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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Joel Kupferman, Executive Director of Environmental Justice Initiative, on NYCHA Housing Issues
2:18:06
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7 min
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Joel Kupferman, Executive Director of the Environmental Justice Initiative, testified about serious environmental and health concerns in NYCHA housing developments. He highlighted issues with boiler replacements, exposure to hazardous materials, and inadequate oversight of construction projects.
- Kupferman reported dangerous heat levels, exposure to asbestos, lead, and other toxins during construction work
- He criticized NYCHA's lack of accountability, poor contractor oversight, and potential worsening of issues under RAD/PACT private management
- The testimony called for better worker protections, improved environmental assessments, and acceptance of federal assistance for safety evaluations
Joel Kupferman
2:18:06
Joel Kupferman, Environmental Justice Initiative.
2:18:09
I represent the 10th Association of Smith Houses, Residents that preserve public housing, and concerned residents at Reis.
2:18:17
This it's been a 5, 6 year battle for the Environmental Justice Initiative.
2:18:23
We've seen millions being misspent.
2:18:26
The first thing I wanna get out, it's not a question of money.
2:18:29
It's a question of misspent money, unaccounted for money.
2:18:34
Each of the places where they're working on capital budget, especially the boilers, is an environmental health hazardous epicenter.
2:18:42
They're placing workers, NYCHA staff and residents in harm's way, inside and outside.
2:18:48
At Smith, we've measured the heat above the boiler to be a 150 degrees.
2:18:54
It's coming up.
2:18:55
Fortunately, there's a big, good contractor there, but we've been sitting in on biweekly meetings.
2:18:59
A lot of the construction oversight that that, the residents are allowed to sit in on are not they're not allowed to participate or they're not participating.
2:19:09
Alright?
2:19:09
So there's a that's violating, I believe, 984.
2:19:16
This is a NYCHA development.
2:19:17
So this is Smith with the vociferous tenant association.
2:19:20
Others we hear as stories, and we also have whistleblower coming to us all the time.
2:19:25
I also suggest that this committee set up a special number or whatever that you listen to the workers that are are are seeing these things that are going on.
2:19:34
What also alarms me is that they're coming in touch contact with asbestos, lead, arsenic, VOCs, and SVOCs.
2:19:41
At Rees, we have a Brownfield site.
2:19:43
Brownfield means Superfund Mini site.
2:19:46
Okay?
2:19:47
The trouble is that the workers are complaining of being exposed to the heat.
2:19:51
We measure the heat and the ground.
2:19:52
We come up with a 180 degrees.
2:19:55
That means all those VOCs are coming up to the ground.
2:19:58
What's alarming, for doing this work for so long, is that those workers are not aware of even what PESH is.
2:20:05
PESH is the Public Employee Safety and Health Plan.
2:20:08
Every city worker and NYCHA worker is entitled to know that.
2:20:11
So we have a
2:20:15
Okay.
2:20:16
All right.
2:20:17
We have raw sewage that people are being exposed to.
2:20:19
All right?
2:20:20
But this sewage is coming from the construction sites.
2:20:23
With the construction sites putting in new boilers, or upsetting the existing situation.
2:20:27
At Smith, you still have 9 11 dust that's coming up.
2:20:31
The pipelines that they excavate is opening up lead and arsenic.
2:20:35
At Reis, we have high levels of arsenic, and we assume everywhere else.
2:20:39
The city in Niger has refused or hasn't been measuring what's there.
2:20:44
Alright?
2:20:45
Once and then we found that when that soil is exposed, it becomes resuspended and goes into people's homes.
2:20:53
And then part of the problem is that, we mentioned all the environmental bits.
2:21:00
These sites, including Smith, at at Baruch, whatever, is causing extensive tree damage.
2:21:07
Okay?
2:21:07
They're doing the work improperly and they're actually cutting down.
2:21:11
There's a tree loss.
2:21:12
So all this talk about resiliency is the opposite.
2:21:16
So besides losing those trees for heat, we're losing all the all the the, the soil and the and the retention values.
2:21:22
The emergency generation generators are not being maintained.
2:21:26
There's no checkup.
