Why Total Lockdown at a Building Takes Safety to the Opposite Extreme

Dec. 11, 2014 — A co-op in West Harlem has two sets of front doors. The inner door is always closed; to get in you need a key or have someone buzz you in. The outer door is open during the day, but closed at night — and the only way you can open it is with a key. Never mind that it's a pain for shareholders to have to walk downstairs to let guests into the building at night. What about residents with mobility issues? Or residents who are too ill to leave their apartments? And what if there's an emergency? These are the questions Ronda Kaysen tackles in the latest "Ask Real Estate" column in The New York Times. Kaysen explains that keeping the outer door locked at night not only constitutes a safety hazard but also violates city and state rules. Although apartment buildings with eight or more units are required to have self-locking entrance doors, she explains, visitors — not to mention emergency services — must have access to the buzzer system. That's just good sense. Safety first should always be the bottom line for building residents, but total lockdown is taking caution to the opposite extreme.