Visitors to Dallas City Hall will soon have to pass through metal detectors and bag scanners at a central lobby entrance, the latest effort to enhance security at 1500 Marilla St.
Also in the plans is a reconfiguration and “hardening” of the briefing room where City Council members have committee meetings most Mondays and briefing meetings on alternate Wednesdays.
The security enhancements at the 35-year-old building, designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei, follow others in the past seven years that have cost an estimated $1.6 million. More security cameras were installed, a “safe room” was created and parts of the main City Council chamber were bulletproofed.
“Each time we see where something happens in another city, we kind of take notice of that,” said Assistant City Manager Forest Turner. “We want to have it to where … the safety factor for all the folks in this building is that if you’re here, you’ve been scanned. And you can freely move about here, knowing that everybody is safe.”
Across the country, the public has come to demand better security at government buildings, said Steve Swensen, a retired U.S. marshal and the founder and director of the Center for Judicial and Executive Security.
“Most people — not all people — are real comfortable when they come into a building and see extra security,” Swensen said.
Officials are sensitive to perceptions that tighter security can mean less accessibility, in a building that belongs to the public.
“We want City Hall to be a safe environment,” said council member Scott Griggs, a member of the Public Safety Committee. “We want to protect the public that’s there on their business, conducting their affairs, as well as the elected officials.” But he added: “The building does belong to the people, so we need to balance access with safety.”
Some people complained a couple of years ago when the city announced that public parking spaces in the two-floor garage below City Hall, previously open to all visitors, could only be used by those who’d been cleared in advance. Most other visitors are now directed to ground-level, metered parking spots or to commercial lots.
Visitors can currently enter City Hall through various entrances, none of which include security screenings.
Metal detectors are typically only used on the sixth floor, and only for City Council meetings or council committee meetings.
The latest security upgrades planned for building entrances could go to the City Council for consideration in December. The estimated cost is $400,000.
Under the plan, by the end of the spring all visitors will be screened inside a glass vestibule to be built in front of the current lobby entrance. There will be an additional entrance on the southeast corner of the building for people with disabilities.
Changes to the council briefing room are expected to cost less than $100,000. They include reconfiguring the seating and adding a new, more formidable council table to replace the current one, which is covered by a skirt. Those changes could be made during a council recess in March.
Currently, the front entrance and lobby at City Hall are closed for unrelated construction. Escalators are being torn out and replaced with a staircase.
Follow Scott Goldstein on Twitter at @sgoldstein.
