For some people if they didn’t have a bad attitude, they wouldn’t have an attitude. When that bad attitude is displayed it can rub off pretty quick on everyone involved.
Offering apologies now, before they are needed, always remember that all exits shall be maintained inside and out at all times.
It doesn’t matter whether “they did it last year” or “so-in-so said this was okay” or “there are other exits”… if it is an exit, it shall be clear and accessible from the inside and maintained to a public area on the outside.
This is not hard to understand, nor is this negotiable.
There are many places of public assembly all over the Town of Webb. To name a few… bars, restaurants and gathering places.
They all have exits. The smaller places that can only hold fifty people or fewer may only have one exit, which is fine.
More than likely that one exit is maintained pretty well automatically.
For the places that have more than one exit, are all the exits maintained? They should be.
Even if the place holds fewer than fifty people and it happens to have two exits [not just one] BOTH exits shall be maintained.
ALL EXITS SHALL BE MAINTAINED. Again, this is pretty simple to understand.
Our town recreation pavilion on North Street has gained popularity in providing space to host a variety of events. This is great.
Events at the facility are good for businesses in town, the facility itself has plenty of parking, plenty of restrooms, a basic kitchen and is otherwise usable for a broad variety of events.
However, that simple to understand concept of “ALL EXITS SHALL BE MAINTAINED” seems to be sometimes hard to understand.
It’s not ‘most of’ the exits, or ‘every other’ exit, or the exits at that end of the building, or the ones in the corners… it’s simply all of the exits.
When this office shows up to do an on-site safety inspection just prior to the opening of an event and finds two, three or more exits blocked, we insist on changes.
This leads us back to the first sentence regarding bad attitudes.
The code office will hold our ground, and the exits will be made accessible.
This usually requires moving all sorts of stuff like tables, seating areas, displays, equipment, signs, snowmobiles, beer trailers, bar areas… whatever is involved.
But it needs to be done.
Occasionally if vendors have been promised [and paid for] a certain area on the floor, and they have to move… well, you get the idea… we’re back with the attitude thing.
So the code officer stands there and takes the yelling, waving of arms, the complaining, listens to all the reasons why this makes no sense and then finally just says, “I understand you’re not happy and are upset, but the exit shall be maintained, the stuff must be moved so the exit is accessible.”
You would think the whole idea would be just common sense.
Have you ever wondered why there are so many exits in the North Street Pavilion?
There is a very good reason. But if you don’t know, you don’t know. Here is why…
The building is a multi-use facility, including a public assembly clearly capable of holding hundreds of people.
By State law the building would require a full blown sprinkler system. Before the building was constructed, the town made an application the NYS Dept. of State for a variance not to provide a sprinkler system.
The variance was granted with conditions. One condition stated that the minimum required exit capacity be essentially tripled and maintained at all times.
That’s why there are so many doors in the building. Now you know. Knowledge and understanding are powerful tools… agreeing may be different.