31-Aug-10 – While the condo association at Marina City is hoping to increase security, a plan to install hand scanners at entrances to both towers is not without critics.

On August 20, residents received a memo from the property management office, describing a new system that could be operational as early as next week. Residents would continue using a key card or fob to open the outer door of the plaza level entrance, as well as the inner door. With the new system, however, a resident would then place a hand in a scanner for identification.

What is causing some concern for residents is an additional step of a security guard on the lower level activating the inner door after seeing on a video monitor that no one else is behind the resident, also trying to enter. During this identification process, the inner door would not open until the outer door had closed, a sequence that could take at least five seconds.

“Tailgating,” one person entering a secure entrance by closely following someone who has properly gained access, is a big concern for residents at Marina City. Outsiders wanting a view of recent filming for the new Transformers 3 movie have done it, according to the property manager. It is believed that John Cooper gained access to the west tower this way before jumping from the observation deck in May.

“Ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends or just plain curiosity seekers try to gain access,” wrote David Gantt, residential property manager, in the memo to residents. While acknowledging the changes could cause annoyances, he says “most residents want to be annoyed with a slower pace than left with unsecured entrances.” Hand scanners are based on the unique shape and size characteristics of each person’s hand. Once a “handkey” device (left) measures a hand, it can be matched when the person puts their hand on a reader to access a secure location. The manager of the residential towers sees the system as a way to make tailgating “far less likely” and he says the benefits – including making condo units sell and lease better – will “far outweigh the inconveniences.”

Residents not completely sold on system value

Architecture writer Lynn Becker, a Marina City resident, says the system is “a new way to harass residents.” Writing on his blog last Tuesday, Becker predicted entering the residential towers from the plaza would become “a cumbersome procedure that Apple’s product development center security would envy.”

He notes the management office rejected face recognition and eye scanning and muses there is “no word on why they rejected the Body Orifice Security Scanner.”

On the blog for residents, Marina Watchdog, an architect who lives at Marina City said the interlocking doors, one not opening until the other closed, would result in “people stacking up in the relatively small space of the elevator lobby.”

“Hand [scanners] will not stop tailgaters,” wrote another blogger. “Subway or commercial [property management] should put a guard at the door to keep people who aren’t residents out.”

In a subsequent memo dated September 1, property manager David Gantt said the system would not be ready for another week. According to Gantt, they are waiting for a special part that will permit the doors to close faster, hopefully reducing the wait for residents trying to enter or exit a residential tower.