CDC press conference notes regarding anthrax investigation, undated

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document .ATB AMERICA'S! ORDEAL Access Denied Residents have been allowed to move back into all bulidings in Battery Park City except Gateway 500 and Gateway 600. It is not known when they will be reopened Ground Zero Gateway 500 and Gateway 600 ATWANAY WNNFRMAY OCTOBER 3.2001 Newsday / Justin Gilber Some Neighbors Still Homeless Battery Park City tenants wait for word By Roni Rabin STAFF WRITER Alastair Onglingswan doesn't like to complain - he knows he's one of the lucky ones. But his Gateway Plaza stu- dio apartment in Battery Park City looks like Pompeii, he's running out of clothes and he's been sleeping on couches since Sept. 11. Gateway Plaza, which has 1,712 apartments in five residential build- ings along with a sixth commercial building, is the only aection of Battery Park City that has yet to be opened for reoccupation. Though most Bervices have been restored; confusion was the order of the day, and it was still not clear yesterday when the Gateway sec. • tion would be rehabitated. We know the ci is overburdened vith the rescue and now recovery ef fort. But being left in the dark now is really taking a toll," said Ongling вwад, 33, whose apartment is in Gate. vay 500, on 385 South End Ave It would be great if someone woul say, Look, you're at Ground Zero, you should expect it to take three months. Sun no one's making that determina- Part of the confusion is rooted in the Gordian knot of landlords and city, state and federal agencies that are all jointly involved in clearing the area for renabitation: Yesterday, for example Gateway Plaza manager Jamie Lefrak indicated most apartments could be reoccupied and the only holdup was the lack of ap Iproval by the city's Office of Emergen- cy Management and the Department of Environmental Protection. Yet DEP Chief of Stati Charles Sturcken said the landlord had yet to complete a cleanup operation. The cleanup was stalied, Lefrak explained, because resi- dents insisted on being present during the maintenance work, having hear that some apartments had been ran- sacked. Going home isn't the only question on Gateway residents minds. Preg nant women and families with chi dren are concerned about air quality. Onglingswan said he gets beadaches every time he stops by his apartment to pick things up. And despite repeater assurances by city and federal environ- mental agencies, some residents won. der whether their proximity to Ground Zero devastation will be detrimental to their physical or mental health. The concern over Battery Park City may be retlected in the rate of i.turn t tenants: Only 61 percent of the occu pants o1 nc t Park which have re. Pergl pone and a peoe e peron south Battery Park residents have come home, according to Battery Park City Authority president Tim Carey. The local supermarket just re- opened and ground transportation has been limited Though a shut "e bus from the Bow] ing Green subway to the southern end of Battery Park City bas duced been intro- L and the M20 bus route has ex- tended a spur into the northern neigh- borhood, cars, buses and taxis t'e still banned. Right now the hurdie we must get over is access," said Carey, who predict. •ed it could take several months before residents of the most severely dam- aged Gateway 600 building return home. "We have problems with access for child care, and access for home bealth care. But, Carey said, he was optimistic "They had a moving van there [in Bat ery Park City] yesterday," he said. " assumed people were moving out. They were moving in. NYC-WTC_000152054