City to pay $89,000 to clean pigeon droppings at Harvey House
BARSTOW • People may like to feed pigeons at the park, but the birds, and their droppings, have caused a big problem at the Harvey House.
The city has agreed to pay Abolish Pest Control Company, a Simi Valley-based firm, $89,000 to remove five to six years worth of pigeon droppings at the building. Because pigeon droppings harbor diseases such as Cryptococcus neoformans, removing them is necessary before the city can rent office space at the Harvey House, said Ron Rector, the city’s community and economic development director. Cryptococcus neoformans can cause lung and other infections in people with a weakened immune system, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
The Barstow City Council unanimously approved a professional services agreement between the city and Abolish Pest Control at its meeting Monday.
The droppings are primarily located between false ceiling tiles and the roof above the second floor of the main building at the Harvey House. The Desert Dispatch requested access to the building to see the droppings first hand, but was denied because the droppings are considered a hazardous material, Rector said in an e-mail Wednesday. The droppings can’t be seen without removing the tiles, he said, and doing so would disturb the hazardous waste. The extent of the problem was noticed over the summer.
“Over the past few years, pigeon traps have been set and the birds have been captured and removed,” he said. “They continue to return.”
Rector compared cleaning up the pigeon droppings to removing asbestos. It requires spraying a disinfectant, setting up a clean room to capture air-born material and the workers have to wear protective gear including respirators, he said. The contractors also have to pay to properly dispose of the material.
Depending on the size of the building, removing pigeon droppings and ensuring that the birds don’t return is an expensive task, said Lundy Loeun, owner of Critter-B-Gone, a Victorville-based company. Loeun, who has spent six years in the pest-control business, is often called to the Barstow area and is familiar with the Harvey House. Removing pigeon droppings at that building is expensive because of its size and how delicate the building is, he said.
“You can’t just go in and vacuum or pressure wash the droppings,” Loeun said, adding he quoted San Manuel Indian Casino in San Bernardino $150,000 to do pigeon control. “(Workers) have to perform other tasks besides just removing (the droppings). They have to disinfect also.”
Before he voted on the issue, Mayor Joe Gomez asked Rector if the city could make an insurance claim for the amount of the damage the pigeons have caused. Before he voted on the issue, Gomez said he wanted the city to make sure the pigeons wouldn’t return.
“I don’t like spending this type of money,” he said. “In the future I’m going to have a tough time supporting pigeon removal.”
Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4123 or jcejnar@desertdispatch.com
