News article on community park spring cleaning event, 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Feds to foot $11.7M bill for school WTC cleanup By AUSON GENDAR and GREG GrtTRICH potentially asebestos-laden dust in their D«L¥ NEWS SWF WRITERS homes can call a toll-toe number to or­ The Board of Education won’t be stuck der a toe cleanup. ; with a nearly $12 million bill to clean po­ The Environmental Protection Agen^ tentially hazardous World Trade Center agreed last month to create the unprece­ dust from downtown schools, officials dented home-cleaning program after it said yesterday. was beseiged by complaints tom people The Federal Emergency Management living near Ground Zero who were Agency told school officials yesterday scared to breathe the air in their homes. that it would reimburse $11.7 million The feds will pay to clean the apart­ spent in cleanup and environmental test­ of ments of tenants and homeowners south ing since Sept. 11. The agency said it ly Canal St., where most of the potential­ dangerous would eventually also cover $5 million collapse settled. dust tom the twin towers spent to clean schools in buildings leased The cleaning can be requested by catl­ by the Board of Ed. ing (877) 796-5471 or going to Brad Gair, federal recovery officer for www.epa.gov/wtc. the World Trade Center disaster, told city The hotline will be staffed to take clean­ and school officials the news in an hour- ing and testing requests 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., long conference call yesterday. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to'5 Gair told the Daily News in April that p.m. on weekends. most of the cleanup costs would be cov­ ered, but the agency has been blasted for Money for vacuums appearing to drag its feet and being insen­ People who want to handle the clean­ sitive to city schoolchildren. ing themselves can get as much as $300 The board is still pushing for $103 mil­ tom FEMA to buy a high-powered vacu­ lion to make up for lost instruction time um with special HEPA filters. Professional since Sept. 11, an expense FEMA has per square foot,cleaning costs about $1.50 and the tab can quadru­ said it is not authorized to cover, and $40 ple if asbestos is detected. million for mental health services for Those who register for the fed-man- still-traumatized students. aged cleanup can track their requests “We made real progress today in get­ and learn the results of testing and clean­ ting this decision tom FEMA, but the re­ up on the Web or through the hotline. maining costs to the system still need to The cleaning is expected to begin in Ju­ be met for the sake of New York’s school ly kids,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D- Critics of the program insist cleanup Manhattan), a FEMA critic. should be mandatory and entire build­ The feds also announced that those liv­ ings — not individual apartments — ing near Ground Zero who are fearful of should be scrubbed.

"Doily &■ H-oSj

NYC-WTC_000143032