[CPEO-BIF] East Side Chicago residents question school site

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Site not fit for a new school, neighbors say
East Side residents cite tainted soil, bad location and tie to Ed  
Vrdolyak

By Joel Hood
Chicago Tribune
January 29, 2012

Chicago Public Schools' plan to build an elementary school on  
polluted property in the shadow of the Chicago Skyway and an expiring  
coal-fired power plant near the Indiana border is raising the ire of  
parents in the working-class East Side neighborhood.



CPS already has paid more than $3 million for about 2 acres near  
104th Street and South Indianapolis Avenue, a triangular parcel near  
a heavily congested traffic corridor, train tracks and towering  
industrial plants.



Preliminary testing at the site, which had been home to a gas station  
and more recently a carwash, uncovered eight underground gasoline  
storage tanks, one known to be leaking, and unsafe levels of the  
chemical benzene in the soil. But an official with the Illinois  
Environmental Protection Agency cautioned that the true extent of the  
contamination won't be known until more testing is completed.


...

For the entire article, see
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-cps-land- 
deal0129-20120129,0,2321241.story

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
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

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