[CPEO-BIF] New York City school lease sites

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

New State Law Leaves Loophole On Cleanup Of Sites Rented For Schools

Michael Meenan
NY1 News
June 22, 2007

Space can be tight around town for opening up new schools and when it 
comes to using toxic sites for classroom space there needs to be a good 
cleanup plan.

But when it comes to space the city rents, a new state law might not let 
city lawmakers have a say on how cleanup efforts go. NY1 Education 
reporter Michael Meenan filed the following report.

"They were primarily petroleum-based contaminants. There was some 
formaldehyde and some other products that are used in freezing tissue 
for autopsies," said Kevin Forrestal of Hillcrest Estates Civic Association.

A Queens civic leader described the chemicals that need to be cleaned up 
at the site of the old county morgue before the nearby Gateway science 
high school can move into a new building about to go up there.

...

For the entire story, see 
http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?&aid=71026&search_result=1&stid=4

See also

City Lobbyists Weigh In

By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE
New York Times
June 25, 2007

New York City officials managed to stall legislation that would have 
made it harder for them to lease buildings for school space as part of 
the city's five-year capital plan.

Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan of Queens persuaded her colleagues to 
approve a bill that would require leased school facilities to go through 
the same approval process as newly built schools — including approval by 
the City Council and the state's stringent environmental review process. 
Community and environmental advocates, citing past cases in which the 
city leased buildings on polluted or contaminated ground, said the 
reviews were necessary.

For this report, go to the following URL and scroll down.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/25/nyregion/25empire.html?_r=2&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin


--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 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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