[sudo-access] sudo/CCL door access latch solenoid progress

hi all, last night someone from CCL asked me about progress on the electronic lock system for the door to sudoroom/CCL, and then i made some progress on understanding the work that's been done by others and poked at it myself. I added a somewhat hidden button in the hallway, at the bottom of the metal electrical box closest to the handle to the door. Pressing the button will click the latch so that it can open, for four seconds. The button is connected through software so we can adjust its behavior anytime. For now I feel that we should take it slow with this system and just observe that the hardware is reliable and doesn't shut itself off or fail randomly. There are still two other ways to reach the room (through the backstage door, and through the basement, although that door gets VERY stuck very easily), so even if we were to have a malfunction at this door, we could go around it without too much trouble. Presently a lot of people take for granted that they will have access to sudoroom. I know that at least 1 houseless person has been storing personal items there, and last night there was a large frame backpack containing blankets and a pillow, near the bottom of the stairs in sudoroom. My point is that we need to iterate toward access control to prevent locking people out of a space where they have stored property, where they don't have a way to gain access somehow. One time while I was present, someone thought they had been locked out of sudoroom by that door and attempted to light the building on fire (they did light a fire, but we were able to put it out. This is a separate story from the fire stories I heard from Ian a couple of weeks ago) Before we start closing and latching that door (it has been held open by a hook to the wall all this time) I think we need to develop a phone tree so that people stuck outside the door can read a sign and know who to contact in order to request access. I am willing to install a VOIP telephone outside the door that automatically calls people who are on the phone tree, if that helps. There is an RFID reader already mounted outside the door (in the blue box on the wall) which will make it possible to start giving access to people by RFID card soon, but the volunteer who has been working on that system is out of town and won't be able to get back to work on it for a few weeks. In the meantime if anyone wants to contribute labor towards this access control project, we need ideas, signage, coordination, and technical participation. thanks everyone! -jake