Letter re: WTC Asbestos Cleanup Complaint, June 6, 2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

1 » Complaint No. 404925 (NYCDEP, Jan. 29, 2002) •p-4 in mid- October, several weeks after the tenants were told it was safe to move in! So in spite of the warm weather in October we could not use the A/C or open the windows or use the balcony. The balconies and windows were still coated in WTC dust.

Rockrose also scheduled the cleaning of the outside of the building to remove dust from balconies and windowsills. I was home when they came to clean our balcony. These men did not wear special clothing and they didn’t wear dust masks or respirators. They used a pressure hose on the balcony floor & railings and “squeegied” the sliding glass doors. After the water dried, crevasses in the railing and the floor still had the gray dust. The bedroom window sill was coated in dust, so I immediately talked to the super. He came up to my apartment to see what I was complaining about. I opened the window and rubbed my finger through the dust to show him how well it had been “cleaned”, and he sent the crew back to our apartment to redo the window sill. Again, this crew seemed to be unaware of how to clean up hazardous materials. The super’s acted like the whole thing was a nuisance, or at best, something to be done perfunctorily to appease some bothersome tenants.

October 26 Rockrose posted a memo to inform tenants that they would start cleaning the apartment windows tracks with a HEPA vacuum cleaner. Our apartment window tracks were cleaned on November 7, almost 2 months after the Sept.ii* disaster.

When they arrived at the apartment, they confirmed they were using a HEPA vacuum.

October Tenants collectively asked Rockrose to provide them with test results done in the building before it was reoccupied. They only provided us with the results of air sampling referenced above. The NYC Health Department guidelines state

“Specifically, no building may be reoccupied unless .... The building has been assessed for hazardous materials and if any are found, they have been removed according to applicable regulations.” Since we do not know if Rockrose had the dust tested, we do not know if they complied with the above.

Since October Maintenance men have continued using commercial vacuum cleaners without HEPA filters to clean the common spaces including the elevators and hall carpets. Since the carpeting was not professionally decontaminated after 9-11, hazardous materials are being circulated every time they “clean”.

Cc: OSHA Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton Honorable Charles E. Schumer

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