Taylor wants to restrict access to new City Hall

[Hometown]

We had no idea just how serious Kathy Taylor was when she described herself as a CEO.  Now we have a self-proclaimed Chief Executive Officer who wants to restyle City Hall into her corporate headquarters and restrict access by citizens.

The building and location were inappropriate to begin with.  A major public investment -- Civic Center -- has been degraded.  Now common folks aren't supposed to be able to move about City Hall.

Check out this story in today's TulsaWorld:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080402_1_A1_hAcou02475

[sgrizzle]

I think her suggestion is flawed but there is a valid issue. The design of the building doesn't allow for a single reception desk per floor like they use at the current city hall. I like the scanned badge idea (works pretty well in practice) but once they have it, let them roam free.

[inteller]

why, is she afraid someone will come in and gun her down?  Now why would anyone want to do that?[^]

[cannon_fodder]

quote:  But, individuals wanting to go beyond the second floor must present a driver's license, which will be scanned and made into a visitor's badge, said Mark Hogan, the city's chief security officer.

The individual must then wait for an escort to a specific floor, he said.

If the person needs to go to another floor, he or she will get another escort, who will monitor the person as they conduct their business, he said, and that process will continue for each floor until the person leaves the building.

No.  Public access to public spaces should be as little restricted as possible.  Once you know that I don't have a gun or other weapon I will go where I please to see my governing officials in my public space WITHOUT an escort.  An escort requirement would certainly diminish the access to our government - if not totally then certainly with a greater degree of disconnect.

Furthermore, if there is some greater degree of difficulty in public access to elected official or public services because of this move - it would have been just wonderful to consider that BEFORE MOVING CITY HALL.  

Public officials answer to the public.  Public buildings are owned by and for the pubic.  A public official in a public building should not increase restricted access to the public.  The greater the disconnect the easier it is for them to perform business as usual as an elite ruling class and the harder it is for citizens to know what's going on.

Maybe this is a bit of an over reaction to a simple procedure, but every step in the wrong direction counts.

[TulsaSooner]

quote:Originally posted by sgrizzle

I think her suggestion is flawed but there is a valid issue. The design of the building doesn't allow for a single reception desk per floor like they use at the current city hall. I like the scanned badge idea (works pretty well in practice) but once they have it, let them roam free.

Yep.  And I don't know that the Mayor sat down and came up with this either.

There does need to be something.  Even in a public building you can't have people roaming arond these days, it just doesn't seem safe.  And you definitely need to secure the floors that are occupied by private firms.  

I think the scanned DL (or some form of ID) and a temporary badge coupled with metal detectors would suffice.

[Gaspar]

I don't know if they have fixed the problems with that building, but I remember when it opened and Williams Energy was in there, I had a client that I had to go see frequently.  

They would move meetings based on the time of day because in the morning one side of the building used to heat up with the sun, and then in the evening the other side would get hot.  It felt like a giant greenhouse.

It was nice in the winter, but in the summer it was overwhelming.  

They have 3 house sized AAON air-conditioners in a central floor (I forget witch one) that are specially designed to handle the cooling requirements of that building.  We had a tour once.  You could walk inside of the AC units, they are amazing.

When I saw the press release about making that building LEED certified, I spit coffee all over my keyboard!

[breitee]

That is probably the ugliest building in Tulsa. Someone once called it a "dirty ice cube" and they were right on the money.

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by Gaspar

I don't know if they have fixed the problems with that building, but I remember when it opened and Williams Energy was in there, I had a client that I had to go see frequently.  

They would move meetings based on the time of day because in the morning one side of the building used to heat up with the sun, and then in the evening the other side would get hot.  It felt like a giant greenhouse.

It was nice in the winter, but in the summer it was overwhelming.  

They have 3 house sized AAON air-conditioners in a central floor (I forget witch one) that are specially designed to handle the cooling requirements of that building.  We had a tour once.  You could walk inside of the AC units, they are amazing.

When I saw the press release about making that building LEED certified, I spit coffee all over my keyboard!

Feeling warm isn't a sign of inefficiency and can be the opposite. I find it interesting a building with little western exposure really got that hot in the evenings. The building is built with a curtain wall on the east side to circulate air from the top to the bottom (that hot air rising thing) and the glass allows viewing down out of the building but is highly tinted if you look horizontal and almost opaque if you're looking up (like at the sun). The ceilings on each floor are at an angle so sunlight can come in a light more central areas thus lowering the lighting needs.

Everyone assumes a glass building means hot and inefficient. I worked for years in the black glass towers which didn't have energy efficient heating/cooling or fancy tinted windows and we did just fine. I would assume if sunlight or heat was an issue, someone would put in window blinds but I don't see any.

P.S. I always heard "ant farm."

