PITTSBURGH - The Allegheny County Health Department is monitoring the demolition of a building after receiving complaints from neighbors.
The Health Department is now levying fines due to dust from the demolition of the old Bradley Center in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Brookline.
"The demolition company is not using the proper amount of water to dampen the amount of dust from the site which is causing a lot of problems for the residents," Pittsburgh councilwoman Natalia Rudiak said.
Rudiak is helping the people who live in that section of Castlegate Avenue because they are part of her district, even though the new condo development is in Mount Lebanon.
"We've sent numerous emails to Mount Lebanon commission. Not one single response," neighbor Angela Lagnese said.
Update April 12, 2017 3:15 PM Follow their Facebook page. Castlegate Development Project
I feel so bad for the people who are being affected by this demolition. All the dust and debris is very unhealthy. Imagine dust which possibly contains lead and other toxins getting into the homes, affecting the health of the residents and children.
ReplyDeleteShame on the Mt. Lebanon Commissioners for not responding to their numerous e-mails. Why aren't they responding? That is disrespectful, and has the attitude of "Well, it doesn't affect me personally or Mt. Lebanon residents, so to hell with it...". Obviously their concerns are justified since the Health Department is now involved.
"What Me Worry" about lead and other toxins being breathed in?
ReplyDeleteIsn't that exactly what is emitted from the tire crumbs used in artificial turf? 🤔
Through private messaging on FB, the Castlegate people have said exactly that, 4:12 AM.
ReplyDelete"Yes we saw that from the beginning with the lack of concern they had for their own residents and children over the turf and saw it again last night. They couldn't care less what is happening here. Thanks for your support. The situation remains bad. We are looking for environmental groups to help us, people concerned about air and ground pollution, that sort of thing. If you know of any citizen groups in Mt. Lebanon we could reach out to, please let us know their name or page. We have to keep at it as long as we can. What an awful situation! Thanks again for messaging."
I suggested they contact the Environmental Sustainability Board, but that is a loser too. They would not speak up against the turf project.
The Health Department knows all about us when we violated ground baiting codes. As long as the Game Commission says it is ok, according to our commission.
Sorry, Castlegate people, but you are screwed. We make terrible neighbors. Just ask Scott Township.
Elaine
This is a member of Castlegate Development. I just want to let you know we really do appreciate that you care and we feel for you, too. We know Mt. Lebanon Commission is a dead end, but we will continue to show up. We are still seeking environmental groups in Allegheny County to help us and we continue to work closely with ACHD, our councilperson and her office, and every politician who will listen. We are worried not only about lead-
ReplyDeletebad enough, right? But a hundred years ago, asbestos was also used in paint, and we worry about that, too, and whatever other nasty hundred year old toxins might remain.
These buildings are/were immediately across the street from our homes, separated by about fifty feet. In addition to the pollution we've had to breathe in for over a month while they demo-ed without water or without enough water, at one point laughably using a garden hose (!) the debris of the multiple buildings has been sitting everywhere on the lot for over a month, as well, drying out in the sun, settling in with the land, polluting our air further every time the wind blows. Our houses and yards and cars are covered with soot, dust, insulation, no matter how many times we clean them.
We believe the next phase of the demolition is this: With Mt. Lebanon's approval, once this part of the demo is finished, if the debris is removed without environmental safeguards as the demo was done, we will have another exposure event. Or--a potentially even more dangerous and likely scenario, Residential Resources, Sota Construction/Green Construction (who wins awards for being green!!!), will have Continental Enterprises or some other low budget company dig out all the bricks, mortar, walls, cement that have been dropping into the basement foundations during demo or left in tremendously large piles all across the land and they will move and pollute and grind everything up in grinders on site--again releasing even more toxins into the air and earth and environment--and then use them as fill on this lot. Unbelievable. All this directly across from where people live.
Already two neighbors have had a son and a daughter with pneumonia since this started, another kid has epilepsy, previously well controlled, and her seizures have increased. 10 out of the 12 closest homes have had continuous headaches and/or lung and eye and nose and respiratory symptoms. Another neighbor who is due to give birth any day has been told by her doctor that it's probably not safe for her to stay here. Yet, this is where we all live. All this approved by Mt. Lebanon Commission and backed by their demo permit. They could rescind the permit. Residential Resources could fire the whole lot of them. Sota Construction/Green Construction could make sure basic safeguards are in place and/or fire Continental Enterprises. But none of them have shown the least bit of concern in our month long pleas for safety. They didn't even put up tarps until less than a week ago, after a month of exposure and we offered to buy and hang them ourselves! Instead, the whole group of them all prove that their own agendas and profits mean more than human lives or air or earth.
And then get this-- after all this is over--three more buildings remain-- awaiting funding for another round of demo and then clean up. And they'll get the funding. You know they will, just like we know it. They are poisoning our neighborhood and poisoning our kids, and then they will do it all over again, just like they did to yours with that turf. They don't care. I don't know how they sleep at night, the whole lot of them. Sorry for taking up so much space on your page. Just to let you know, even if it's not worth much of anything, we stand with you, too. Neighbor to neighbor.