Asbestos Warnings Near Public Place: Too Little, Too Late?
While Councilman Bill de Blasio’s office says it distributed more than 300 fliers informing people that asbestos was being removed at a warehouse that’ll be demolished in order to make way for the large Public Place development, some nearby residents say they were in the dark about the potentially hazardous procedure. “I live at 204…
While Councilman Bill de Blasio’s office says it distributed more than 300 fliers informing people that asbestos was being removed at a warehouse that’ll be demolished in order to make way for the large Public Place development, some nearby residents say they were in the dark about the potentially hazardous procedure. “I live at 204 Huntington Street, the apartment complex directly opposite the warehouse and I never received anything in the mail nor was anything posted on our building’s board (we have A LOT of kids in our building and had a notice been sent or left, I or one of the many parents in the building would have posted it immediately both in the building and on our parents’ Yahoo board),” one resident told us yesterday. “This warehouse is directly across the street from a large public park yet there are no signs in the park warning parents about what is going on.” A spokesperson for Councilman de Blasio’s office said yesterday that asbestos removal at the warehouse “is done,” and that “we spoke to the air quality monitoring company, and no asbestos entered the air in or around the site.” Gowanus Lounge covered some neighbors’ unease over lack of notification about the removal, which was occurring last week. A person who is a member of Community Board 6’s Environment and Public Safety Committe wrote the following to GL: “Last week they removed 125,000 square feet of asbestos contaminated roofing in the open air with no DOB permits and no community awareness. As a nearby resident with a small child I feel at risk.”
Confusion Over Public Place Asbestos Removal [Gowanus Lounge] GMAP
Maybe not. A little communication can go a long way. The city and agencies need to stop operating like they work in a vacuum. They’re supposed to be representing everyone’s interests, most especially taxpayers. If the community had been told what measures were being taken to protect them, they would have felt easier. If the neighborhood had all the facts instead of being kept in the dark, it would have been a non-issue. And what would have been the big deal? Instead, the community is upset and angry because they were made to feel powerless and treated as though they were stupid. Sounds shortsighted to me.
This is so stupid – if they had put up signs there probably would have been a community protest which would have delayed the whole thing for months (see Nokilissa’s first comment – if she had her way I’m sure there would be a lawsuit). Thank GOD they didn’t inform anyone since the risks are RIDICULOUSLY OVERBLOWN and they were able to proceed so that maybe, one day, we will have stores and park and apts here instead of a wasteland.
Polemicist- once again you have decided to attack me. I could understand it if you were an intelligent person who could contribute something to a conversation but as you’ve proved over and over again on many occasions you are just a little know-nothing trying to pretend he’s a grown up. I could list the many threads where you have been taken to task for your ignorant, ill-conceived and thoughtless commentary but why bother? I’m sure you’ll be entertaining us again. Personally I don’t take someone with the intelligence of a cockroach and the morals and ethics to match, very seriously.
And please- if you are going to put words in my mouth and extrapolate my entire mindset, you need to be far more educated and experienced than you so obviously are.
From what I could find out, there should have been notices posted on the building itself and asbestos removal is strictly regulated but I didn’t see anything that relates to notifications to surrounding buildings in the area of an asbestos removal. But if neighborhood residents are concerned about the quality of the removal, they can probably check with the proper city agencies and see if the correct paperwork was filed and if the contractor was licensed.
Bxgrl, your blathering nonsense continues to surprise me. Your continued desire to seek the most nefarious explanations for the mundane actions of others indicates you have a very twisted view of reality.
Typically, only people who work in asbestos manufacturing have anything approaching a significant risk of disease. For everyone else, the risk is fairly minimal. Your exposure risk, being proximate to this building, is no different than if you were in much of California where asbestos rock deposits are found in huge quantities.
Modern decontamination processes go on all the time in this city. There is no requirement to notify the public, nor is there any reason to.
Houses all over this city had and continue to have asbestos insulation. Would YOU go around and knock on your neighbors’ doors to tell them you are decontaminating your place? If so, what radius distance from your home? one block? 10 blocks? A mile? THE WHOLE CITY?
Where does it end?
Hey Nokilissa!
Unfortunately this is the reality of being in a construction- and-developer-driven city.This kind of thing will keep happening because the costs of taking extra care or doing a clean up makes a project more expensive and ties it up time wise. It’s not right but it’s more and more evident that the safety and quality of life of the average New Yorker or communities is not a priority.
Not for a minute do I think it was an oversight- this was a deliberate attempt to hide what they were doing until it was over and done with.
The contractor is not required to notify anyone. Someone may feel like they are at risk but it doesn’t mean that they are.
asbestos worries are frequently overblown. it takes a lot of repeated exposure to asbestos over time to get sick. just being near it is not an issue. worries about removal are also frequently unjustified, as the containment procedures are pretty airtight when done properly and prevent particles from circulating beyond the removal site.
all of that said, though, if 125,000sf of asbestos was really removed in the open air without using proper containment procedures, then locals are right to be upset. but there is probably another side to this story.
If you moved into this area with a small child, you should not be complaining, because it’s an obvious industrial zone. There is a concrete mix facility right there too, and it is a well known fact that concrete mix contains silica particles that can get in the air and rip your lungs to shreds in long term exposure.
Factor in the dirt and asbestos from the overhead train and BQE and it’s clear that anyone moving into this part of BK looking for a ‘green’ healthy neighborhood is delusional.