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Police state at new Chandler City Hall?
Chandler City Hall security heightened Armed guard, cameras, new key-card system protecting employees by Edythe Jensen - Jun. 24, 2011 12:18 PM The Arizona Republic Chandler City Hall isn't the walk-in-and-wander-around place that it was when the five-story glass building opened a few months ago. New security measures require visitors to sign in at a front desk, clip on a guest badge and wait until a municipal employee is ready to greet them if they want to go beyond the lobby, city clerk's area or Arizona Public Service Co. offices on the main floor. An armed security guard has been stationed in the lobby since March where he eyeballs visitors and watches surveillance camera screens. On June 1 the city activated a $250,000 key-card system that locks stairway doors to the public. The electronic security system also prevents intruders from getting into second-floor offices from an outdoor terrace should they climb exterior railings. Several other Valley cities stepped up security after the Jan. 8 Tucson shooting that killed six and wounded 13, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Some, including Mesa, Tempe and Phoenix, have metal detectors. Spokeswoman Nachie Marquez said Chandler was looking at tightening security measures in the new building when the shooting occurred "and it certainly added more importance to security." Since the October opening there had been general concerns about leaving private offices so open to the public. "People were wandering our halls not knowing where they were going or where the person they were going to see was located," she said. "It was not very professional, and there were concerns by employees that people were just walking into offices." That may have been taking the architect's vision of government transparency in a building filled with glass and natural light too far. Municipal security advisers were pushing Chandler to limit access and keep track of people who went past the lobby "in the event something should happen . . . we didn't know who was here," Marquez said. Tight budgets added to concerns as receptionists' desks on the second through fifth floors remained empty when those positions weren't filled. Holly Granillo, a 12-year city employee who has worked in several departments that faced cuts and job consolidations, sits in the only occupied receptionist's seat on the main floor. She turns the new security measures into a friendly greeting. "Can I help you?" Granillo asks the dozens of outsiders who enter the building every day. It's usually followed by an explanation of how visitors must sign in and clip on a guest badge and wait for a phone call upstairs for a city employee to meet them. Some talk about their home towns or ask Granillo for advice on transportation or local entertainment while they wait. Homeless individuals come in to get a cold drink of water or use the restroom, and Granillo said she occasionally has to remind them not to loiter in the lobby. [Hmmm - there are no signs saying "no loitering"! I guess this is one of those laws bureaucrats like Holly Granillo make up on the fly to discriminate against homeless people] That's a far cry from cities like Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa where anyone attending City Council meetings must pass through metal detectors and X-ray machines. Mesa was the first Southeast Valley municipality to install the devices after a homeless man shot Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox in 1997. Phoenix and Tempe put theirs in after the Tucson shootings. Gilbert has security measures similar to Chandler's. However, Gilbert recently raised the heights of some public-service counters so outsiders can't jump over them to access private offices, Deputy Town Clerk Sue Roberts said. Doors leading to offices also are now locked after hours, she said. |