Open Thread Wednesday

By on March 28, 2017 10:52 pm in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • Eagle Eye

    There is a situation which should be brought to everyone’s attention. A lot of buildings are going over from door locks to key pad access. Now, there is a wave of inproper persons having the codes to the key pad and thus the building. All kinds of personal service and delivery personnel now often have the code. I have repeatedly seen Food delivery and NJ based Amazon delivery guys pop out a van not have a response to a bell and simply hit the building code(!) and place a package behind an apartment door and quickly drive off. Anyone who doesn’t think this isn’t dangerous, think if You had a daughter in that building and some bird brain gave out the bldn code. What would think of that behavior?….

  • AEB

    He’s b-a-a-a-a-ck. Again. (As we all know, daughters are vulnerable by definition. Mothers-in-law–not so much.)

  • ColumbiaHeightster

    This is not a “community” issue. It is a landlord/tenant/owner/operator issue. If an individual, as a resident of a building, doesn’t feel safe with this kind of access, then don’t move in. If a resident is already in the building and this transition is made during residency, take it up with the landlord/owner/association.

  • KXrVrii1

    At Key Foods Montague last night, I didn’t recognize any of the cashiers and they all seemed younger than the usual crowd.

    Workforce purge or spring break related?

  • meschwar

    You say this as if it’s impossible for someone to make a copy of a physical key and give that out….

  • Eagle Eye

    This sounds like two representatives of the RSA…for your information, a lot of buildings in the Heights have moved to Non duplicatable keys exactly because of idiots giving out dup keys. But now you have the very serious problem of people sharing the access codes with….amazon direct (!!!) That’s just ok to do? Also for your information at least two buildings have issued strong warnings and have gone to a policy of changing the codes at intervals to stop the practice.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    Here you go:

    O-O-O-O-O-O

    I was so busy NOT clutching my pearls that I just put them down on the table.

  • meschwar

    I don’t even know what the RSA is. The changing codes points to one of the ways that the digital locks are safer. I also am not sure that I believe non-duplicative keys are a real thing. But I think the most important point is that you should rely on your own apartment lock to keep you safe. There’s no way to keep strangers out of the building. You never know who your neighbors might let in.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    Republic of South Africa
    Renaissance Society of America
    Royal Society of Arts

    “Eagle Eye” may have been referring to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSA_(cryptosystem)

    …but there’s just as good a chance s/he/Mr. Smith was referring to the “Rabbinical Seminary of America, a yeshiva in New York City” (according to Wikipedia).

  • Eagle Eye

    It’s the Rent Stabilization Association …of course. And nondup keys are keys where you need a card to have a locksmith make a key. With a bldn key you have to go to your bldn mgt to get a new key. A lot of management’s do this to limit reduce their liability exposure. But idiots who let anyone into bldns are exactly how people get ripped off….or worse

  • StudioBrooklyn

    In our building package thieves entered one of two ways:

    1. The front doors were simply not locking upon closure, they tried the doors, pushed them open, and voila.
    2. They buzz an apartment at random, people are used to letting in couriers, there’s no camera system built into the buzzer, just the old audio kind where you can’t understand a word anyone says so nobody attempts 2-way communication, so they buzz them in. Voila.

    Neither of these involved the distribution of keys or key codes.

    Which “improper” people did you have in mind who are certainly in possession of keys or codes?

  • DIBS

    There certainly may be different rules for RS buildings. God knows the NYCHA buildings are among the safest in the city. SMH

  • Kit

    Hopefully just how shift assignments went. When I was in the other morning, the regular faces I know were there.

  • Kit

    I have possessed keys in the past that were stamped “DO NOT DUPLICATE.” Locksmiths won’t touch those, unless they are not on the up-and-up. And in some real estate ventures, if you need duplicate copies to a street door, say, you have to order them through building management.

  • meschwar

    I’ve NEVER had a locksmith even question me befor copying a key that said “do not duplicate”.

  • Brixtony

    Our building has a key “fob” – a small plastic oval that cannot be duplicated. We have to lend one to anyone who is coming in to water the plants or feed the cats if we’re away. We also have an intercom nthat works ( infrequently) through the landline we’d like to get rid of.

  • Andrew Porter

    A lot of buildings—in fact, I would dare say ALL of them—have roofs. What is to prevent an errant drone, or worse, pooping pigeon, from landing on them. The former, of course, could land very small burglars, or terrorists, to lay waste to our abodes.

    This is an important issue I intend to bring to the Mayor’s attention, just as soon as I get out of this straitjacket…

  • Andrew Porter

    Actually, a sign you’re getting older. Or you were just more attentive that day.

  • Andrew Porter

    Hey, if it’s Wednesday, it’s time for another Old BH Postcard! Here’s Borough Hall, and, somewhere there, the new subway entrance:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1f86d41a036bd5106de7d3105254fd96c2486bbb472a9369fbd7e7405feb6f09.jpg

  • Andrew Porter

    And another Borough Hall postcard, because two are better than one! That streetcar is *not* named Desiré…

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3432918e7bc04f017e6ee5c17b71d199b88098e93a0f9ae2d33c5dc7ae7f4bb4.jpg

  • redlola

    I have. no respectable locksmith does it and it requires a different machine

  • redlola

    I would welcome a change from some of the rude and unprofessional regulars.

  • Eddyde

    They are all present to me. I smile and say hello, that goes a long way.

  • ColumbiaHeightster

    Same here.

  • winchell’s cavanaugh

    Remember when this was City Hall? *sigh* the good ol’ pre-consolidation days… Damn you Andrew Haswell Green!

  • redlola

    good for you but many don’t share your experiences. it has been discussed here before.

  • Jorale-man

    I noticed there was also a streetcar on your postcard with Fulton/Joralemon. Maybe we’ll see a rebirth of the streetcar on Court Street yet…

  • Eagle Eye

    Snide remarks aside, while non dup keys aren’t 100% secure, nothing is, it DOES prevent endless dups by the non responsible among us. But the new serious problem of people providing access codes to building certainly is a major concern. Amazon, evening food delivery, etc. simply should NOT have access codes!!!

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    Yes be afraid, be very afraid. All these “delivery” people are clearly part of a much bigger plot. Foreign operatives are now invading our homes, no place to hide!

  • meschwar

    We might be thinking of different things. I’ve had keys that were regular house keys that had been stamped with “do not duplicate”. I’ve gotten neighborhood hardware stores to copy those many times. They didn’t require a special machine. I’ve never seen what you are referring to.

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