I'm writing to you regarding a change in security policy of the Hulme (and others) building which restricts the lowrise building resident access to the side entrances.

In case you are unfamiliar with the situation, the midrises that supply near townhouses with laundry facilities have recently changed from a key based system to an ID scan system.

In addition, the card system has restricted the individuals living in the townhouses from having door access on the side doors, and no access to the back door or elevator.

Since the townhouses are mostly populated by families, we often have large volumes of laundry since there are anywhere between 3-6 people living under one roof. Many of us use various wheeled laundry bind to assist in carrying large loads. Previously this was a breeze as we were able to use our keys to access the back door which is the only ramp/accessible entrance to the building, wheel in laundry and take the elevator to the bottom floor to the laundry room. However since the implementation of the new security this is no longer possible. The side doors are flanked by two sets of stairs leading to the basement level. This means that any laundry must be carried to the basement level, which is often very difficult. In addition this prevents mothers with small children to do laundry by themselves since you cannot take a stroller there. Also, the first set of stairs has no railings and is made of concrete meaning that even other preschool children have trouble safely scaling them. Even I do not feel safe, and I am concerned for the safety of my child.The United States Department of Labor website indicates that "[Trips and falls] cause 15% of all accidental deaths, and are second only to motor vehicles as a cause of fatalities."*Furthermore, the basement side stairs are enclosed and sometimes not well lit causing them to be dim, out of sight places which can bring about safety concerns. As it is getting darker earlier this time of year, this concern will grow over the next few months, and as I understand Stanford University is committed to maintaining an environment where people feel safe to carry out the university's mission**. Overall these security changes strongly impact the families in the EV community and affect the quality of life.

I understand that you are trying to improve security for EV residents with the new measures, including preventing unauthorized subletting. However access to the backdoor/elevator is very important to many families in EV and we have no intent on misusing university's facilities.

Sincerely,

Olga Cormier

*https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/walkingworkingsurfaces/

**http://web.stanford.edu/group/SUDPS/contact.shtml