San Mateo Times

December 14, 1999

MATT SUMNER -- Staff Molly Ramlal, 12, walks through the playground at Midway Village in Daly City on her way home. Local residents put up signs on the fence calling the area a toxic hazard.

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Daly City Battling Toxic Dust

By Michele R. Marcucci
Staff Writer

DALY CITY -- The specter of toxic dust rising from a nearby drainage project brought Midway Village residents out in angry protest Tuesday.

Two-dozen protesters, bearing signs with such slogans as "Protect the Kids," said they fear the dust may sicken the complex's 400 residents and also children in a day care facility there.

"It's a toxic environment, and PG&E is just trying to ignore it," protester and 13-year resident Elias Castillo said.

Castillo was referring to Pa cific Gas and Electric Com pany's neighboring Martin Service Center, where construc tion began near Midway Village this week to install drainage pipes. The early morning pro test took place at the center's back gate.

Dirt at the facility -- which was used as fill for U.S. Navy housing built where Midway Village now stands -- contains toxins called PNAs which, at high enough levels, could cause cancer, state Department of Toxic Substances Control spokesman Ron Baker said.

Protesters aren't opposed to the drainage project, but want to be temporarily moved away from it and they want better control of the project to prevent dust.

Long-range, the protesters are asking to be moved from Midway Village and for lifetime medical benefits and "adequate" compensation, protest organizer and longtime resident Lula Bishop said.

In 1993, a group of residents sued because they said expo sure to the PNAs had caused numerous ailments among their population. They named PG&E, the U.S. Navy, which once owned the land, and the county housing authority, which built Midway Village. The suits were thrown out because residents failed to show their illnesses were caused by exposure to PNAs. At least one of the cases is under appeal.

Bishop said the latest protests will continue until resi dents get action.

"The reason they feel they can do this to us is because we are a community of color, we have no political clout, and we should feel blessed to have a nice place to live," she said. "Even if it's killing us."

When protesters asked to talk to a state Department of Toxic Substances Control official on site to oversee the toxic cleanup, the gates were locked and they were told to leave, Castillo said.

"When we say something, we're troublemakers. We're just standing up for our right to live," said protester Basheem Allah of the Southeast Alliance for Environmental Justice.

PG&E attorney Steve Jones said that while the company doesn't feel it is responsible, it has settled with 80 to 90 of the residents who sued the company, paying them between $2, 000 and $4,500.

It is not currently in settlement talks with other residents, Jones said.

Constance Anderson, the housing authority's supervisor for Midway Village, said she could not comment on whether residents might be moved from the low-income housing complex, which was built by the au thority in 1976.

Brisbane city officials said they don't understand why Midway Village residents are protesting the drainage project. They said the project will benefit residents because it will keep their homes from flooding during rainstorms.

City Manager Clay Holstine said the city has gone to considerable time and expense to monitor potential dust, and that government regulators are keeping close tabs on the project.

Holstine said that if problems occur, work stops on the project. He said that work has already stopped "a few" times, although not near the residential complex, where work began this week.

But protest organizer Bradley Angel, of the environmental group Greenaction, said residents are just protesting how the pipe is being installed.

He said dust has blown from the PG&E site, and that residents have complained of burning eyes and respiratory problems.

Angel said the DTSC promised to do more soil testing at Midway Village before drainage work was done.

The DTSC's Baker said a verbal commitment was made, but that getting the drainage pipe in before the rainy season hits is a higher priority.

"When it floods, PNAs can potentially migrate to the surface," he said.

Midway Village was once listed as one of the state's worst toxic sites requiring cleanup, Baker said. He said DTSC will conduct further soil tests this year in an effort to determine if further cleanup is necessary.