‘Tis the season for visitors, packages, and festive gatherings. Along with the good cheer, the end-of-year flurry of activity also highlights the challenges of keeping multifamily buildings and their residents safe and secure. In addition …
Securing residents’ property and personal safety has always been of primary concern for shared interest communities, be they high-rises, townhomes, or suburban HOAs. A generation ago, security technology was pretty much limited to human gua…
For shared-interest communities, guarding the safety and security of residents is of paramount importance. Achieving those goals is more than a matter of key fobs and cameras, however. It applies to all kinds of hazards within communities’ …
Among the many hazards that can threaten any multifamily building, fire ranks right at the top. Local news is replete with stories about the property loss, structural damage, and even death that a fire can cause. While horrific in small pro…
Technology and communication are advancing and evolving rapidly in today’s fast-paced world. Multifamily buildings—home to residents with diverse needs, expectations, and preferences—present unique security challenges. These buildings must …
A decade ago, I was elected onto the board of a condo of a fairly young building that was plagued with assessments, lawsuits, and other issues. A previous board member—happy to pass on the troubled torch—came over to hand me a binder as pa…
‘John’ (not his real name, in consideration of his and his neighbors’ privacy) has lived in co-op buildings for over 40 years, and in his particular co-op - a well-tended, 100% sold, mid-size building in Manhattan - for over two decades. Th…
Anyone watching the news lately knows that rechargeable lithium-ion batteries - the kind that power e-bikes and scooters, but also electric cars, laptop computers, cell phones, vape pens, and many other common devices - have become a real d…
Electric bikes and scooters became ubiquitous during the darkest days of the pandemic, when food delivery workers relied on them to get them from one neighborhood to another quickly. With that increasing popularity however, has come increas…
According to a recent poll of 1,000 consumers conducted by telecommunications company Frontier, p rivacy concerns around smart home tech devices are on the rise. Sixty percent of respondents to the poll reported being “very” or “extremel…