Memo on EPA management and Lower Manhattan cleanup, Nov 2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Liz Berger, a long-time resident and employee in the area, appreciates the effort. "The City and the DEP were genuinely interested in understanding the issue and solving the problem," she said. "Thanks to their dedication, I feel much better in my apartment and in the building where I work."

The owners of 13 buildings have failed to respond to the DEP's repeated attempts to reach them. These buildings will be re-inspected in the coming weeks. Buildings that fail DEP inspection will be subject to a Commissioner's Order if sampling indicates the presence of asbestos-contaminated material. The DEP cleanup officially draws to a close on November 30.

A Day in the Life of a Cleanup Crew: Juggling Schedules, Moving Automobiles

While DEP crews expeditiously tended to the cleanup, they also went to great lengths to ensure that downtown life went undisturbed. "We took into careful consideration the patterns of everyday life," said Avaltroni. "As hard as we worked to clean up the area, we strove equally hard to minimize disruption to residents, businesses and institutions."

Doing so required some logistical feats. In certain cases, cleanups had to be scheduled for off- hours. The cleanup at St. Peter's Church, for example, could be conducted only on weeknights from 6 pm to midnight so parishioners' access to the church would not be limited and services not disturbed.

In addition to juggling schedules, the DEP frequently had to move vehicles parked in front of job sites despite notices alerting people to sidewalk and street closures. In several cases, the DEP and the New York City Department of Transportation deployed teams of tow trucks to lift cars gingerly from front and back ~ so as not to damage them ~ move them away from cleanup sites and then return them when the cleanup was complete. In one case a car could not be moved without the risk of damage, so DEP crews wrapped it in plastic before moving it.

"We're proud to have done our part to make Lower Manhattan a better place to live," said Avaltroni.

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