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Observations
	Anacostia library endures problems (Published September 22, 2003) By CARRIE DEVORAH

Ora Glover is turning 89 years young. She says sometimes her thinking cap isn’t on straight, these days. An original organizer of Friends of Anacostia Library in 1975, she seems to remember testifying over five years ago to some committee about asbestos in the library. That was more than four years before Shirley Diamond, heading up construction proposals for four D.C. libraries, highlighted asbestos discovered with recent flooding as reason to tear down or renovate the community structures.

But then, Ora remembers most everything, she says.

The D.C. Public Library system needed a representative in the area, when it was either Area D or Area 4. Upon volunteering, Ora started Anacostia Library’s federation of friends. From 1975 onward, Ora cannot remember how many times she testified in support of her library – except whenever the library budget came up, Ora was there testifying for things that needed taking care of.

Ora has been trying to get a new library for the community for years. There have been leaks. Meetings rooms are too small. When Ora heard there were foundation problems, she guessed her community needed a new library. And she told them. At the friends’ next meeting in the Anacostia Library meeting room – in the basement, where it is situated near the restroom, kitchen and utility room. The same room in which six or more leaks sprung up during the past year as a result of which carpet and underlying tiles were pulled back – revealing asbestos. Again.

The way Ora tells it, her Friends of Anacostia Library are homespun. Monthly meetings start with speakers and end with coffee and cakes served from the kitchen next door to the meeting room. The refreshment committee must exit the front door of the meeting room and walk all around the hall to the kitchen to get the cakes, then walk all the way back to the front of the meeting room. And at Ora’s age, this is no small feat. The doors between the rooms cannot open.

Forty to 60 friends meet in this room, monthly. A fire hazard waiting to happen, she says. One can only wonder how enemies would be treated.

Thelma Jones, president of the Fairlawn Civic Association, decided to do something about the conditions at the library. Her group’s monthly meetings are now directed to the Sixth District police substation, along with the Anacostia Garden Club and, possibly, Precinct 112 voters. "Where will Precinct 112 vote when it is time next year?" Thelma wonders aloud. "I did notify the Board of Elections. They have no answers."

Thelma notified everyone in the community in her association’s newsletter that the library’s meeting room is closed, until further notice. "Some are so set on our weekly meetings, even though they got it, they still showed up. Guess they didn’t read," she says. The substation meeting room is inconvenient. It doesn’t have the loudspeaker that the library’s does. It is smaller. At the last meeting, people were forced to sit on window sills and stand at the back of the room.

"There were visitors, this time," says Thelma, government and library people telling them "the plans." Thelma says the Anacostia Library needs updating. "There are only two bathrooms – one for the men, one for the women. And the men, you know, have a unrinal," she says.

Anacostia librarian Virgil Armstrong says Anacostia is getting ready to close down. "Lot of rumors floating around. …October, November or January. Maybe," he says. "Some say the library is going to be rehabbed. Some say it’s going to be torn down. None saying the same thing." Armstrong says the contract package for substantial redevelopment solicitation is being reviewed. He hopes the city council review will be this week. D.C. Public Library Director Molly Raphael is leaving at the end of the month. She is going to Oregon. "In this organization, no one worries until the shoe drops," says Armstrong, who has worked in Anacostia for seven years.

The building was built in 1954. "It has plenty of problems and should be replaced," he says. Several floods occurred over the past year from a pipe collapsed in the rear of the building. The in-house engineer, Mr. Maheesh, working at the library for a few months, is not sure what caused the pipe collapse. Shirley Diamond, head of building and grounds, says a sewer pipe in the streets is the source of the water damage. Maheesh says all contracts for repair must be authorized before work can be done. Someone forgot to tell Anacostia Operations Manager Frank Marablie. He fixed the pipe in July. It hasn’t leaked since, even during Hurricane Isabel. Marablie says has done his best to scrub the mold and eliminate the odor with chlorine bleach. "It isn’t much, but it is something," says Marablie, who is most concerned with asbestos in the building. That’s not something Marablie is licensed to do anything about.

Jeff Bonvechio works with Shirley Diamond. Having worked for construction agencies for six years, Bonvechio is responsible for writing the handbook for data submittals to be used for renovating four library branches – Anacostia, Benning, Tenley-Friendship and Watha Daniel – and for future renovations. Bonvechio is spending his time reviewing manuals, holding manual meetings to review manual focus while preparing working drafts. "It is difficult to determine the dates of renovation. There are a lot of agencies in the contract review process," says Bonvechio "The request went out in January. It is sitting over eight months. …There are areas of overlap between the Office of Procurement and other offices involved that are being determined."

If it were up to him, Bonvechio says he would "start tomorrow." But it isn’t and he can’t.

Bonvechio says there is always a concern about working with asbestos. "You must remember if it remains undisturbed, it is not a problem; but if it is disturbed, it is a problem," he says. Marablie disturbed "it" when he found it in the tiles. Guess someone else disturbed it five years earlier, necessitating Ora Glover’s testimony then. Bonvechio assures the asbestos will be removed according to guidelines established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Department of Public Works and the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. So far, Bonvechio says seven or eight proposals have been received.

The required process includes 60 days of programming phase, accommodating work groups and focus groups to determine what is best for the library, requests for proposals, standards for procurement of proposals for a construction firm and hearings on how they plan to manage it. Then the Capital Construction Program and general counsel must review contracts to assure they are airtight. Diamond’s office has no idea at this point where the needed money will come from or how it will be allocated.

Bonvechio suggests looking at the proposed capital budget and financial plan for 2004, to "get some ideas."

"Right now, programming is giving options for partial or complete tear down," he says. Included in the bids are logistics requests for storing or transferring library books and computer equipment. Librarians are notified to go through their collections, deciding to sell or keep books. Bonvechio says he is not sure how they will use the money.

So, what’s new?

Copyright 2003, The Common Denominator