News article on apartment cleaning reimbursement policy

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document ecx Random Tests The agency announced this nioiilh taut in addition to cleaiiups-uii-reuuest. it would also randomly test 250 apartments for lead, mercury and dioxin, even though Its scientists believe the amounts of those toxins emitted by the disaster weren't enough to threaten public health. The EPA says it will also test apartments that have already been cleaned. Jane Kenny, the agency's regional ad- cently the president of the Stuyvesani ministrator, says these steps are suffi­ Parents Association Mdttetinetberfif an cient, in light of the lack of evidence, so 18-year-old son who praduated in June. far, of long-term health dangers. “We want to respect the rights of the individu­ Judith Moore, current co-president of als and allow them to decide wtiether or the parents group, whose daughter is start’ not to ask (or the cleaning or testing,” ing her senior year next month, says anxi­ Ms. Kenny says. If the agency suspects ety over the school's air quality has been that a building is significantly contami­ heightened by the lack of a centralized nated. ii will urge the owner to request a cleanup. But Ms. Moore, a psychothera­ more thorough cleanup, she adds. pist, adds that in these uncertain times, parents want "a guarantee of safety for But some residents aren't satisfied. our children in this world"-something no Wendy Tabb, a 38-year-old jeweler who , cleanup can satisfy. rents an apartment at US Duane Street that once looked out on the Twin Towers Bernard Orlan, director of environ­ from seven blocks to the north, says she mental health and safety for the city’s and her husband did only normal dusting Department of Education, says that re­ and vacuuming in the weeks after Sept. peated air tests in Stuyvesant classrooms 11. She says they were lulled by reassur­ have shown that the new 40% filters are ing statenrents from EPA Adininisiratur meeting all government health standards Christie Ibdd Whitman and tben-Mayoi- tor schools. Stronger ffiteis would have Rudolph Giuliani that the neighborhood's been aa inefficient use of public -money, air was safe. Mr. Orlan says. The Education Depart­ Soon, however, the Tabbs say they be­ ment says it has spent $1.7 million since gan getting skin rashes and bloody Sept, 11 Oil cleaning and testing-at the noses. Georee Tabb, a 4«-year-old W-story Stuyvesant building. freelance writer and musician, says he insurance and legal disputes have had trouble sleeping because his asthma snagged some residential cleanups. At was badly exacerbated. Southbridge Towers, a group of nine coop­ In October, their landlord, the large eratively owned apartment buildings sev­ real-estate firm Related Cos., hired a con­ eral blocks east of Ground Zero, the board sultant to test for toxins in the hallways of directors filed an insurance claim early and lobby and in apartments of tenants this year of $635,700 for a planned cleanup who requested it. Related told residents of buildtag exteriors and common areas, the tests didn’t show any dangerous con­ such as iudlwsys. In Jiate, Greater New tamination by asbestos or other sub­ York Insurance Cos. provided $371.510, say­ stances. Some residents say they aren’t ing that would be sufficient. The coopera- = worrying. "People have worse pi-oblems tive’s directors, who all live in the com­ than this," says Vas Kallas, a reek-band plex, decided to fight, fBtog a complaint guitarist whose apartment faces away with the New York State Departmentof In­ from Ground Zero. surance. In the meantime, the cleaning hasn’t even started. The co-op directors But with their symptoms coniinuing, fear that todoso would imply that theyhad the Tabbs in November decamped with accepted the lower insurance payment as their Yorkshire terrier. Scooter, to Mr. adequate. The directors also say they are Tabb’s stepfather's apartment in Green­ confused about whether a government wich Village, 20 blocks farther north. The agency might be willing to do a portion of next month, they and other tenants hired the cleanirig. . an industrial hygienist, who collected Some Southbridge owners have had dust samples In a ballway duct on the more success with their individual units. lOth floor. One sample showed 550.000 as­ Gregory and Bonnie Cooper, who own a bestos fibers per square centimeter, a two-bedroom, llth-floor apartment, re­ level the expert described as above nor­ ceived $5,006 from their home insurer, a mal for an urban environment, though unit of Chubb Corp., to hire a profes­ tower than the amount that legally re­ sional cleaner. When tests in April found quires a specialized asbestos abatement. asbestos on their previously cleaned ter­ Related hired a contractor in Decem­ race at levels higher than normal-al­ ber to clean the ventilation system and though still below EPA guidelines-the ducts in apartments. But when residents Cropers persuaded the insurance com­ complained that the contractor wasn't u pany to pay another $4,000 for a second licensed asbestos-abatement spetialisi. cleaning. But Ms. Cooper remains ner­ work inside the apartments slopped and vous. “Even if I have w tercBce^leaBed, was never completed. my'-next'doer riei^jbar..'hasn’t, I Jeff Brodsky, president of Related ; haven’t been using my terrace at all,” Management Co., an affiliate of the land- i She-says. They have requested a third lord, says, “1 wish 1 could get the resi- I scrubbing from the EPA. dents to let us finish the work we wanted to complete," The cleanup wasn’t legally require or necessary for health reasons, he says. "There was no evidence of any dust Ifrom the Trade Center I in the build­ ing.'' he adds. Instead, Related hired the contractor •'to put people at ease." JournalLink: Sw im mlmiclh’f S/aliery uf the keg piayei s in Uie ptMier utruggle to rebtuU al ihe World Trndti Center site, in the Onlitie , Jvvraut at WSJ.c(H»/JoiirnalUaiis

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