Sunday, December 9, 2007

Former Swingline factory toxic

A toxin found under the former Swingline stapler factory in Queens - a building that was once MoMA's temporary home - may have spread to neighboring buildings, according to state officials.

STATE FEARS TOXIC SPREAD IN QUEENS

State Department of Environmental Conservation officials are conducting tests at eight to 12 buildings within a one-block radius of the former stapler factory, which closed in 1999 and housed the Museum of Modern Art while its Manhattan location was being renovated from 2002 to 2004.

The groundwater and soil beneath the building is tainted with the common industrial pollutant and carcinogen trichloroethylene, known as TCE, according to DEC regional citizen-participation specialist Arturo Garcia-Costas.

In October, the DEC found that the degreasing solvent - which has also been linked to nerve damage and birth defects - may have spread, so a new round of tests began immediately.

One building that will be tested later this month is the Long Island City YMCA around the corner on Queens Boulevard.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

My, my, my....
I'm shocked.....shocked to learn of toxins
existing around a former industrial site !

And to think of all those hipsters
so eager to overpay for a "luxury" loft
in one of the many converted factories
in LIC, Bkl'n. etc. that are being offered
by real estate brokers
(who are just salivating over the thought
of making some fat commissions
off their closed deals).

If they stay there long enough to raise a family,
their kids might be born with 6 fingers on each hand
or some other manifestation
of a biological mutation.

georgetheatheist said...

Isn't the LIC YMCA across the street? (not "around the corner"?)

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous # 1: What's even worse than 6 fingers is that the kids could turn out like Gallagher!

Of course, this industrial site isn't the only possible carcinogenicly toxic location in the city.

NY State DEC needs to get on the case of the possibly carcinogenic artificial turf that the Commissar is installing in all the city parks.

Gallagher asserts that this stuff is "perfectly safe". And, so does the Commissar and his lackey, Benepe. But, that's what a pot full of $150 million will do to corrode ethics. Then there's the other $40 million for this artificial turf on school playgrounds. Yo! We get rich, we're gone, and the blame goes to the next guy.

We all get to watch today's youngsters live horribly sick and disfigured lives.

Then, the taxpayers get to pick up the medical bills for decades to come.

And, we're all eager to go bankrupt paying for this corruption!

verdi said...

True dat....George......right across da street from
all dat tri-perc-o-lene ??? what-da-hell-stuff.....
ah forget about it!

If it's too hard to spell....
it's too dangerous to be exposed to!

H-m-m-m...."great" place for the kids
and young adults to go to.

Anonymous said...

I work down the BLVD at LaGCC and Exercise across the street at the Y. I eat at the Thomson Diner (great Doninican cheap eatz) right there. I'd imagine the whole place is toxic to one extent or another, but the place is strangely beautiful. I wonder how the factory that is getting the tennis club between 32nd and Vandam rates toxicity-wise.

Anonymous said...

anon #1 - let's not forget all the hipsters that still work in the building, which is still owned by moma.

georgetheatheist - in case that wasn't rhetorical - yes, it is a stone's throw.