City Responds to Public Place Worries, Downplays "Fugitive Dust"

The city has responded to concerns about work underway at the Public Place site in a letter sent to City Council Member Bill de Blasio saying that the current preliminary work doesn't pose a threat, but that a water truck and other steps will be taken to contain "fugitive dust" when concrete removal gets underway. Residents have already complained about "fugitive dust" being stirred up by work that has already taken place. Mr. de Blasio had sent a letter with a long list of questions to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. HPD responded with a memo from the Mayor's Office of Environmental Coordination answering the questions. The city says that some air monitoring will take place once concrete removal gets underway at the site and that it will take steps to minimize the dust including a water truck. In addition, it says measures will be taken to make sure soil "is not tracked into the community." The memo says that clean soil will be placed at the site after the concrete is removed and that "underlying tar-contaminated soils will not be exposed during this limited concrete removal activity." The city also says that it will not monitor air quality at the Smith-9th Street station because "fugitive dust will not be an issue at the subway station." The actual site cleanup is still in the future as a plan must still be developed by Keyspan/National Grid.