An extensive overhaul of the Albany Street Garage to improve safety and security is about to get under way.
The work is scheduled to begin next week and will require floor-by-floor closings, which will be announced in advance, Police Chief Anne P. Glavin said.
The result of the overhaul will be:
An upgraded lighting system that will provide illumination in the basement area 24 hours a day.
At least two emergency phones on each of the four levels and others in other locations.
Security cameras monitoring the space around each of the emergency phones.
Installation of large windows in the stairwells, allowing more light and providing exterior visibility to deter crime.
Removal of the interior doors so that users can see into the parking floors from the landings.
Access by card-key at both the driveway and the pedestrian entry doors to restrict access to authorized users of the garage. How and where cards can be obtained will be announced later.
A security grille at the first-floor level to make it more difficult to scale the walls.
Pedestrian doors on the Albany Street side which can be opened only from the inside.
Chief Glavin said a team from Campus Police, Physical Plant, Telecommunications and the Safety Office completed a security and safety review last spring and made recommendations to Senior Vice President William R. Dickson, who authorized the work about to begin.
Chief Glavin said the project has several goals, "personal safety in the garage being high on the list.
"We want people to feel better about parking there," she said. "We also want to deter crime and we know that adding an access-control system will reduce car thefts. We installed a card-access system at the Westgate Lot in February and there has not been a car theft there since. We were having about one a month stolen before the new system."
A version of this article appeared in the November 9, 1994 issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume 39, Number 11).