[Conan71]

The idea sounds like it needs some tweaking.  I understand the frustration and insular image  Christiansen is talking about, but this is and has become the norm in business and government alike.  It sounds as if it would still be easier to get into City Hall than it is to go on site at Spirit Aerospace.
 
I haven't tried it, but I'm sure there's not exactly unfettered access to the Mayor's personal office as it is now and probably should not be in a city of close to 400,000 people.

HT, were you living in San Francisco when Harvey Milk and George Moscone were killed?

[Breadburner]

I think there is reason for concern but this is extreme.....

[TeeDub]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

The idea sounds like it needs some tweaking.  I understand the frustration and insular image  Christiansen is talking about, but this is and has become the norm in business and government alike.  It sounds as if it would still be easier to get into City Hall than it is to go on site at Spirit Aerospace.

Unfortunately this is the way of big government.   You can't get into almost any building in DC without going thru metal detectors, showing your ID and having an appointment.

(FCC, Department of Agriculture, and Senate buildings anyway.)

[Gaspar]

quote:Originally posted by sgrizzle

quote:Originally posted by Gaspar

I don't know if they have fixed the problems with that building, but I remember when it opened and Williams Energy was in there, I had a client that I had to go see frequently.  

They would move meetings based on the time of day because in the morning one side of the building used to heat up with the sun, and then in the evening the other side would get hot.  It felt like a giant greenhouse.

It was nice in the winter, but in the summer it was overwhelming.  

They have 3 house sized AAON air-conditioners in a central floor (I forget witch one) that are specially designed to handle the cooling requirements of that building.  We had a tour once.  You could walk inside of the AC units, they are amazing.

When I saw the press release about making that building LEED certified, I spit coffee all over my keyboard!

Feeling warm isn't a sign of inefficiency and can be the opposite. I find it interesting a building with little western exposure really got that hot in the evenings. The building is built with a curtain wall on the east side to circulate air from the top to the bottom (that hot air rising thing) and the glass allows viewing down out of the building but is highly tinted if you look horizontal and almost opaque if you're looking up (like at the sun). The ceilings on each floor are at an angle so sunlight can come in a light more central areas thus lowering the lighting needs.

Everyone assumes a glass building means hot and inefficient. I worked for years in the black glass towers which didn't have energy efficient heating/cooling or fancy tinted windows and we did just fine. I would assume if sunlight or heat was an issue, someone would put in window blinds but I don't see any.

P.S. I always heard "ant farm."

South West side got toasty!  Much of your travel through the building takes place on the outside hallways.  You had to put on your sunglasses to walk from cube-farm to cube-farm.  It was hot blinding white light because of the way the glazing dispersed the sunlight.  Rather than having to shade your eyes from a glaring sun, it's just bright everywhere!  

I'm not an architect, and I don't understand the mechanics of how this becomes an efficient design, but I do believe that comfort and energy efficiency should go hand in hand.  

It's been about 8 years, so they may have found a work-around for these problems.

[EricP]

My post on the tulsa world comment thread:

"Those tenants in OTC will have people coming and going from their offices. Tell me why the city should determine whether or not they can let me get on an elevator and gain access to Deloitt if I want to meet with an accountant? "

FYI, you won't find any Deloitte accountants in this building. Our floor is secure and there is no reason for the public to be here and we wouldn't be able to maintain our clients' information security otherwise. It's not that we're not friendly

There's no reason for the public to be roaming around private office space, even the city's.. if you have a specific need to meet with someone that need will be met, and it sounds like there will be a public reception desk area built for public access anyway. The only reason you think this is an issue is because somebody told you it is. How often do you guys go down to city hall and roam around the offices? Can we take a vote? Get back to reality. They'll find the right mix between public access and private space and you can complain on comment threads to your heart's content.

And as for the parking, they could probably set up another row of meters next to the building and that would cover it just fine. You can't expect to have acres and acres of surface parking downtown, we have ENOUGH of that (thanks TCC.) Have you ever tried to park in downtown chicago? You find a garage and pay $40. You're lucky it won't cost you that much here.

[Renaissance]

quote:Originally posted by EricP



There's no reason for the public to be roaming around private office space, even the city's.. if you have a specific need to meet with someone that need will be met, and it sounds like there will be a public reception desk area built for public access anyway. The only reason you think this is an issue is because somebody told you it is. How often do you guys go down to city hall and roam around the offices? Can we take a vote? Get back to reality. They'll find the right mix between public access and private space and you can complain on comment threads to your heart's content.

Exactly--well put sir.  This is just an excuse for folks to make a fuss, trump up issues of "class difference," and take the opportunity to piss on a Mayor they don't like.

Not saying I like her, either, but this is a fuss over nothing.  How can we expect city government to operate efficiently if every "concerned citizen" is free to wander the halls and nag everyone?

[hoodlum]

there are a lot of people, me included, who think that is one of the best buildings downtown.