a national provider of mul- tifamily building technology located in New York. “We know that in property A lot can be said about 2020, but this was certainly a year that forced people around the world to reexamine our processes and protocols around health, safety, and security—not just person- ally, but collectively, especially in our homes and communities as we face a series of threats novel to this generation. Not only is there a potentially deadly virus rampaging around the globe, but there is also uneasiness in many American communities as a result of spikes in crime, social unrest, economic uncertainty, political upheaval, and an ever-growing sense of COVID fatigue. Multifamily buildings and associations like condos, co-ops, and HOAs must factor in mul- tiple layers of protection and communication as they face these challenges, taking into consid- eration their particular size, structure, and systems; their budgets and financial constraints; their population and demographics; and their existing policies. Rather than become overwhelmed by all the variables, savvy boards and managers are taking a good look at the measures they have in place to help protect their residents and their properties, and are coming up with a combina- tion of cutting-edge technology, increased manpower, innovative training, and a dose of opti- mism—an essential element to overcoming most any challenge, be it virtual or viral, human or environmental. Accelerating Existing Plans Much of the analysis of residential communities’ response to the coronavirus pandemic has pointed less to a 180-degree spin and more of a redirection that was already underway for many. Households moving away from dense urban areas, for example, was already a trend prior to the arrival of COVID-19; the pandemic has certainly accelerated the shift, but it wasn’t the root cause of it. Similarly, buildings and communities that were already contemplating security up- grades or new implementations may have been prompted to fast-track those projects in light of the pandemic. Joseph Ferdinando is the founder of Building Security Services & Systems, (www.build- ingsecurity.com) which has supplied security systems, technology, and personnel to buildings When a crisis hits a multifamily com- munity—or any other organization—the difference between a good outcome and a disastrous one is often a matter of simple preparedness. Residential communities in particular need to have a plan in case of an emergency, whether that emergency takes the form of COVID or hurricane, earth- quake, or fire. Some states and municipali- ties require multifamily buildings and de- velopments to draft emergency contingency plans as a matter of law, and some don’t—but in any event, they are always a must-have for the safety of your community. What Is a Fire Safety Plan? Public service announcements have been ubiquitous for years about the need for every- one to know what to do in a fire emergency, but in order to know that, you need to have a pre-prepared plan. The proper name for an official fire safety plan is a Fire Emergency Preparedness Guide (FEPG). It gives you in- formation about what is physically installed in your building—fire protection systems, exits, stairs—and describes both fire and non-fire emergencies. FEPG requirements for buildings can originate with the state or local government (or neither—in which case it’s incumbent on boards and managers to make sure their communities draft, main- tain, and update as needed their own FEPG). The form of ownership, whether it be co-op, condo, or rental, is irrelevant; indeed, FEGPs aren’t just for residential buildings—com- mercial and industrial buildings should have them as well. Safety is a matter of precaution and common sense, even to the level of the individual family. More on FEPGs James Bullock is a former firefighter and the president of New York Fire Safety, a con- sulting firm that provides FEPGs to co-ops and condominiums, as well as other types of properties. “These plans contain perhaps three pages on fires themselves,” he says. “The other 30 pages or so deal with informa- tion on fire safety. There are other informa- tional sections that deal with your building systems, exit, stairs, etc. and how and what to do in the event of a fire emergency. These re- ports have sections about both fire and non- Examining Safety in Multifamily Properties How Communities Respond to Today’s Threats BY DARCEY GERSTEIN Fire Safety Plans Have a Strategy Before You Need It BY A. J. SIDRANSKY Technology vs. COVID-19 Co-ops & Condos Use Tech Tools to Beat the Virus BY A.J. SIDRANSKY 205 Lexington Avenue, NY, NY 10016 • CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED continued on page 13