|
When some employees brought to the attention of Congressperson George Miller that the TRUST forced them to bury some barrels containing toxins into the ground that is the National Park at the Presidio - there was a hue and cry. I have been saying that for ages!
Toxins have been buried into the ground not only by the Trust but by the National Park Service (NPS). There is nothing NEW about lots of toxins floating all over the Presidio of San Francisco. The Army used a lot of lead in the paint it used to spruce the place up. So, lot of lead chips are found floating all over the place. This is bad for health. The water pipes are full of lead many of them corroded. So, if you drink some water from the faucets - you can rest assure yourself that you have tasted some lead and may have it in your system for years. That is just how it works at the Presidio! The TRUST has an entity called the Restoration Advisory Board. The are tasked to monitor the clean up. They could have made a statement when they learned from the Congressperson and the Press about the toxic dumping. Indeed the Trust has been polluting the Presidio of San Francisco - a National Park where all are invited to visit and be safe. Did you hear a word from the RAB? It should not come as a surprise to any of you who know or want to know the truth that it would take the TRUST over 200 million dollars to clean up just two batteries. One is Battery Caufield by Washington Street and the other Battery Wagner by Storey. Caufield has a lot of radioactive stuff and Wagner some nasty germs used in warfare - now discontinued. Both these Batteries as large as 3-football fields underground - they should be clean since they are in a National Park. They have been sealed since the early 1990s. The TRUST challenged the Army - to be precise, the Corps of Engineers that they would do a good job and clean up the Presidio. The Army gave them 100 million dollars. To date nothing has been done. The money sits in a bank. The TRUST has defied Public trust and bought some insurance with the 100 million dollars - if this is not enronization what is? I remember B.J. Griffin, James Meadows, Mary Murphy. Amy Meyer smiling when they got the money - where is the accountability? When the Army was there fuel tanks kept the heat on and lights and other stuff going. Many of these fuel tanks still lie buried underground. Many of these old fuel tanks have toxic stuff seeping into the ground water. The NPS and the TRUST has and had the money to do a good clean up - but they look and looked the other way. There use to be a concrete building - a small one just next to the Letterman Hospital that contained many toxic barrels. I know 3 or 4 of these barrels contained some of the worst toxic stuff. In fact when the NPS was there - they hired a woman from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). She wanted to dispose of the toxic barrels but it was too expensive. She knew the contents - I could have asked her but chose not to. The NPS and the TRUST have not treated the Presidio as a Park. They talk the talk but do not walk the walk. The NPS as well as the TRUST are guilty of spewing toxins into the Bay and into the Pacific Ocean. Much before the green signal was given to the NPS to operate the Water Treatment Plant - lot of water loaded with chemicals were pumped into the Pacific Ocean. Today there is indiscriminate run off of storm water containing toxins into the Ocean and Bay at the Presidio of San Francisco. It is a shame that the TRUST and before them the NPS tap into the City and County Aquifer - steal the water and waste it. It is a shame when good water is tainted with chemicals and then dumped into the Pacific Ocean. Just behind the former United Stated Public Health Hospital is an area that is asphalted. Here lie buried over 500 merchant seamen. Yes 500 merchant seamen - human beings. Today, the TRUST has rubbish heaped on this site. At least when the Army was there - this area was asphalted and kept free from rubbish! The nonsense that goes on at the Presidio is unending. It is a joke when one attends the Trust Board Meetings to watch the Board Members grin and think that all is well. The Board Members do not care about the Presidio as a National Park - they main aim is to make money. Remember James Meadows - the Board Members gave him $280,000 bonus for stealing and screwing things up at the Presidio of San Francisco. It is such unethical principles that have screwed our economy. Today, there is no decency left - not with the TRUST not with the NPS. Brian O'Neill who talks from both sides of his mouth has done great disservice to the NPS. He plans to out source the operations of the Park to entities who do not care about the Park and especially the Presidio. It was his stupidity and the advice he got from Susan Hurst - that transferred so many NPS employees to the Trust and now on to the streets without a job. Few remember one zealous worker spraying Agent Orange on to the grass at Crissy Field - Tremec a weed control agent that the NPS forbids. This worker wanted to get rid of the weeds. If the weeds were there - he would have had to hire more workers - his boss Brian did not want that! What did Brian do to this worker - who should have known better - slapped him on the wrist and looked the other way. Hundreds of children sat on the grass saturated with toxins at a MUD concert - the day before the Tremec had been sprayed. The NPS talks the talk but does not walk the walk. Furthermore many birds at the lagoon died as a result of the toxins - the Tremec. This fact was reported in the San Francisco Chronicle. It is nothing new when I hear about the toxins at the Presidio of San Francisco. At least the Army had the ability to do a decent clean up. Not these guys. The TRUST makes big bucks - bring out fancy documents - they can talk the talk but they cannot and will not walk the walk. Another type of toxin that the TRUST perpetuates is RACIAL PROFILING and this will come to haunt them very soon. The Buffalo Soldiers were at the Presidio of San Francisco much before the NPS which was formed in 1916. There are over 600 Buffalo Soldiers buried at the Presidio National Cemetery, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Veterans Administration. This cemetery sits smack in the middle of the Presidio of San Francisco. Thank God. The Buffalo Soldiers send a clear message to the Whites - be fair or be square! The fired workers who reported about the buried toxins are African American - they were discriminated and they should be compensated. It is time those who forced the workers to bury the toxins be jailed. |
