News article on apartment cleaning reimbursement policy

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document Mr. Jain's landlord ;ii .W Balli'i y idim-. tlx-- IX'M;<tieK(.ii>;;n«2;ilinn. siiys ijnungh ers .the ERA :to'’come to. That ;i spokesman that it told ienaHl.s m liin Near Trade Center, llii-irowiideaHersitiidsntiniit bill.s ?'«iio;. means -^te one..apartment may be cleaned.;^ -nearby elet^tor shaft or unit reiinbiirseiiwiit by the owner next-do«r.«ay not; creating the 'possibil­ Stark Disparities aiiei ctKiiptiny. Only a liantlfol- Mr. .lain isn't among tlwm -niive subinilteti sm-h ity of recontamination. The agency will clean hallways and lobbies only if asked Emerge in Cleanups lulls, llie spokesniitn sa.vs. Tlxan* claims arc still Ireiitg sorted 0111. by a landlord. The E» isn’t Offering to clean small businesses ca- schools. Riibliv-heallh experts siy lluil. so far. Lax Government Leadership Uicy biivro’l ideiiiirivit any hmg-icrin se- 'So far, residents tf-J,!®#'?.apart- ninifcew director for tho todependeiii v'MiK liealtli ri.sk.s from Ilie tlwiister. Hui ments-a little more than ;4#%vof these Association of Publishers') Employees, Leaves Some Residences til,’ll view .'f.ssiime.s effective onltloor anil eligible-have asked for EPA help. Mr. says, "People have been reassured by the iiaUKir dvaiiupsof tisbestos and oilier n.".’ Jain is one of those, but he worrit .his results of the testing on our own space so With Asbestos Concerns ins. And while health studies coiiiimic. building won’t get a thorough overall far, but they remain wary.about condi- Uis experts stress they don't knoiv yei treatment. "We should be getting a tions elsewhere in our building and to t'ieusf Tiii'ii fa htift’ All. (liiliiiiiii i proper asbestos cleanup like the corpo- neighboring buildings." Melissa Coley, a Companies Spend to Returbish rate tenants are getting," he says. spokeswoman for Brookfield Proparties Contimted Frvm first faye , to addition to American Express, com- Corp., owner of the Dow Jones building, whether the etwhination of substances panles such as Merrill Lynch & Co,, Bank says, “We have directly addressed the By Motoko Rk h produced by the unprecedented eaiamity of New York Co., Royal Bank of Canada concerns of all of our tenants and con- And Susan Warmn ant) Dow Jones & Co., puWisher of this tinue to monitor the air quaiity in our will cause illnesses in the future. “We just don’t know, but if you don’t get newspaper, say they have cieaned and buUdings.’’ NEW yORK-ln the eight months that tested extensive)y. The potentially dan- Th {rotect gainst asbestos or other Steve Stewart and his 4,000 colleagues ai I buildings) cleaned, obviously there will be a higher probability" of long-term gerous substance of greatest concern is toxins that might be lingering in., the American Express Co, were exited from asbestos, a fibrous material used in fire downtown air, Brookfield, which also their offices after Sept. II, a lot was go­ risk, says Paul J. Lioy, associate director ing on in the company's headquarters of the Environment^ and Occupational across the street from the World Trade Health Sciences institute, which is sup­ Center site. Cleaners vacuumed thick lay­ ported by the University of Medicine and ers of dust and debris that had blown Into Dentistry of New Jersey and Rutgers W The main blame for the helter-skelter indoor the 51-story tower through shattered win­ versity. He is working on a study of resi­ dows. Specialists tested for 120 contami­ dents near Ground Zero. cleanup of downtown Manhattan can be traced nants, including asbestos, lead and mer­ to the shuffling of responsibility among cury. Mr. Stewart Pree-for-AB returned in June to The main blame ter the helter-^elter, government agencies. a _ Pristine office, indoor cleanup of downtown Manhat with a new chair, tan-a triangular area at the island’s computer and gray r.'.-Tl southern end where 200,00# people live and work-can be traced to the shuffling retardant in the Trade Center that can owns the tower housing RBC Capital Mar­ and-blue .carpeting. Amenctm-Express, of responsibility among government cause lung disease and cancer U there is kets; says it installed filter systems to the32-year-Gld man­ ;S . »*? agencies. In the days after Sept. 11, the exposure for a period of years. Others block more than 95% of parflcies measur­ ager says, “did Federal Emergency Mant^ment include pulverized cement and glass, ing one micron or larger. The same was what it needed to .Agency assigned the ERA to monitor out­ which can cause respiratory problems. done at many other large commercial do to alleviate peo­ door air, clear debris and dust and han­ and