Complaints Prompt Tests for Asbestos

An inspector from the South Coast Air Quality Management District, following up on complaints about possible asbestos contamination from city-owned buildings being demolished in Lawndale, says the agency will test debris taken from the site for asbestos content.

Michael Haynes, an AQMD air pollution specialist, inspected the site where three city-owned houses had stood, on 167th Street and Osage Avenue, after two people complained to the agency that material they believed contained asbestos was being removed.

The buildings, in the old city yard, had been used to store surplus city material, from old tractor tires to city Christmas decorations to inoperable city vehicles, city officials and residents said.

One of the complaints was filed by Anthony Reed, whose mother and sister live next door to the yard. He said he had collected several pieces of a siding material last week that city workers had separated from other debris and placed in 55-gallon drums near a wall separating his property from the city’s.

Reed, who provided pieces of the mint-green material to the AQMD, said he was told by a city employee working at the site that it contained asbestos.