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Don%u2019t %u201cPanic,%u201d But Asbestos Plagues Local Schools%u2014Q n a r lr c D artiH I o n lr i n t n D n f a n t i a l U o a l t h l~ lo 7 a r,rlv ^ r w i i w i %u00ab u ^ i m h > v w % iiib v i u w v i i k i u i i i v u i i i i %u25a0 b u c - m i % *BY PETER HALEYTwenty-nine local schools are among the 250 school buildings listed by the City%u2019s Board of Education Division of School Buildings as potential health hazards due to asbestos-containing materials used in their construction.Before alarmists post any disclaimers such as %u201c Caution: Education in this Building May Be Hazardous to your Children%u2019s Health%u2019%u2019 on entrance doors to the city%u2019s grammar, junior high and high schools, however, an interagency task force has begun a systematic and rapid inspection of all school buildings involved to determine the extent of asbestos use and the measures needed to remedy the situation in individual schools.Thirteen of the schools located in school districts 13, 15 and 17 have already been determined to contain asbestos materials and along with the remaining 16 schools, they are being investigated by Board of Education personnel, inspectors and technicians from the city%u2019s Department of Health and Environmental Protection.The Board of Education%u2019s School Buildings division officials stressed that the asbestos present in certain schools represented %u201c potential health hazards if physically disturbed%u201d but two Harlem schools were recently closed because of exposed asbestos. Extensive repairs would have to be undertaken to remove or cover asbestos used in the schools for fireproofing and soundproofing. The price tag on this work has escalated from $3 million listed in a 1977 report to a significantly larger but still undetermined figure, according to a Division of School Buildings spokesman.Asbestos has been proved to be cancerous and the schools that will be under inspection are those that were constructed between 1946 and 1971, when acoustic plaster containing asbestos and spray-on asbestos material were included inconstruction specifications.The immediate scope of the investigation is expected to be completed by November 17, according to School Buildings special assistant Roger Chiljean, who is in immediate charge of the investigation.Chiljean said that the investigation of all the city schools was anticipated but that the 250 schools on the list were a priority. The city%u2019s efforts to rectify the situation was also a priority but Chiljean said that the school system was not %u201c panicking but proceeding in an organized and orderly manner%u201d into the investigation.%u201c We want to have a responsible approach short of removing the asbestos material entirely,%u201d said Chiljean, %u201cbut where it is warrented, we will remove the material.%u201dThe joint approach by the Departments of Education, Health and Environmental Protection entails: the removal of spray-on asbestos and its replacement with cement on mineral fiber acoustic tile; covering vandalized acoustical plaster and other acoustical plaster areas with this same tile; the removal of spray-on fireproofing in non-student areas (boiler rooms, machinery, etc.); and replacement with spray-on cementious fireproofing.A 1977 school report concerning the asbestos issue listed 10 schools as priority problems, only three of which have been repaired. The report called the fact that all the asbestos-materials used were not vandal-proof %u201c the single factormost responsible for asbestos fibre pollution,%u201d since only when asbestos is dislodged and in the air is it dangerous.At present, the asbestos investigative task force is discussing alternatives to removal since that process will be the most costly and in many cases unnecessary step, according to Chiljean.The following are the local schools under the task force investigation:District 13: PS 46 (100 Clermont Avenue), PS 56 (170 Gates Avenue) JHS 265 (101 Park Avenue), PS 282 (180 Sixth Avenue), JHS 294 (300 Adelphi Street), PS 305 (344 Monroe Street), PS 307 (209 York Street), George Westinghouse HS, (105 Johnson Street) Brooklyn Technical HS (29 Ft. GreenePlace).District 15: PS1 (309 47th Street), PS 15 (71 Sullivan Street), PS 29 (425 Henry Street), PS 32 (317 Hoyt Street), PS 38 (450 Pacific Street), PS 51 (350 Fifth Avenue), PS 58 (330 Smith Street), JHS 88 (544 Seventh Avenue), JHS 142 (610 Henry Street), JHS 293 (163 Butler Street), PS 321 (180 Seventh Avenue), John Jay HS (237 Seventh Avenue) PS 371 (355 37th Street).District 17: JHS 61 (400 Empire Blvd.), IS 246 (72 Veronica Place), PS 249 (18 Marlborough Road), PS 289 (900 St. Marks Avenue), PS 316 (750 Classon Avenlue), IS 320 (46 McKeever Place) Prospect Heights HS (883 Classon Avenue).They Finally Got It Together: Board SixMakes a Quorum, Votes on Goya ProjectBY MARTHA DOGGETTAfter nearly two months of paralysis due to inability to achieve a quorum, Community Board Six finally mustered enough members at its regular meeting November 8 to recertify the controversial conversion of the Goya factory to retail use.The board voted 20 to six with one abstention to recertify the conversion of the Goya factory, at Second Avenue and 12th Street in Park Slope, without holding another public hearing. The board%u2019s certification of the conversion a year ago had run out because the developer Gerard Jenet had failed to obtain funding for the project.The plan is to convert the building to retail use by Pathmark supermarket and a maximum of eight other stores.The meeting started with 24 members in attendance, one more than the number constituting a quorum. Six members arrived latebringing the total to 30. With Chairman Gerald Carey announcing the resignation of Connie Barielle, membership now stands at 45 persons.