A new couthouse is still five years away, so judges, lawyers and staff working in Broward County's Courthouse continue to worry about a myriad of potential health hazards. Senior Editorial Writer Douglas C. Lyons sat down recently with Judge Carlos Rodriguez for a frank talk about those concerns.
People are known to dread going to work, but your case is special. Tell us about it.
There's been a series of studies that have been done about the environment here in the courthouse and the fact that there's different types of mold and asbestos in the old part of the courthouse, which happens to be where we are right now. The first I found out about this was I had my own personal fax machine, and I wanted to put it here in my office next to my desk. When I called [to have it installed] they're usually very responsive to hook up fax machines and equipment for the judges. So I called and wanted them to put it in, and nobody showed up and nobody said anything. So my judicial assistant called to ask why I couldn't get my fax machine, and they said, "We can't do it because we can't get approval because there's asbestos in your ceiling tiles where we sit right now and under your carpeting. So, we can't run a phone line about 10 feet — that's my fax machine over there — to run and hook it up here in your office." That was the first thing that brought it home, when you're sitting here, moving into a new office, trying to hook up your fax machine, and they tell you that.