Cooper Square Committee offering free online workshop to stay lead safe at home

Via the EVG inbox...

As we start gearing up for the fall season and indoor months to come, Cooper Square Committee is hosting a workshop for tenants, especially parents of young children, on staying lead safe at home.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it seems likely that parents and young children will spend more time in their apartments in the coming months, potentially increasing their exposure to lead hazards in the home, like dust and chipping or peeling paint.

Join tenants, advocates, and organizers for a workshop on the ways in which tenants can fight back against lead exposure in their buildings!

The free online workshop is tomorrow (Sept. 2) night at 7. You can resister at this link.

Report: Residents of Kushner-owned 118 E. 4th St. learn building had 10X legal levels of lead

[Image via Streeteasy]

The following report was released last week via the Cooper Square Committee and the Lead Dust Free New York City coalition.

Tenants of 118 E. Fourth St. recently received notice that work crews hired by Jared Kushner’s Westminster City Living contaminated their building with lead-laden construction dust. The contamination was the result of unchecked dust from demolition work being performed in the building.

A report issued by New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene from November shows elevated levels of lead in four of the five samples collected in the building. The sample with the highest level was nearly 10X (383 µg/ft2) the acceptable standards prescribed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for floors/treads of 39 µg/ft2.

In the fall of 2015, tenants of 118 E. Fourth St. endured bouts of no heat, mounting trash, and a longstanding cooking gas outage. The tenants then filed an HP Action in January 2016 for repairs and services to be restored. A motion was also filed in court to hold Westminster in contempt of court due to the lack of restoration of services.

Tenants of 118 E. Fourth St. and the Lead Dust Free NYC coalition are now calling the unsafe conditions to be remedied immediately and for safe work practices to be put in place for all work being performed. Tenants, advocates and elected officials are calling on the City to improve enforcement around lead and to increase penalties for landlords who contaminate buildings.

Many provisions with NYC’s lead laws, Local Law 1 of 2004, are not being utilized by the City. A City Council hearing in September of this year called to attention major deficits within the enforcement and regulations surrounding Local Law 1.

"I was in my apartment on a day when they began demolition. A dust cloud invaded my entire apartment from the demolition happening in the apartment below me. I felt a burning in back of my throat along with feeling of grit. I decided to leave for my own safety," said David Dupuis, a tenant of No. 118 for 35 years. "When I returned in the evening, the halls and everything in my apartment was completely covered in dust. The burning sensation at the back of my throat lasted for days."

You can find the full release, including comments from elected local officials, as well as the health department's report from November, at this link.

In an article on the report for The Villager, a spokesperson for the Kushner Companies said: "As soon as we were alerted to the condition, we instructed the contractor responsible to immediately clean the public areas and to implement stricter measures to prevent construction dust or debris from escaping the work area. Kushner always uses a lead-certified contractor who fully complies with the law."

Kushner bought the buildings during his East Village land grab in February 2013.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Local politicos join residents of 2 Jared Kushner-owned buildings to speak out about poor living conditions, alleged harassment

Jared Kushner's residents at 118 E. 4th St. would like gas for cooking and some heat

Get the lead out: Tenants call for protections from lead dust during renovations

Tenant activists praise lead reform, urge for more protections from city against predatory landlords

Tenant activists praise lead reform, urge for more protections from city against predatory landlords

On Tuesday, members of the Lead Dust Free New York City coalition marched through parts of the Lower East Side and East Village, stopping at three buildings — 113 Stanton St., 57 Second Ave. and 233 E. Fifth St. — "where shoddy renovations have released lead dust into the air."

The group, including organizers from the Cooper Square Committee and Icon Tenants United, Tenants Taking Control and the Alliance of Croman Tenants, also praised elected officials for introducing laws aimed at protecting them and urged them to continue pushing for more lead reform.











Here's more background via a news release from the Cooper Square Committee...

Known collectively as the Stand for Tenant Safety (or STS) Laws, they included a new, Real Time Enforcement statute, as well as a tenant bill of rights that must be posted in buildings where construction takes place. They also created a new position within the Department of Buildings, called the Office of the Tenant Advocate.

This year, the City Council is looking at 25 more new bills to further protect tenants from lead exposure. The thrust of some of these bills is to break down the silos that current separately the Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, the Department of Buildings and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

Marchers demanded that these laws also be enacted to further prevent the erosion of affordable housing in New York City.

As in other cities around the United States ... New York is being inundated by a hyper-gentrification tsunami that has been permanently pushing middle- and lower-income tenants out of their homes. Some landlords, hungry for quick returns, continue to pursue the practice of predatory equity, which worsens the city’s affordable housing crisis. These same landlords typically ignore safe work practices while renovating their buildings.

All photos courtesy of Tenants Taking Control

Previously on EV Grieve:
Health Department to inspect Raphael Toledano's East Village properties for toxic levels of lead dust

Ongoing concerns about demolition work and elevated lead levels in Toledano-owned buildings

Get the lead out: Tenants call for protections from lead dust during renovations

Get the lead out: Tenants call for protections from lead dust during renovations

[Photo via the Cooper Square Committee]

City Council is taking up new legislation regarding lead and is holding a joint oversight and legislative hearing tomorrow morning.

Ahead of that, the Cooper Square Committee, working with local residents and elected officials, released a statement as well as a series of photos that "tell a story of lead contamination."



Per Cooper Square:

Tenants from the Lead Dust Free NYC (LDFNYC) coalition are releasing a series of photos showing the faces of lead dust contamination. As elected officials focus more on the issue of lead in NYC housing, LDFNYC urges them to crack down on landlords who contaminate buildings with lead during construction.

