At the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library today/Photo by Patricia Leslie
When visiting the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library, library users need more than a library card. They need umbrellas, towels, and galoshes, too.
Two and a half months later and the "new and improved" Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library still has leaks.
This is after an earlier round of leaks was discovered at the library in July. Then the library had been open only nine months after a $5.6 million renovation had kept it closed for almost two years.
At the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library today/Photo by Patricia Leslie
A
staff member told me when the library crew arrived at work this
morning, they discovered water dripping on copiers and other equipment,
causing some of the ceiling to collapse, meeting rooms to close, and the
halt in customer copying.
"Don't
worry, it will be fixed tomorrow," said the staffer, but who pays?
Insurance is probably adequate, but what about the designer and builder
of the library? What does this do to insurance rates? What part of this
bill lands in the taxpayers' wallets?
The Tenley-Friendship library in D.C. has had leaks, too, but the second leak at Tysons in under three months? Come on!
In addition to books, periodicals, computers, and reference help, this library always has on hand huge supplies of heavy-duty plastic and caution tape.
Be careful, the ceiling tiles you trip over may have asbestos. Oh, that's right. It's not used any more.
Maybe it's a new way to build libraries with leaks so refurbishment (planned obsolescence) is unceasing.
(Since
I do not want you to think ill of me, Mr. Builder and Mr. Designer, I do not mean to state or think the unthinkable, the
impossible. Just a little drip of humor, I insert.)
patricialesli@gmail.com
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