In the old days of video surveillance, a closed-circuit TV system (CCTV) to monitor the doors and parking garage and lot used to be a grainy black-and-white mess. The footage would transmit to some subterranean bunker with a tiny TV so some…
The door intercom system is the old standby of apartments, co-ops and condos — a thin sheet of burnished metal bolted on the side of the building and equipped with buttons that control who enters a building. There have been entire stories…
If you're ever outdoors during the summertime, you know that those darn mosquitoes are unavoidable, whether you're sitting on your patio or picnicking in the park. The most common solution is either swatting the pesky creatures away from yo…
So far in 2016, as of February 5, exactly 1,187 people have been killed by guns in the United States. Of those deaths, 287 were children under the age of 17. In the first 10 days of the 2016 over 100 people had been shot in the city of Chi…
New York is home to almost 1 million people age 65 or older; approximately one in three seniors suffer some type of disability, according to the last census. In a city like New York, where anything can happen—from fire, to extreme weather, …
Condominium associations, whether housed in a single building or in a sprawling development, provide a reliably cozy and comfortable community in which to live. But this comfort requires vigilance on the part of both board and management to…
One of the benefits of transitioning from renter to homeowner is the knowledge that your space is sacred and belongs only to you. But, when it comes to association living, sometimes unit owners have to give building staff or managers access…
The most important aspect of managing a building is keeping it, its residents, and their property safe. In days past, 'safety technology' consisted mostly of well-lit exits, the installation of panic bars and glow-in-the-dark stripping on e…
Whether you live in a Midtown high-rise or in a more spread-out outer-borough HOA, security—for both property and physical safety—is an important issue in any condo community. Who can come in, at what times, how long they can stay, and how…
It’s often said that safety starts at home—and while many HOAs spend lots of money on sophisticated security and access control systems to protect residents and their property, others opt for lower-tech solutions to neighborhood security…