(Above) A new hand scan entry system recently installed at the plaza level entrance for west tower residents. (Click on image to view larger version.)

November 23, 2010 – A new hand scan entry system for residents – delayed a few times since August – finally went into service at Marina City, but just on the plaza level of the west tower.

The new system requires residents to place a hand in a scanner for additional identification after waving a key card or fob.

Draper and Kramer, the residential property management company, believes the system will increase security but not all residents are convinced. “Nobody will be able to pass their cards out to others who may not have the best intentions,” reads a November 19 memo to residents. “The prospects of tailgating are reduced significantly. And the insurance companies will rate the complex in…a higher, less costly category.”

On Marina Watchdog, the blog for residents, opinions on the hand scanner in the west tower have been mostly negative. “It would have been smart to ask for ideas prior to rushing headfirst into a ridiculous idea like enhanced security by hand scanning,” wrote one resident.

Other residents describe seemingly typical experiences of the scanner not recognizing their hand, but the door opening as other residents happen to be leaving the building, allowing the first resident to enter.

“This is NOT security,” insists an anonymous blogger. “It will NOT prevent tailgating…When the plaza level door opens. It’s just as easy to follow someone in who’s just scanned their hand as it is to follow someone in who’s only swiped a fob or card. It’s just as easy to walk in as someone leaves as it’s ever been.”

Doors will open in emergency, says management

Residents had been concerned about the doors opening in an emergency and the November 19 memo appears to address this. “In an emergency these doors will open even if the electricity fails.”

It is not explained how the doors will “know” there is an emergency, but presumably a guard or automated system on a lower level of the residential tower would still have to activate the door. In August, residents were especially concerned about a plan for interlocking doors, one not opening until the other closed. It would result, predicted an architect who lives in the building, in “people stacking up in the relatively small space of the elevator lobby.”

On September 23, a spokesperson for Chicago Fire Department told Marina City Online that they would “look closely at any system that would cause a delay in exiting the building.”

“Any such system,” said Lawrence Langford, “would require an automatic override if the fire alarm system is activated.”

The entry system for the east tower should be ready on November 30, according to the memo. However, scans of east tower residents were apparently lost due to a “software glitch,” prompting the management office to ask those residents to have a hand scanned again.