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A recent hair-raising incident has employees of the Oregon Department of Human Services, which houses its Portland child welfare office in one of four buildings, questioning the building’s safety.
The Lloyd Plaza office complex in the Kerns neighborhood of Northeast Portland is perched on concrete pillars above the parking garage below. In June, a 12-by-4-inch chunk of concrete fell from one of the bridges connecting the buildings onto the hood of a parked car below.
No one was hurt, but after a complaint prompted a visit by a state inspector several months later, employees were told not to return to the building. DHS closed the office Aug. 13 “for the safety of the community and staff,” a spokesperson tells WW.
Janet Rosen, the union steward who made the complaint to the state, said workers there have been complaining to management about various problems with the building, including a faulty HVAC system, mold, and cracking cement, for years. “We have brought up these issues over and over again,” she said.
The extent of the building’s problems are not clear. A structural engineer ruled the building “safe to use” in June, shortly after the concrete incident, and a city spokesperson says the building “has been repaired” after inspectors mailed a violation notice to its owner, American Property Management.
Nonetheless, workers were told to go home Aug. 13, and have not returned.
Concorde Career Colleges, which occupies the rest of the complex, said it was “unaware of any issues with our building.” DHS declined to elaborate on its reasons for closing the office until it receives a final report from the state inspector.