No bulletproofing for City Hall

As part of Vancouver’s planned move-in to its new City Hall this year, a security consultant was brought in to give his expert opinion on how to keep employees and elected officials safe.

Among the consultant’s recommendations? Barriers outside the building at 415 W. Sixth St. And also applying a (relatively) inexpensive material to bulletproof the building’s floor-to-ceiling windows.

City Manager Eric Holmes and the city council will likely have their offices on the second floor, facing Esther Short Park, and the consultant wanted that glass fortified in particular.

But Holmes noted this week that the consultant was using stringent safety standards like those used in federal buildings, and bulletproofing just seemed like a bit much.

This is still Vancouver, he said.

Anyway, Holmes joked, “I have to leave the building sometime.”