MUNI METROEAST CONTINUES TO BE BUILT AT TOXIC PARK

Mayor Gavin Newsom refuses to understand what GREEN really means. Further the San Francisco Environment fails to guide him and inform him on Sustainability and Quality of Life issues. It is all about being educated and more been able to act and mitigate adverse impacts. The whole area around Illinois Street from Cesar Chavez to 20th Street has many hot spots and the area in particular where now the MUNI Metroeast Facility is being built sits stark naked in the middle of Toxic Park. The area was used by Santa Fe and others to dump all sort of toxic material. No meaningful clean up of this area has been done. I have gone out of my way to explain to the Mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsom and to various authorities that this area known to many as Toxic Park should be cleaned. Much as the toxic dirt at Pier 92 was removed and the immediate area mitigated by the SF Port Authority. MUNI has failed to clean the area and it failed to monitor and see that the project meets all the standards that should be met and set by the Environmental Protection Agency and the various State and local bodies. Huge piles of toxic dirt once lay uncovered and when I brought this to the attention of the Department of Toxic and Substances Control (DTSC) and some piles of dirt were covered. Today and for the past 4 months piles and piles of dirt remain uncovered at the site where the MUNI Metroeast Facility is being built. Further this project which is being built with Proposition K Funds exposes hundreds of workers to very toxic soils which can be found all over the place. Further the workers are exposed to particulates from the two power plants that are operating not far way from the project. The Mirant power plant and the Hunters Point power plant both spew very toxic particulates into the air. Add to this the dangerous particulates from the heavy traffic on Illinois Street by the project.

Toxic dirt all over the place.

Toxic conditions surround workers.

The project within sight of Mirant power plant.

Piles of toxic dirt uncovered.


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