2:21:27
So when the elevators go down, there's a problem that those generators that everyone depends on are not working.
2:21:33
Those elevators, when they are working, carry all the stuff that's in the boiler rooms and and and like up into the people's apartments in pneumatic tubes.
2:21:42
We've called over and over again health department to come in on some of these cases.
2:21:47
The way this city is set up now, and I think this is the city council's responsibility, is that when the health department finds something wrong at NYCHA, they just issue an warning letter.
2:21:57
It doesn't go down as a violation.
2:21:59
You don't know how serious, you know, NYCHA is is is having infractions, and so it's not being recorded.
2:22:05
There's definitely an understatement that's that's there.
2:22:09
But I also want to stress that the pipes that are being replaced coming into these boiler rooms are covered with asbestos.
2:22:17
The asbestos is coming off of that, off of those pipes, into the pathways, into into the walkways.
2:22:24
And so this major asbestos problem that is in violation of federal, state, and local law, and it just also is definitely a a a live threat.
2:22:33
And also NYCHA depends on building department, supervision or oversight.
2:22:42
The trouble is that the buildings department is not enforcing, okay?
2:22:47
And NYCHA's telling you that there's no problems.
2:22:50
The Department of Buildings never got a chance to review that, but they're telling you that everything is okay.
2:22:56
There's major violations.
2:22:57
I'm very concerned about, RAD and PAC is that there's going to be less oversight over those companies.
2:23:05
All right?
2:23:06
The cities owe $2,100,000,000 in uncollected fines.
2:23:10
So now, no matter how bad NYCHA is not accountable, it's can be worse under those new managers.
2:23:17
The city has something called an ethical contracting or bad actor policy.
2:23:22
NYCHA does not apply that to their contractors or the managers.
2:23:26
We're also concerned that at Smith, one of the worst contractor oversight was a company called STV.
2:23:34
They approved the $28,000,000 contract even though the monitors were not, being used.
2:23:40
Okay?
2:23:41
So we show there was tree damage.
2:23:43
So what did NYCHA do?
2:23:44
They rewarded now.
2:23:45
STV is their main adviser on all technical stuff, telling us that it's safe in terms of asbestos and lead.
2:23:55
Excuse me?
2:23:57
I got to wrap up?
2:23:59
So I think you should not be fooled by model plans that they show.
2:24:04
We should ask the worst case scenario, not that the, you know, the pilots are doing, but there should be complete new management in terms of who the contractors are.
2:24:14
Right.
2:24:14
And also the fact that I mentioned that the workers and communities being, being insulted.
2:24:19
You should call or NYCHA can call upon the federal government for help.
2:24:24
There's something that OSHA has called the strategic partnership program, where they come in and look at all the sites to see where workers are being endangered, whether it's municipal workers or the contractors, and they will advise how to clean up without any fines.
2:24:39
OSHA recommended you know, offered this service.
2:24:42
NYCHA first said yes.
2:24:44
Dan Green, okay, said eventually said no.
2:24:47
So there's fairly plenty of federal help to come in to to even at least assess where the dangers are, and NYCHA does not accept it or wanna hear.
2:24:57
So I just feel I just want to say I'm, like, slightly behooved.
2:25:00
This is, like, the 5th year testifying about this.
2:25:03
And and it's actually things have gotten worse.
2:25:06
The heat we discovered the heat at those places, which is really dangerous.
2:25:12
to test the heat.
2:25:14
I'm wrapping up, like,
2:25:18
the risk is
Chris Banks
2:19:13
And this is this is a NYCHA development?
2:20:13
problem.
2:20:13
We have a minute to wrap it up.
2:23:52
So you have to wrap up now.
2:23:54
You got to wrap up.
2:23:56
You got to wrap up.
2:23:58
Yes.
2:23:59
Okay.
2:25:09
You you sir, you you testimony me.
2:25:11
I'm not going
2:25:13
You gotta wrap it up now.
2:25:15
what's going on?
2:25:16
You wrapped it up.
2:25:17
Yeah.
2:25:18
But
2:25:19
Well, thank you thank you for your testimony, sir.
Keith Grossman
2:19:17
Just wanna make a comment.
2:25:03
Right.