Constant Maintenance in McMahon Affects Residents
Students reported mixed levels of frustration following the increased activation of fire alarms and hot water shut offs
Maintenance in McMahon Hall has caused disturbances such as water shut offs and alarms.
December 8, 2022
Since the beginning of the fall semester, ongoing renovations for the new RamFit Center on the second floor of McMahon Hall have resulted in numerous fire alarms and announcements from the building’s fire safety director at varying hours. There has also been an uptick in calls for water shut offs and the unavailability of hot water to residents which has resulted in reported frustrations.
Joseph Scaltro, director of engineering services and the main architect behind the new renovations said that the construction crew for the McMahon gym has installed quiet hours until 9 a.m. and has planned its work to be cognizant in limiting the amount of noise created for residents living on the second floor of McMahon. He added that construction workers have scheduled louder forms of construction such as drilling holes in the wall to be completed the afternoon prior to installing wires to avoid quiet hours hindering their work.
The construction for the new fitness center has touched every single system in the building, according to Scaltro. This has caused many fire alarms throughout the building, occuring at all times throughout the day. On Nov. 30, an early-morning alarm sounded to residents at approximately 8:20 a.m., which Scaltro explained was due to the construction work, causing dust to be blown into the smoke detectors.
Luke Schlag, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’24, said he was waking up when the 8:20 a.m. alarm was activated and began to sound.
“Having lived in McMahon for a year and a half, I’ve grown accustomed to its recurrent maintenance issues, but the initial shock of hearing the alarms is always the same,” he said. “You can practically feel the entire building jolt as one, everyone asking themselves something along the lines of, ‘What now?’”
Sharon Fitzpatrick, FCLC ’25, feels that the perpetual maintenance in McMahon is inconvenient and frustrating. She also noted that communication prior to the fire drills and water shut-offs were insufficient.
“It seems like they’ve been doing a lot more in terms of testing our fire alarms and general maintenance,” she said. “I’m not exactly a morning person so being woken up by beeping every few weeks has been pretty annoying as well — and then I can’t go back to sleep because the alarm continues for upwards of 20 minutes some days.”
“We just had to plan ahead a bit, but for the most part, we were fine.” Xavi Pinna, FCLC ’26
Nandhana Nair, GSBLC ‘22, also found the water shut offs inconvenient.
“While there isn’t a perfect time to do maintenance, as students with impromptu schedules, it can be difficult to work around maintenance, especially if the water happens to be turned off around the time you go to sleep,” she said.
Xavi Pinna, FCLC ’26, had the water in his suite interrupted but said that receiving notice from the Office of Residential Life (ResLife) helped his suite plan accordingly during the scheduled disruption. On Nov. 1, ResLife sent an email to all McMahon residents outlining the maintenance scheduled in McMahon for the rest of November. It included a water shutdown on Nov. 4 from 12 a.m. to 3 a.m., fire alarm testing on Nov. 23 beginning at 9 a.m. with an undetermined end time and other repairs taking place from Nov. 7 through Nov. 18.
“We just had to plan ahead a bit, but for the most part, we were fine,” Pinna said.
Not all residents have expressed feeling inconvenienced with the scheduled water interruptions.
Robert Dineen, assistant vice president of Public Safety, said there have been five fire alarm activations in McMahon Hall since the start of the semester due to the construction work for the gym on the second floor.
Braulio Mourao Pacheco, Gabelli School of Business at Lincoln Center ’24 and a resident assistant in McMahon Hall, noted that residents on his floor would ask him about the duration of the water interruption. He mentioned that his residents expressed that the suspensions did not interfere with their daily routines.
Robert Dineen, assistant vice president of Public Safety, said there have been five fire alarm activations in McMahon Hall since the start of the semester due to the construction work for the gym on the second floor.
“When new fire protection devices are installed at a construction site, and the construction work at the site continues, fire protection devices will activate from time to time,” he said.
Dineen added that the fire alarms could go off for different reasons, such as dust from work being performed activating a smoke detector or a worker inadvertently activating a device. He also mentioned that on Nov. 23, the Fire Department of New York was on site to test the new fire protection devices on the second floor. Residents were informed of the inspection in an email prior to the date of scheduled testing. The alarms in the building rang for one hour while the test was being conducted.
Renovations in McMahon are expected to continue over winter break and will conclude prior to the RamFit Center’s unveiling on Jan. 12.
Although residents were told to expect the testing on Nov. 23, the alarm began ringing the day prior, at around 10 a.m. An announcement was then made that testing was taking place, which ended up lasting for about four hours.
When a maintenance order such as the fire alarm detectors going off happens, facilities operations inform ResLife and Public Safety of the schedule of the work to be done. ResLife then notifies residents of the dates of the planned work.
Dineen noted that he has not fielded complaints from residents regarding early morning alarms and water shut offs in letter-lined apartments, which are apartments that share the same water pipes because they are vertically stacked, and are identified by the same letter. He stressed that emergencies make it difficult for facilities and operations to alert ResLife in time to inform residents of required maintenance work as soon as possible.
“When facilities operations discover a need to perform emergency work, i.e. water leak requiring valve replacement that requires immediate repair, it does not allow for advance notice to the residents, though the facilities team working with the office of residential life will alert residents by email and the posting of signage throughout the building as soon as possible,” he said.
Renovations in McMahon are expected to continue over winter break and will conclude prior to the RamFit Center’s unveiling on Jan. 12.
