In response to a sexual assault this summer in an apartment building on Randall Court, Alds. Mike Verveer, District 4, and Judy Olson, District 6, will co-sponsor an ordinance to improve the security of city residential buildings.
The ordinance, which Verveer and Olson will present to the City Council at their Sept. 7 meeting, will require landlords to place locks on the exterior doors of all residential buildings, install an intercom and buzzer system for residents and their guests and construct a key vault so emergency personnel can have a master key to the building.
Verveer said Sarah Lieske, a resident of the Randall Ct. building where the sexual assault occurred, tried to get the landowner to put a lock on their front door after the incident. The landowner refused, prompting her to report the incident to the Wisconsin State Journal.
In an e-mail to Verveer, Lieske said she believes the ordinance \is a measure long overdue.""
County Board Sup. Eileen Bruskewitz, a Madison landlord for more than 20 years, said one of the main problems is not the landowners but tenants, who she said repeatedly leave their doors open. ""People don't use them,"" she said, adding when she walked through one apartment building at least half the locked doors were propped open with a brick.
""We could just mandate that tenants use the locks, but that's not going to happen,"" she said.
An ordinance would raise tenants' rent, which Bruskewitz says is unfavorable. She said the real solution is to work with the university and the Madison Police Department to educate students about the importance of locking their doors. She suggested talking to students in dorms during move-in days. Personal responsibility, she said, is the key issue.
""I think it's pretty sleazy how they're all fighting this,"" Verveer said. He added he was upset that some people blame tenants for occurrences such as sexual assaults.
Olson said after the ordinance is presented to the City Council it has to go through several committees, which could take any where from two months to half a year.
