Wall Street Journal front page, August 28, 2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

THE WALL STKEET JOUltNAL.

Stark Disparities Emerge in Sept. 11 Cleanups cenlly the president of the Stuyvesant Parents Association and the mother of an 18-year-uld son who graduated in June. Ii Continued Fioin First Fane Judith Moore, current co-president of whether the combination of substances ■/// the parents group, whose daughter is start­ whit produced by the unprecedented calamity Neighborhood Watch ing her senior year next month, says anxi­ chin will cause illnesses in the future. "We The community around tire former World Trade Center site features ety over the school’s air quality has been car just don't know, but if you don't get a mix of businesses, residences and schools. ■MANHA-^AN heightened by the lack of a centralized Tok' Ibuildingsl cleaned, obviously there will • Krea oi [ cleanup. But Ms. Moore, a psychothera­ be a higher probability" of long-term risk, says Paul J. Lioy, associate director of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, which is sup­ ws ."-Av tpetall r pist, adds that in these uncertain times, parents want "a guarantee of safety for our children in this world’’-soinethingno cleanup can satisfy. som plan ling tries ported by the University of Medicine and leas Bernard Orlan, director of environ­ Dentistry of New Jersey and Rutgers Uni­ turn versity. He is working on a study of resi­ dents near Ground Zero. te’T-' mental health and safety for the city’s Department of Education, says that re­ peated air tests in Stuyvesant classrooms afte stra wen have shown that the new 46%. filters are Free-fot-All Kt VFormirWprid; meeting all government health standards peal J The main blame for the helter-skelter indoor cleanup of downtown Manhat- tan-a triangular area at the island’s southern end whet"e 200,000 people live O' ni J tor schools. Stronger fillers would have been an inefficient use of public money, Mr. Orlan says. The Education Deparl- nient says it has spent $1.7 million since appi ness Bab forn and work-can be traced to the shuffling Sept. 11 on cleaning and testing at the chi of responsibility among government 16-story Stuyvesant building. a ni agencies. In the days after Sept. 11, the Insurance and legal disputes have lion Fedei"al Emergency Management snagged some residential cleanups. Al wail Agency assigned the EPA to monitor out­ y Southbridge Towers, a group of nine coop­ to S' door air, clear debris and dust and han­ eratively owned apartment buildings sev­ duo' dle hazardous waste removed from the Hudson eral blocks east of Ground Zero, the board BV. disaster site. New York City assumed con­ River of directors filed an insurance claim early trol ovei" indoor areas, including apart­ ^East I this year of $635,766 for a planned cleanup grot ments. But the city’s Department of Envi­ ronmental Protection delegated to land­ 1 River of building exteriors and common areas, such as hallways. In June, Greater New The live; lords and residents the job of actually York Insurance Cos. provided $371,516, say­ Bab cleaning up and testing. What followed So far, residents in 3,160 apart- newsroom director for the Independent ing that would be sufficient. The coopera­ whii was a free-for-all. nients-a little more than 10% of those Association of Publishers’ Employees, tive’s directors, who all live in the com­ r City officials distributed sketchy eligible-have asked for EPA help. Mr. says, "People have been reassured by the plex, decided to fight, filing a complaint the: guidelines but did little to enforce them. Jain is one of those, but he worries his results of the testing on our own space so witli the New York State Department of In­ suci The recommendations included, for ex­ building won't gel a thorough overall far, but they remain wary about condi­ surance. In the meantime, tlie cleaning ban' ample, wiping down surfaces with a wet treatment. "We should be getting a tions elsewhere in our building and in hasn’t even started. The co-op directors thei rag but didn’t specify liow to tell it poten­ proper asbestos cleanup like tlie corpo­ neighboring buildings." Melissa Coley, a fear that to do so would imply that they had cult tial hazards had been eliminated. rate tenants are getting." he says. spokeswoman for Brookfield Properties accepted the lower insurance payment as tion In addition to American Express, com­ Corp., owner of the Dow Jones building, adequate. The directors also say they are pan EPA officials in New York say they panies sucli as Merrill Lynch & Co.. Bank says, “We have directly addressed the confused about whether a government deal didn't take the initiative indoors because mid neither FEMA