Heritage

Workers Clearing Out 24-28 King Street East

By Ryan McGreal
Published June 25, 2013

this blog entry has been updated

Workers today were removing sealed yellow bags of asbestos-containing material from 24 and 28 King Street East and loading them into a dumpster in the rear of the 30 King Street East lot, which was demolished in May 2011.

Bags stacked in a dumpster in the rear of 30 King Street East
Bags stacked in a dumpster in the rear of 30 King Street East

According to Robert Miles, senior property manager for Wilson-Blanchard:

These bags are filled with asbestos containing material, such as plaster, vinyl floor tile and pipe insulation in preparation for the upcoming demolition.

Wilson-Blanchard has a demolition order for 18-22, 24 and 28 King Street East, but has submitted a letter of intent to revoke the permit for 18-22, the facade and front part which the developer says it will preserve "if possible".

More dumpsters in the rear of 30 King Street East
More dumpsters in the rear of 30 King Street East

Local heritage advocates want City Council to designate the historic buildings under the Heritage Act, but Council does not value heritage very much. Instead, the City negotiated a compromise to maintain the facade of 18-22 without designating any of the buildings.

The developer, Wilson-Blanchard, has announced its intention to build a new multi-storey development on the block bounded by James, King, Hughson and Main, but has provided no details and submitted no plans.

Update: updated to add the response from Robert Miles.

Ryan McGreal, the editor of Raise the Hammer, lives in Hamilton with his family and works as a programmer, writer and consultant. Ryan volunteers with Hamilton Light Rail, a citizen group dedicated to bringing light rail transit to Hamilton. Ryan wrote a city affairs column in Hamilton Magazine, and several of his articles have been published in the Hamilton Spectator. His articles have also been published in The Walrus, HuffPost and Behind the Numbers. He maintains a personal website, has been known to share passing thoughts on Twitter and Facebook, and posts the occasional cat photo on Instagram.

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By Mark-AlanWhittle (registered) - website | Posted June 25, 2013 at 11:14:23

What is in those yellow bags?

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By MattM (registered) | Posted June 25, 2013 at 11:59:21

They're for the removal of asbestos and other hazardous materials, I believe.

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By Conrad664 (registered) | Posted June 25, 2013 at 12:19:13

Thoses bags is asbestos !!!!!!!!

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By hazmat (anonymous) | Posted June 25, 2013 at 12:56:07

If those bags ARE asbestos, that's some high-tech safety equipment that worker is wearing...

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By Conrad664 (registered) | Posted June 26, 2013 at 08:54:23 in reply to Comment 89726

Your to funny once the bags are sealed they it no worry how you drees lol iv seen it done tones of times have you

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By konradluvr (anonymous) | Posted June 26, 2013 at 10:11:46 in reply to Comment 89742

poetic

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By Gualtieri (anonymous) | Posted June 25, 2013 at 14:53:52 in reply to Comment 89726

Barone Sanitation?

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By Anon (anonymous) | Posted June 25, 2013 at 16:56:49

Where is Ministry of labour and ministry environment on all this removal? This looks way out of line of removal standards.

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By Mark-AlanWhittle (registered) - website | Posted June 25, 2013 at 19:22:34

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By z jones (registered) | Posted June 25, 2013 at 19:37:32 in reply to Comment 89735

Not sure why you feel the need to turn this into a culture war front. Can't we all just agree to bw upset about this?

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By Jim Street (anonymous) | Posted June 25, 2013 at 22:22:36

Hey MAW - those so-called "downtown tree-hugger environmentalists" were busy today protesting Enbridge's Line 9 in Westover. You can thank them nicely for trying to save the world.

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By drop the hammer (anonymous) | Posted June 26, 2013 at 08:37:22

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By Robert D (anonymous) | Posted June 26, 2013 at 10:10:34 in reply to Comment 89741

Who is fear-mongering? He's just posting that workers are clearing it out.

Maybe some commenters are worried about whether it's being done propertly, but certainly nothing in Ryan's article screams "this is dangerous" he's just reporting on the next step towards demolition...

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By Conrad664 (registered) | Posted June 26, 2013 at 13:56:41

Oh and one more thing this guy thats standing beside the cargo is problely maing sure no clowns for down town plays with thoses bags if so it a liability after its out of a biulding it has to be locked up

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By -Hammer- (registered) | Posted June 26, 2013 at 23:08:43

That is a lot of asbestos. I wonder how much that put him back just so he could demo the building, yet alone preserve it. It suddenly becomes clear why these building may have been difficult to rent for years.

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