DEP letter re EPA WTC cleanup program extension Feb 2003

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

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Lori Pandolfo (; PH ’i) on Monday, December 23, 2002 at 13:42:06.

This form resides at http://nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html

PH <MSG>Dear Mayor Bloomberg, As a citizen of New York and parent of a student in lower Manhattan, I urge you to use your influence to extend the deadline for clean-up in lower Manhattan by the EPA. There are approximately 30,000 residences in the cleanup zone— EPA's own data show that cleanup will occur in only 1/6 of them (5258). Due to completely inadquate outreach by EPA, most people living in the cleanup zone, still don't know there is a cleanup. Due to EPA's misleading outreach materials, those who may know about the cleanup, have no idea their health may be at stake in the decision to clean or not to clean. Extend the deadline so there is time to improve outreach to ensure that cleanup happens everywhere it needs to. As it stands now, only 239 buildings are signed-up for whole building cleanup. EPA's Community Outreach Coordinator Ben Barry was asked by a member of 9/11 EA whether, after December 28, residents who had signed up for their apartments to be cleaned would still have the opportumty to get their tenants' associations, building owners/management or coop boards to apply for whole building cleanup—AND HE SAID NO. Cleaning apartments and not whole buildings means a high probability of recontamination. It's ineffective and a waste of tax-payers' dollars. 9/11 EA has learned that EPA was told by Chinatown advocates that in order to do effective outreach in Chinatown, EPA would, at the very least, have to hire someone who spoke the language. Months went by and EPA failed to do so. Last Tuesday, the City Council heard testimony presented by two Chinatown-based advocates that there are places in Chinatown where there was (and may still be) WTC dust, where there was and still is WTC-related illness, and where residents have never heard of EPA. The only way to correct this glaring environmental injustice is to extend the deadline and hire staff to do culturally-appropriate outreach. Of course, the arbitrary Canal St. boundary line has got to go. And Brooklyn, which got dust, debris and poison gases (see Laurie Garrett's August 23 Newsday article "Ill Winds over Brooklyn"), was NEVER given the opportunity to sign-up. Please use pressure the EPA to extend the deadline now! Respectfully, ------- </APP>

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