nor New York City asked it of New York Co.. Royal Bank of Canada concerns of all of our tenants and con­ agency might be willing to do a portion of and Dow Jones & Co., publisher of this tinue to monitor the air quality in our the cleaning. net", to. Bonnie Bellow, an EPA spokeswoman mac 1 in New York, says the regional office had newspaper, say they have cleaned and buildings.” Some Sonthbridge owners have had tested extensively. The potentially dan­ To protect against asbestos or otiier more success with their individual units. mot t I its hands full for months focusing on the gerous substance of greatest concern is toxins that might be lingering in the Gregory and Bonnie Cooper, wlio own a the outdoor cleanup. "As the outdoor condi­ Sha tions began to improve, and it became asbestos, a fibrous material used in fire downtown air. Brookfield, which also two-bedroom, llth-floor apartment, re­ ceived $5,666 from their home insurer, a ran clear that there was confusion and con­ Gra I cern about any residual dust that might unit of Chubb Corp., to hire a profes­ sional cleaner. When tests in April found row remain in people"s homes, we proceeded styl with the development of a plan foi" clean­ The main blame for the helter-skelter indoor asbestos on their previously cleaned ter­ Toy. ing up dust indoors," Ms. Bellow says. race at levels higher than normal-al- tern For its part. FEMA says it deferred to cleanup of downtown Manhattan dan be traced though still below EPA guidelines-the that Coopers persuaded the insurance com­ the EPA. "We were waiting for them to I tell us there was a problem with indoor to the shuffling of responsibility among pany to pay another $4,600 for a second Toy. \air quality,” says Brad Gair, the senior . cleaning. But Ms. Cooper remains ner­ shai FEMA official on the scene. Geoffrey government agencies. vous. "Even if I have my terrace cleaned, loai my next door neighbor hasn’t, so I Ryan, a spokesperson with the city’s tile haven’t been using my terrace at all,” DEP, says his agency "worked coopera­ Thr retardant in the Trade Center that can owns the tower housing RBC Capital Mar­ she says. They have requested a third tively from day one with EPA." The city hall cause lung disease and cancer if tliere is kets. says it installed filter systems to scrubbing from the EPA. I advised landlords tliey had to clean biiild- wor / ings according to a ’"strict protocol," Mr. e.xposnre for a period of years. Others block more than 95% of particles measur­ Kaiidoiii Tests gan I Ryan says. ""If there was a problem, we include pulverized cement and glass. ing one micron or larger. The same was Sun which can cause respiratory problems. done at many other large commercial The agency announced lliis inonlh I ers I reviewed it." and lead and mercury from incinerated buildings in the vicinity. Before Sept. 11. that in addition to cleanups-on-request, it I Sun I Beginning last fall, the EPA came un­ would also randomly test 250 apartments ' SICK? der escalating pressui-e from residents computers and lighting, which can cause the standard for corpoiate offices was nervous-system damage. between 60%. and S5%. fur lead, mercury and dioxin, even cre( and local politicians who argued that as tliough its scientists believe the amounts the country’s premier environmental To eliminate asbestos, big companies By contrast, at Stuyvesant Higli tors of those toxins emitted by the disaster crin agency, it ought to oversee all cleaning. have stripped out carpets, cubicle walls, School, four blocks north of Ground Zero, weren’t enough to threaten public health. ceiling tiles and upholstered furniture. the New York City Department of Educa­ whi In.May, eight months after Sept. 11, the The EPA says it will also test apartments EPA finally responded by offering to re­ American Express says it threw out tion upgraded classroom filters to block pay that have already been cleaned. 1 move any asbestos from 36,600 resi- enough furniture and floor covering to fewer than 40% of such tiny particles. Jane Kenny, the agency’s regional ad­ slot dences in lower Manhattan. That work fill a foolball field piled five feet high. Students had moved back into the large, ministrator, says these steps are suffi-., 4-Utlj will begin in September. RBC Capital Markets, a unit of Royal academically elite public school in Octo­ cient, in liglit of the lack of evidence, so he^ But to get a cleanup, tenants or own­ Bank of Canada, which occupies five ber, two months before the filters were far, of long-tenn health dangers, 'We st« ers must ask the EPA to come in. That floors of a black tower on the eastern improved and while trucks were still fer­ want to resperi the rirtats o( the istericte- ee means while one apartment may be edge of the Trade Center site, says it rying dusty debris to barges in the Had- iis *a$ xfKw Cttcffii »-isK&Se- ttieiaes'eir cleaned, the nearby elevator shaft or unit even vacuumed hundreds of tlxxisantis of soo River jos 5-1 ytrdj waay. eK< jffl td 35< Sie riKiJciSaf ir ittsSfiJsrY next door may not. creating the possibil­ individual pieces of paper. •&> tere were Cbjse ogitiStai jrs- .WU, Saw? «!