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Residents
of the Washington Park public housing project in Portsmouth, Va.,
have seen toxic pollution cleanup crews come and go for nearly two
decades.
Each
time, federal environmental officials said they had taken care of
the lead contamination left by an old foundry next door.
"The
last 15 years I have lived here, they have cleaned this place up
three times," said resident Sharon Tomasello, a 38-year-old
mother. "They are still finding things."
Last
year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency backtracked, acknowledging
that it had not determined the full extent of the problem.
Now,
finally, Washington Park is coming down and the tenants are being
moved to clean neighborhoods. The years-long battle over the project
illustrates the complexities that have kept thousands of residents
of the government’s low-income housing living in polluted neighborhoods.
First,
there is the problem of proving cause and effect: Are the residents
sicker than people in private housing and if so, is there any proof
that pollution is to blame?
And
what is the best solution – move the residents or clean up
the pollution? If the decision is to move them, where? And who pays
for this? Sometimes officials can’t even agree on who is responsible
for addressing these issues.That’s what happened when Washington
Park residents sued government agencies and the foundry owner, alleging
racial discrimination and seeking demolition of the project. The
Department of Housing and Urban Development said it was in charge
only of housing, not the cleanup. The EPA said it was in charge
only of the cleanup, not housing.
Local
officials said they weren’t to blame because they could not
have built Washington Park next to the foundry without a federal
blessing. HUD countered that although it pays the bills, local officials
choose the sites for public housing.
And
even though the local housing authority had come to support relocation,
it argued that it couldn’t tear down the project without HUD’s
permission. The federal housing agency said it couldn’t act
because the local agency had never formally sought the OK. Court
records show that HUD tried to discourage local officials from filing
a request.
While
the legal wrangling continued, new residents were being assigned
to Washington Park.
Before
she moved in last summer, young mother Kenisha Tyson said she asked
a housing authority manager whether the place was still contaminated.
"She
said no," said Ms. Tyson, 23. "If she had told me yes,
I would have asked for something else."
On
moving day, she saw workers in "moon suits" that cleanup
crews wear.
"Somebody
said, well, they have been out here five or six months," Ms.
Tyson said. "They were cleaning the lead up out of the soil."
By
then, she had no option but to stay.
Helen
Marie Person, 69, moved to Washington Park in 1964 – the year
the Civil Rights Act became law. The local housing authority had
built the project as "Negro housing." Officials say race
played no role in the decision to build it next to the foundry.
And back then, Ms. Person said, residents didn’t mind. "We
were grateful, not knowing."
In
the 1980s, residents knew that the EPA had found some kind of lead
problem. By 1990, the agency had told residents that their neighborhood
was now a Superfund cleanup site. But residents who heard the technical
explanations say they never fully understood what it meant until
they met in 1992 to discuss planting a community garden.
Local
health officials told them they shouldn’t dig in the soil –
much less eat anything grown there.
"And
that’s when we found out just what was going on with this place,"
said Mrs. Person.
After
spending six years trying to get the project torn down, they sued.
Settlement talks stalled until U.S. Rep. Norman Sisisky, a Democrat
who represents Portsmouth, stepped in. An agreement was reached
last spring. The court never ruled on the residents’ constitutional
civil-rights claims.
No
matter for Mrs. Person, who led the residents’ fight. Now she
can pack the photographs of her lobbying congressmen, senators and
others, which line the walls of her immaculate apartment and move
to a safer home.
"HUD
should not put any money into an area like this," she said.
"We need to think more of the health of our children –
not just in this area, but in the whole country."
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