Brooklyn Residents Angered about Asbestos

February 5, 2007 - Residents of Brooklyn’s Bensonhurst neighborhood are furious over the illegal demolition of a building, causing dangerous asbestos fibers to be spread throughout the neighborhood. 

CBS-2 News reports that a pile of rubble on 60th Street, the site of a future synagogue, has been exposing neighbors to toxic dust for the past year.  Anna Cali, whose children walk past the rubble every day, is livid. 

"Nobody puts my children at risk!" she said. "You put the lives of everyone in this neighborhood at risk by knocking down a building and spreading debris all over the neighborhood."

Anna and other neighbors confronted the owners in a heated discussion about the asbestos rubble.  When asked if she would want to live next to an asbestos site, property owner Goldy Schick said, "No. We would not treat anyone like that, not even an animal."

When city inspectors found asbestos on the site last month, they ordered all work to stop.  Neighbors later learned that the owners only had permission for interior renovation, not demolition.  Yet, say residents of the area, it seems as if the Community Board is allowing the synagogue to bypass the regulations. 

Officials from the Department of Buildings and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) refused on-camera interviews, maintaining that their inspectors followed all necessary procedures.

CBS 2 News, however, notes that they obtained a report to the city dated October 2005. A private investigator hired by the owners' architect filed a DEP report indicating there was asbestos on the site, more than one year before city inspectors tested for asbestos. The report is also in the Department of Buildings' files.

In reality, the city inspectors never even checked for asbestos until a neighbor, Joe Oliva -  who’s worked with the hazardous material and has an asbestos-related disease -  recognized it among the rubble.

"I have asbestosis," Oliva said. "I know what it is to suffer from it."

The city’s Board of Standards and Appeals is currently deciding how to proceed with the project and whether the congregation will be permitted to build.