NYC-WTC_000152373

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Fury of Battery Park's battered dwellers By ALEV AKTAR and MEUSSA GRACE West St. from the ruined World Trade Cen­ large, specialized vacuum cleaners in local OAlty NEWS WRITERS ter, landlord Jamie LeFrak said. When that parks and sidewalks throughout the Finan­ ■ More than 1,500 angry people who live would happen remained unclear. cial District to suck up toxins. in Battery Park City — the majority of Justine Parchment, 24, who lives at Gate­ Without elaborating, she told people to them rendered homeless by the Sept. 11 way, yelled, “I can’t get into my apartment. “take necessaiy precautions” in the area. terror attacks — crowded into a meeting The locks have been changed. The clean­ The Batteiy Park City Authority an­ last night looking for answers about when ing crews have -aecess. The doorman Jias nounced that a shuttle bus would run be­ they’ll be allowed home and how safe the keys. I don’t have keys.” tween Rector Place and the Bowling Green air is in lower Manhattan. Another resident bristled at a suggestion subway station, starting tomorrow. Mothers with their children, husbands by LeFrak that he was agitated. “I’m not ag­ Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan) told itated, I’m homeless,” he shouted. residents there would be a meeting and wives and young professionals Wednesday for downtown residents with crammed into a tense three-hour session Bonnie Bellow, a representative of the top city and state officials. at Pace University’s Schimmel Hall. federal Environmental Protection Agency, Crowd members grew angry about not , The landlord for the six buildings at said 16 air-monitoring stations have been getting specific information about when I Gateway Plaza, where 1,400 people have set up to check for lead, asbestos and other they could return to their homes. been displaced, said all but one building dangerous compounds in and around “I came here tonight to see if there was could reopen within two weeks. Ground Zero. any real information, said Michael Kauf­ But he cautioned that doesn’t mean peo­ The agency has found levels of asbestos man, a 30-year-old architect who hasn’t ple will necessarily be able to go home. in samples of dust that are higher than the been able to move back into his apartment First, the city has to “provide access” to allowed level. Bellow told the crowd. in Gateway Plaza. “It was more or less the the apartment complex, which is across She said the agency has been using same stuff I’ve already heard.”

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NYC-WTC_000152383