[CPEO-BIF] New York City school leasing

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

BATTLING OVER WHERE
TO BUILD NEW SCHOOLS

Some parents and activists differ with the city about how to determine 
that leased land is nontoxic enough for public school use.

By Shreema Mehta
City Limits WEEKLY (NY)
August 20, 2007

When Kate Acton's daughter developed respiratory problems within three 
months of beginning second grade at P.S. 65 in Queens, Acton could not 
figure out how it started.

"But then she said, 'Whenever I'm in the school, 20 minutes or a half 
hour afterward I start feeling nauseous and have a hard time breathing.' 
I didn't think of the school" at first, said the mother of two, "but 
there's a lot of parents and children that are going through the same 
symptoms." Acton began protesting the school facilities after her 
daughter's doctor diagnosed asthma and suggested looking at the school 
for a possible cause. Though her daughter transferred out of the school 
in 2002, Acton remains vocal about school safety concerns, staying in 
touch with parents of children currently enrolled in the school.

Acton, along with other parents and community organizations, alleges 
that the school, which opened in 1996, was built on land contaminated 
with trichloroethylene (TCE) because of the site's previous use as an 
airplane parts factory.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.citylimits.org/content/articles/viewarticle.cfm?article_id=3391&content_type=1&media_type=3

--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


_______________________________________________
Brownfields mailing list
Brownfields@list.cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org/mailman/listinfo/brownfields