Toxic scare at TA building
Critics & agency clash over lead, asbestos risks
BY MARIA ALVAREZ DAILY NEWS WRITER
Old subway cables covered with asbestos and lead at a Transit Authority facility in Bedford-Stuyvesant are exposing workers and residents to toxic carcinogens, workers and officials charged yesterday.
"The conditions in that facility are horrendous. It should be condemned," said City Councilwoman Letitia James (WFP-Prospect Heights), who visited the site yesterday.
"No human should be working under those conditions. It violates every health and safety code. It's horrible," said James, who saw several 50-gallon drums labeled asbestos and lead unsealed and exposed.
One worker at the Atlantic Ave. facility - who said he wouldn't give his name for fear of reprisals - reported that he feels his life and health are at risk.
"There is an imminent danger here," said the worker, who has been at the site for 20 years. "Plastic covers that are supposed to seal the area called alleyways, where we keep the drums, are like window shades flapping in the air."
He said windows are broken, ceiling paint chips are constantly falling and toilets are overflowing.
"It's gross," he said.
The two-story brick warehouse has been storing asbestos and lead since the 1970s.
Ten years ago, the Transit Authority promised to renovate the facility when the Franklin Ave. Shuttle project was underway, James said.
"Well, the project has been completed, and the storage facility still isn't renovated. It should be demolished," she added.
"There is absolutely no danger," said Charles Seaton, Transit Authority spokesman. "All the handling of asbestos and lead is monitored by the Office of Systems Safety. It's all being contained.
He added that workers are outfitted with special protective suits and respirators. "There is no problem," he said.
Resident Vaughn McCloud said, "I didn't know they were storing asbestos in there." He said he recently complained about a pile of shredded cables that were dumped in front of his home.
"It was a mess," McCloud said. "It sounds like I should be concerned for me and my family." Originally published on September 22, 2006