The Van Ness South Tenants Association today sent Josh Luper, building manager for Equity Residential of 3003 Van Ness, the following email about seven broken or malfunctioning security doors at 3003 Van Ness.

VNSTA has warned Equity many times about broken security doors, which provide easy access to the property without keys or fobs. It also has repeatedly requested that Equity hire an experienced, 24/7 security guard to patrol the building. Nevertheless, Equity management has failed to keep the doors and locks properly functioning — for this reason, we have posted video of the malfunctioning doors to Twitter.

Residents can help pressure Equity Residential to provide adequate security by helping to document such obvious security lapses. Residents may take video of the problems that, like the video recently posted to Twitter, demonstrates the problem accurately and convincingly.

Such evidence will be verified, posted online if necessary, shared with the property authorities, and archived as evidence if the lack of adequate security at 3003 Van Ness leads to a situation that requires legal remedy.

See today’s email below:

Josh,

Members of the tenant association did an informal inspection of security doors at 3003 Van Ness this weekend, and we found that seven security doors providing entrance to the building could be opened without a key or fob, including three doors that provide direct access from outside to the buildings and four that provide access from the garages to the buildings.

We have reported such incidents many times, and although in the past it appears that Equity has made some belated attempt at repairs, the repairs are insufficient or the problems are recurring. For this reason, we have taken video of all seven broken doors and we have posted them on Twitter:

@vnsta3003 / Twitter

We note that in two cases the locking mechanisms were blocked with duct tape or masking tape. This appears to be a malicious attempt by someone to prevent the doors from locking properly. However, even in this case the situation is Equity's responsibility -- the company should have a security guard roving the premises 24/7, looking for such vulnerabilities, and calling for repair. In two cases here, it would have been sufficient to pull the tape off the locking mechanisms.

We note that in several instances, the doors and locks that were tampered with are directly below security cameras. While we know that in the past many of these cameras were inoperable, it is our understanding that they should have been repaired or replaced. In this case, if Equity's security camera system is functioning properly, video of the perpetrator should exist in recently archived video. If so, such video footage should be shared with the Metropolitan District Police. If such video does not exist, it would be evidence for the DC Attorney General that Equity Residential continues to not take seriously the mandate to tighten security.

As you know, the DC Attorney General has threatened Equity Residential under the Drug-, Firearm- or Prostitution-related Nuisance Abatement Law. This should have been a strong signal to Equity Residential that it must take reasonable steps to secure the property. However, our finding this weekend that seven doors that provide access to the building were broken or malfunctioning demonstrates that Equity isn't taking its responsibility seriously.

We strongly request that you repair all these doors immediately, check security camera footage to find out who taped open two of the doors, and report the incidents to the police. Moreover, we reiterate our repeated request for the $24 billion Equity Residential corporation to spend a little of its huge profits to hire a 24/7 experienced security guard at 3003 Van Ness so the company can provide adequate security to its customers.

Harry Gural

President, Van Ness South Tenants Association