Health Danger in Low-Income Apartments

You've heard that an apartment complex on 32nd and Burleigh was emptied by the City due to a high concentration of TCE, a parts-cleaner/degreaser commonly used in industry.  The apartment complex was developed from several old buildings which housed a suitcase manufacturer, a Westinghouse lighting plant, and Briggs & Stratton at one time or another.

...City health officials said elevated levels of the chemical trichloroethylene (TCE) were identified in occupied and unoccupied residential spaces, which can cause serious health effects. The measured concentration was nearly 200 times above the Vapor Action Level, or VAL.

"It is an industrial chemical that was used in industrial facilities for a long period of time. Oftentimes, it was dumped down the drain, leaked into the soil, and it becomes a vapor over time. And it's toxic," said Tyler Weber, the interim health commissioner.

On Saturday, the city of Milwaukee Health Department issued an emergency health order for closure and evacuation for the community....

The National Cancer Institute lists TCE as a cancer causing substance....

Maybe the developers should have run a few tests?

The $66 million development, bringing nearly 200 affordable apartments along with commercial and recreation space to Milwaukee's central city, is called Community Within The Corridor.

That's appropriate. Because it took a community of younger Black developers and activists to make it happen.

Led by Que El-Amin, the people creating Community Within The Corridor at West Center and North 32nd streets include a hip-hop artist, a nearby resident who helps feed her neighbors and a nonprofit training program coordinator....

The local alderman, Stamper, pushed hard to get the project through.  Perhaps he persuaded City inspectors to ............ahhhh...........ignore the smell of TCE?  (It's hard to miss that odor, friends.)

Too bad.  There's $66 million or so that turned into .........ahhh.........vapors?

 ...The biggest cash source: $21 million raised by selling state and federal affordable housing tax credits....

... Other financing sources were assembled, including state and federal historic preservation tax credits, a bank loan and city cash generated by the development's property taxes....

Let's hope that it won't take another $66 million to clean up the site.