skimming the surface....

my neighbor just showed up at my door with a 169-page report in her hand entitled: EPA Guidelines for Asbestos NESHAP Demolition and Renovation Inspection Procedures. she ran it off on her computer. she said she wants me to "read" it before the EPA inspector comes today or at the very least before they start proposed work on our subsidized housing units on monday. she's got to be kidding. she said she gave it to me because i'm a "fast" reader. uh huh ....

here's the scoop. they r attempting to make our apartments more energy efficient. last spring/summer/fall they had two workmen (i use this term loosely) remove insulation from the outsides of the buildings. we had fiberglass insulation flying everywhere. they didn't roll up or bag the stuff, they just threw it in open dumpsters. ppl were getting sick in the buildings (me included -- at one point i thought i had tuberculosis for the gunk i was continually coughing up). several children had pneumonia (in the middle of the summer) and had to be hospitalized. still the head of the housing authority thinks there is "no correlation to any of this). we're still finding fiberglass insulation in the bushes that they are about to remove, and they have yet to cover up the insulation they put on the outside walls -- so our apartments were quite chilly this past winter. we're talking 5 buildings with a total of 30 apartments ranging from tiny 2br to 4br units.

so about a month ago we got a notice from the office saying that they were going to take out the bushes and trees and dig four foot trenches around the buildings, put foam insulation around the foundations. i have an issue with this but it is secondary to the issues i have with the other proposed renovation where they come into my kitchen, cut a hole in the wall and remove the fiberglass insulation only to spray in foam insulation which, according to the notice, will cause problems with breathing for a "little while". after seeing the half-u-know-what job that was done on the outside by these "workmen" -- i have no confidence that the job will done correctly or safely. beyond this, both my daughter and i have allergies and asthma that will most certainly be irritated by the whole process. there r pregnant women and families with small children here and basically we can't seem to get anyone to agree on how this procedure should be done safely so as not to endanger the health of the residents. and some of the ppl here just don't seem to care -- because either they are unaware of the dangers of flying fiberglass fibers or the foam -- or they have just resigned themselves to the fact that they don't own the place and have no say in anything that goes on here.

so some of us have been attempting to educate ppl, get in touch with city, state, and federal agencies that should be able to help us and we're getting nowhere fast. its like nobody wants to take any sort of responsibility here. they could put the insulation on the outside but the head doesn't want to cover up the brick facade because it gives "character" to the building --- never mind that he's having them rip out all the bushes and trees to dig the trenches and don't they give "character" as well. or the fact that we won't be able to use our kitchens for four days (how does he propose that poor ppl feed themselves during that time frame). or that we won't have use of one of the two fire exits and at some point the trench digging will cross with the insulation removal and we might not have use of a front and back door (stuck either in or out).

i'm all for energy saving measures -- don't get me wrong. i'm a big tree hugger. but i believe there r other ways that could save energy here -- like taking out 30 something year old huge hot water tanks and installing tankless ones or giving us new stoves that have ovens that don't take 45 minutes to get up to temperature -- or insulating on the outside of the walls. the head's big contention is that the cost of electricity for each apartment per year is $900 -- and our heat is electric -- so i'm thinking that's really not such a bad cost at all for all the electric we have here -- but whatever. i have more issues with the dumping of fiberglass insulation as is (without sealing it up) into the landfills, but even more than that, knowing that this stuff NEVER breaks down in soil or water makes me think its BAD to do this from that standpoint. let alone all the health issues that will come from removing old stuff and putting in foam that is filled with who knows what.

so my neighbor brings me this report and says read this and i'm like -- skim would be more like it. skim and highlight. and basically what i've just told u here is just skimming the surface of what has happened, is happening, and is about to happen in the lives of the ppl who live in subsidized housing. and some ppl think of this as an "entitlement" ....