lead and mercury from incinerated buildings in the vicinity. Before Sept. 11. ple’s fears." dle liazardous waste -removed from the computer.? and lighting, which can cause the standard for corporate offices was A few blocks disaster site. New York City assumed wn-: nervous-system damage. between 60% and 85%. away, Sudhir Jain | trol over indoor areas, including apart- To eliminate asbestos, big companies By contrast, at Stuyvesant High had. a different ex- SZweSieawTf ments. But the city’s Department of Envl-' have stripped out carpets, cubicle walls, School, four blocks north of Ground Zero, perience The ronmental Protection delegated to land-;, ceiang tiles and upholstered furniture. the New York City Department of Educa­ fl-eelance techno)- lords and residents the job of actually American Express says it threw out tion upgraded classroom filters to Mock qgy. consultant moved back to his, apart­ Gleaning up and testing. What followed enough furniture and floor covering to fewer than «% of such W particles. ment .five blocks south of Ground Zero was a free-for-all. ...M* football Qeld piled five feet high. StMnU 40 mwa UM !• WJnR. only two weeks after Sept. 11. His living Qty officials distributed sketchy: '5i^Capi&.Markets, a unit of Royal' ■ room was still covered by gray dust. The guidelines but did little to enforce ttiem.j of Canada, which occupies-five , owner of the 208-unil residential building The recommendations included, for ex-f floors of a black tower on the easteftt denied tenants’ requests to lure a ctean- ample, wiping down surfaces with a wet- edge of the Trade Center site, says it rytag di^^A8«is to barges in Otefilad- ingoontramr, Mr. Jain says, so he tiined rag but didn’t specify how to tel) if poten- even vacuumed hundreds of thousands of son River just 50 yards away. ■his oMt eonfused aboM what sort of tesi tial hazards had been eliminated. individual pieces of paper. “So here were these cartalists pro- tog would be appropriate, he didn't de ERA officials in New York say they Wail Street Journal employees began tecting their employees, and we have Vtd- any. “We have been left to fend for ow ditto’t take the initiative indoors because ' returning to the Dow Jones offices adja- nerable yoong tads who received less pro- selves to protect our own health and neither FEMA nor New York City asked it .centtotoe 1Yiade Ce®tW'-^|tn,=late:^^. ■ te««mmsdK»L!findmai outrages,” safely," says Mr. Jain. «. to. Bonnie Bellow, an ERA spokeswoman - -tAurtttefe -a ' Mantoa Clinstodoiiiou, ««»»«»■ i^^w^ear after .the Sept, a terror- in New York, says the regional office had Twin Towers ana talesW^ediia massive cloud of debris on its hands full for months focusing on the tower Manhattan, the continuing cleanup outdoor cleanup. “As the outdoor condi­ presents Otorit case of haves and have- tions began to improve, and It became nots. The .Wgesi corpot8te'lte«»nd clear that there was confusion and con­ landiords -have conducted cern about any residual dust that might UMfiWtingrofllions of dollars each. Bui remain to people’s homes, we proceeded untUrecently, goveratoeni'asge'ni«W»l with the development of a plan for clean­ levels failed to mount a centralized .cam­ ing up dust indoors," Ms. Bellow s^ paign of scrubbing and testing indoor '; For its part, FEMA says it deferred to spaces. Asa result, many residential build- the ERA. *We were waiting for them to togs, schools and small businesses have re­ toll us there was a problem with indoor ceived only spotty attention. air quality,’’ says Brad Gair. the senior Even without firm government guid­ FEMA official on the scene. Geoffrey ance, many large companies and land­ Ryan, a spokesperson with the city’s lords “were quick DEP, says his agency “worked coopera­ to spend a lot of tively from day one with ERA." The city money, upgrade ffl- advised landlords they had to clean build­ tratton systems ings according to a "strict protocol," Mr. and bring in ex­ Ryan says. “If there was a problem, we perts," says Hugh reviewed it.’' Kaufman, a policy Beginning last fall, the ERA came un­ analyst at the Envi- der escalating pressure from residents ronmental Protec­ and local politicians who argued that as tion Agency’s head­ the country's premier environmental

If quarters to Wash­ agency, it ought to oversee all cleaning, ington. But lacking I-hiMay, eight montte after Sept. U. the A SvdUr Jain official coordina­ tion-Including from his own ERA finally responded ^-offering to »- move ap 'asbestos 'fcwn 3B.0W) resi- dences AwTpMd^ttan. wort -agency-^many smaller landioru; cut corners, Mr, Kaufman adds. "I .give the private sector wemendous Mas, 1 "WoiT Journal NYC-WTC_000143000