Asbestos removal begins in city office in Richmond

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Asbestos removal begins in city office

None is airborne, council told

BY JEREMY REDMON

TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jul 24, 2001

An environmental contractor will begin removing asbestos, fungi and mold

from Richmond's magistrates' office today and will expand testing for these

substances throughout the Public Safety Building.

City officials also announced yesterday that the contractor, Nations

Environmental Services Inc., did not find any asbestos in the safety

building's General District Court and city lockup.

" The good news is there is no airborne asbestos in any of the areas we

tested, " Diane Linderman, director of the city's Public Works

Department, told the council yesterday.

" The bad news is we found some asbestos in the walls in the magistrates'

office. "

The magistrates' office recently moved to the Marshall Courts Building

because Nations found asbestos and fungi around an air vent in the North

Ninth Street building.

The magistrates' office is adjacent to the city lockup, where about 400 to

500 prisoners are processed weekly.

The city is still awaiting the results of tests for fungi and mold in the

lockup.

" God only knows what they were exposed to, " Sheriff said

in an interview yesterday about her officers and prisoners.

Meanwhile, city officials are studying building a new home for the General

District Court and other public safety offices. The police department is

already planning to move to a new location on West Grace Street.

Two other options are being studied: expanding the Marshall building,

and using a vacant building owned by Philip at Stockton Street and

Commerce Road.

Councilman Sa'ad El-Amin questioned the timing of the considerations.

" This is not new, " he told fellow council members. " And yet we have just

finished a biennial budget with nothing in it with respect to this issue.

" We can't continue to function like this, folks. I'm just baffled. "

Contact Redmon at (804) 649-6804 or jredmon@...