{». H She «ifSJicy ity of recontamination. The agency will Wall Street Joetnial emptojees besa* tzecczf Carir aad ■»«- iaw vnS- Sias t itiifflisif Sr wtesUSinEnS*’ «oicxot.o am clean hallways and lobbies only if asked returning to the D>3nr Jaws afftces i«J>- nenife* jmasj ISii TrSis Saa ■zaaafe.’li'B.’fiiiBsjB-taBOriwjrs* Sib by a landlord. The EPA isn't offering to cent to Ilie Trade Center site ta hsr >8? !4«ia5oi ae KiteL I Caid tfiae latssTjiwar.," .nuCT ’tunmarl: dSiasaJBz ibr math. Gm clean small businesses or schools. Tom LauriceUa. a Jocrcal legcnet C2d says ItirfWa-i QrasadindlnE, isnilfi «■- Silt stma ersuntifs jattsiher; ’Jianit? JS'-j«w*a£ JwaeSa n"!® Will -oirj 131 loassaiKii: if ans- Exane Srwi sms emce Sjekaii eni ec; sie SrweTi UK* In Certain Circles, Zeros Are a Cell-Number Must &nni fcrsija iii.-fia sue aicta sa?'> sat imr ixr cencma: 03 tr_4? rcrscM aeszia’ ifS C-iPt ta; Tijn!ia=a aa the aeets ite Se-;k list Continued From First h.itK discuss the ccxiers <c to-v aey Ec» dur tmafirtii. Suii fbrj 'nsvf lai t ?s:'! t I! SiK iays toe? -err Idko o> ■x’lt da.v lie dialed the cell number of his disirilofei, £aar C" say's U: Be rvtisus icr suiements from KP.y Administrator pal dreains-one containing a total of five Sts lifts 13 tie creeeies - Ssraejejiieac dur ceJy CKKaosK it wwis wfl in Cr.nsrie Todd WhitiiKin and then-.Mayor ers zeros-and was thrilled to hear a '•■oice at sales wems ato hetpomers «« cie-a ii tfaf liiaifkofti. .V <p>ifS'.i’onun for Ven- Rudolph Giuliani that the neigliborhood’s the other end. counts - tnoxr firsthand hcra- custome.ri 20(1 stud. "We try to accommodate evert No air was safe. "A guy picked up. and I just offered crave trie sound of round. 'People used to customer request." Soon, however, the Tabbs say they be­ liim money." says .Mr. Painter. 'He warn their names spelled out." says Kevin In .November, tliat may be harder to do. Cie; gan getting skin rashes and bloody thought I was kidding, but we agreed on Smith, an independent agent in Washing­ That's wlien new federal rules are set to go pos a price. 1 drove to his office before lie ton. D.C. "Now tile most requested and noses. George Tabb, a 40-year-old into effect, and carriers will get new num­ freelance writer and musician, says he Grr could change his mind and paid him in hardest tiling to get is a triple or a double ber blocks of 1,000 instead of 10,000. Agents Sha cash." A few hours and $5,660 later, the zero number.” Once a carrier releases a had trouble sleeping because his asthma will then be forced to cherry-pick numbers was badly exacerbated. number was formally transferred to Mr. new exchange, Mr. Smith says he "jumps from a much smaller pool. act: Painter's name. on it” to get as many round numbers as pos­ In October, their landlord, the large Some charismatic types don't look tioi Others have relied on old-iashioned sible. He's been known to hook up his nag­ real-estate firm Related Cos., hired a con­ for more from a phone number. Hud­ par charm. Sauntering into a cellphone store­ ging buddies first. sultant to test for toxins in the hallways dled with friends recently at Bungalow abr front, Elizabeth Fenner, an editor at For­ and lobby and in apartments of tenants I! tune, offered to change carriers if she could get a round number. To boost her Kevin Will, an actor and personal trainer in Washington, D.C., is one such buddy beneficiary. He says that his "OO " 8, a Manhattan nightclub, actor .Matt Damon laughed at Hie idea of having a who requested it. Related told residents the tests didn't show any dangerous con- par

snazzy round cellphone number. "That’s lamination b>’ asbestos or other sub- me odds of success with a male salesman. “I number, which appears on his photo-em­ CCI flirted,"' says the proud new member of blazoned business cards, looks profes­ ridiculous." said .Mr. Damon. wIb has I statvee-s. Some residents say they aren’t never owned a cellplwne himself and werrying. 'f'tople have worse pioolfiES rek the "00" club. She says that the number sional and turns on women. "When 1 tell has her friends seething witli envy. them mv number and thev punch it into said he had jiist been loroe'd » rent aian ltrs.' says Vas Kallas, a rtet-faizsJ j as

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