Lead contamination arising from unchecked construction dust has hit Lower East Side (LES) tenants hard over the last five years. Landlords like Samy Mahfar, Steve Croman, Raphael Toledano, and Icon Realty have all exposed tenants to lead through this form of contamination. In response, LES tenants have formed this campaign and assembled these photos of themselves to highlight the extreme lead exposure they have faced through construction dust in their buildings.

While tenants applaud new legislative efforts to stop lead poisoning, they want to also bring attention to the lax enforcement of existing laws. NYC’s predominant lead law is Local Law One of 2004. It was enacted fourteen years ago and many aspects of the law, which would help protect tenants from lead laden construction dust, are simply not being enforced.

"We have had multiple lead violations at 514 E. 12th St. The last violation placed found lead dust at four times the EPA standard. I do not believe Local Law One is enforced," said Holly Slayton, a longtime East Village resident whose doctor advised her and her daughter to wear face masks in their own home during renovations in their building (pictured above). "I had to call city agencies continually to get the dust tested and the landlord to follow the proper Local Law One protocol."

The statement from the Cooper Square Committee also includes comments from local elected officials, including City Council member Carlina Rivera and Assemblymember Harvey Epstein.

Back in May, City Council member Margaret S. Chin introduced legislation to empower city agencies "to stop dangerous and dirty construction before it sickens tenants and their families."

Here's more background from Chin's office:

In 1960, New York City was one of the first municipalities to ban the use of lead paint. In 2004, Local Law 1 set a goal for the City to eliminate lead in all residential buildings by 2010. Eight years past that deadline, it is clear that there is still more work to be done.

Under current law, landlords must perform annual checks for lead-based paint hazards in multiple dwellings built before 1960 with units that house children under 6 years old. Landlords must also perform a check whenever an apartment becomes vacant. To remediate the problem, landlords often paint over the lead paint surface. Because paint is susceptible to chipping or fading, this only creates a temporary solution to the presence of lead.

Intro 873 pushes for a permanent solution by requiring landlords to permanently remove or encapsulate any lead paint once a unit becomes vacant.

Intro 874 would increase inter-agency coordination when construction work blows lead particles into residential units and common areas, and also allow the City to issue a stop work order if a unit has received a notice of a lead-based paint hazard.

These two bills, sponsored by Chin, were introduced as part of a legislative package of 23 bills to expand the City’s oversight over lead paint, decrease the threshold for elevated blood lead levels that trigger investigation, improve inter-agency coordination and call for reporting to assess the impact and effectiveness of the City’s lead prevention measures.

Meanwhile, according to a new report by the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, city officials have never brought a case against a landlord for failing to inspect their apartments for lead since the law was enacted requiring such inspections. Read more at the Post.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Health Department to inspect Raphael Toledano's East Village properties for toxic levels of lead dust

Ongoing concerns about demolition work and elevated lead levels in Toledano-owned buildings

Health Department to inspect Raphael Toledano's East Village properties for toxic levels of lead dust

[EVG file photo of 233-235 E. 5th St.]

Last month, we shared a letter that the Toledano Tenants Coalition wrote to elected officials about their ongoing concerns with the demolition taking place in properties run by Brookhill Properties and its founder and principal, Raphael Toledano.

To date, three of the buildings, 235 E. Fifth St., 233 E. Fifth St. and 514 E. 12th St., were said to have elevated lead levels in common areas, according to the City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH).

On Friday, the elected officials — led by State Sen. Brad Hoylman and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer — blasted Toledano for unsafe living conditions, including prolonged exposure to lead dust.

"I’ve heard from scores of constituents about the harassment they’ve endured in Toledano buildings. And now we’ve learned their health is at risk, too, because of dangerously high levels of lead dust," Hoylman said in a statement. "The situation is outrageous and unacceptable. Mr. Toledano needs to remedy this immediately."

In response, the DOHMH has promised to inspect all of Toledano-owned buildings for possible lead dust contamination. (He closed on a 16-building portfolio in the neighborhood last fall.)

Construction-related issues aside, tenants continue to report feeling harassed by Brookhill.

"Many long-term residents of rent-regulated apartments have been served with frivolous legal actions that require them to hire lawyers even though it has been clear that the actions would not make it to court," said Nina d'Alessandro, a resident of 231 E. Fifth St. "Then they have been approached with low buyout offers. We have tried to meet with Mr. Toledano to express our concerns and request that our rights to health and homes be safeguarded, only to be evaded and met with more intimidation."

The letters from the elected officials to Toledano and the Health Department are below. The letters were signed by Hoylman and Brewer; Assembly Members Deborah Glick, Richard N. Gottfried and Brian Kavanagh; and Council Members Corey Johnson and Rosie Mendez. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney signed the letter to DOHMH.

A spokesperson for Brookhill told the Daily News that any health and safety issues brought to its attention will be immediately remedied.





Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Landlord of 444 E. 13th St. threatened 'to drop dynamite on the building'

Report: State investigating East Village landlord Raphael Toledano

Report: Uncle suing nephew broker Raphael Toledano over $100 million East Village deal

Report: Raphael Toledano completes purchase of 16-building East Village portfolio

More about alleged harassment and landlord visits via Brook Hill Properties

In op-ed, Raphael Toledano says that he wants 'to make the East Village a better place'

Report: East Village landlord Raphael Toledano allegedly misrepresented himself as a lawyer

The Villager looks at landlord Raphael Toledano's criminal past

An open letter to landlord Raphael Toledano from the Toledano Tenants Coalition

Report: Management company sues Raphael Toledano for backing out of $130 million loan

Ongoing concerns about demolition work and elevated lead levels in Toledano-owned buildings