2011 CPEO Brownfields List Archive

From: "Markus Niebanck" <markus@amicusenv.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:32:43 -0700 (PDT)
Reply: cpeo-brownfields
Subject: [CPEO-BIF] Toxic Schools!
 
The headline in the Daily News reads:
 
"Delay in shutting toxic Bronx school sparks outrage; city sat on shocking test results for 6 months"
 
The article doesn't describe what triggered the measurement that led to the initial discovery in January, but that subsequent sub-grade testing was conducted in March suggests the City was not brushing the matter under the carpet.  If a mistake was made, it was the City choosing not to be more forthcoming about the process being undertaken.
 
Was their decision to wait until a more comprehensive diagnosis was available nefarious in intent?  Judging from the follow-on examination, probably not.
 
I don't know the backstory.  Perhaps the News thought the NYC schools administration needed to be called out.  My struggle with the article comes from the gratuitous use of scary words and the rhetorical manipulation of scientific data.  And at the end of the day - was the closing of the school appropriate?  Or was it made inevitable by the press?  Perhaps another, less disruptive, means of mitigating the condition might have been available.
 
Lesson learned for the administration, perhaps.  But at what cost?
 
 

Markus B. Niebanck, P. G.
Principal
 
Amicus - Strategic Environmental Consulting
580 Second Street
Suite 260
Oakland, CA  94607
 
510.693.1241 (c)
510.465.4472 (f)
 
 
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