Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY – Elise Kairys was walking her dog by a construction site on her block in Brooklyn when she was suddenly covered by a gust of demolition dust.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The 23-year-old says her eyes began tearing and her throat itching, and she began coughing profusely.
But she didn't stress out, until spotting a city document hung along plywood fencing around the site at 226 Ainslie St. in Williamsburg. It noted the building being demolished contained asbestos.
The revelation was issued by the city's DEP hung next to it was another official DEP document that said agency-sanctioned testing had found no asbestos in the building.
So which is accurate?
The DEP said it believed the building was asbestos free before being razed, but it couldn't explain why the permit claimed otherwise.
Evan Thies, chairman of Community Board 1's environment committee, said the confusion over the postings illustrated how poorly equipped DEP was to handle drastically rising asbestos-related construction complaints citywide, particularly in Williamsburg and Greenpoint.
"It's like the wild, wild West up here – without a sheriff," said Thies. "The city has to fix the way it monitors construction sites immediately and take greater responsibility for residents' safety to prevent catastrophe."
Asbestos-related construction complaints have increased in the city by 53 percent. The jump is more dramatic in the Williamsburg-Greenpoint area, where there were 5.4 times as many complaints last fiscal year. [nypost]