%u201cThe board made a special effort to attend,%u201d said member Renee Taubenblatt about the first sufficient turnout since September 20. %u201cWe all did what we thought was our civic duty. There have been some new regulations and I think everyone is going to do what they can. Things look very encouraging.%u201dCarey attributes the board%u2019s failure to get a quorum at the October 18 and 25 meetings to the change in date. %u201c We always get a quorum,%u201d Carey said. %u201c In October we had an unusual situation because the date was changed on account of Yom Kippur, and the second meeting was not regularly scheduled. We have very active people on the board and they just had other commitments.%u201dCarey also announced the appointment of a committee to nominate officers for 1979. Committee members are John Gmelch, Christopher Scannavino, Michael Freeman, Ira Levine, and Louise Finney.In other business, Seal-Up Committee chairman Ira Levine told the board that the program, which will seal buildings in District Six while providing job training for 23 youths, has been approved by the Board of Estimate and is now scheduled to start March 1. Levine said the committee decided to push back the November 1 starting date because they feared time would be lost in the coldest winter months.The board unanimously approved an applications by the Carroll Gardens College of Women to rent office space at the South Beach Psychiatric Clinic at 250 Baltic Street. Members also mandated Vicechairwoman Anita De Martini to represent them on BoroughPresident Howard Golden%u2019s Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE) Task Force. The task force was appointed by Golden as a liaison between city agencies and the community while the BQE is under reconstruction.District Manager Joan White announced that the district has received a new Comprehensive Education Training Act (CETA) worker to develop a community newsletter.An open house will be held for members of the community in the district%u2019s new office at 250 Baltic Street on November 30 from 5:30 to 7:30.EDITOR'S NOTE: Normally, The Phoenix lists board member absences. However, District Manager White said three hours of hunting failed to turn up the latest attendance record. If found, it will appear in a future issue.Now, Merchants Fight Fulton Mall WorkBY GARY FREDERICKConstruction on the Fulton Mall seemed sure to resume after the naming last weekend of a coordinator to iron out a dispute with minorities. But now the beleagured project faces a new roadblock.A contingent of 12 angry merchants showed up unexpectedly at a meeting of the Fulton Mall Improvement Association (FMIA) Tuesday, seeking to suspend%u2014or stop%u2014what they see as roadblock to holiday sales.Construction on the $8.5 million, federally-funded project stopped temporarily in late October when minorities, seeking jobs, struck the site. A compromise with contractor Angelo Pegno led to the appointment of a minority-hiring coordinator%u2014Russ Warner, 16- year veteran of minority construction group Fightback%u2014just four days before the FMIA confrontation.May%u2019s Department Store President Max Shulman%u2019s name heads up the signatures of merchants from 40 Fulton Street stores on a petition handed to FMIA Chairman Joseph Hydok. But the other big department stores on the block%u2014Korvettes, M artin%u2019s and Abraham & Straus%u2014aren%u2019t on theThe petition, calling for suspension or abandonment of mall construction, is also addressed to the Board of Estimate.Yet another potential obstacle to mall work was raised at the FMLA meeting: the Department of Transportation%u2019s (DOT) 12-year-old order banning construction from November 20 to January 2.\ban but .one on blocking sidewalks,%u201d a DOT spokesman said.Blocked sidewalks are exactly what worry the merchants, who listed in their petition obstacles they foresee being posed by construction:%u2022 Shoppers kept from entering stores by equipment and tom-up sidewalks;%u2022 Alternate routes detouring traffic away from the street;%u2022 Front-door deliveries impeded by the work;%u2022 Policing hampered during the Christmas season, when thefts run highest.Sidewalks outside of Korvettes have been ripped up to install a 12-inch water main, the first order of business Monday, when construction is set to resume. Manny Elkin, managing engineer for the project, said, %u201c We were not directed by anyone in the city to discontinue construction during the season. The contractor is following his contract.%u201d Pegno%u2019s contractr*o 11 o im/Itc _rupted.Work halted for two weeks previously when four minority groups%u2014Fightback, and BlackEconomic Survival, Free At Last and South Brooklyn Construction Workers%u2014demanded that Pegno adhere to affirmative action guidelines proposed by Community Board Two. They state that 50 percent of a project work force must be drawn from minorities, 25 percent of these from the community.Pegno%u2019s contract with the federal government includes only federal affirmative action guidelines, used by the city when federal funds are involved. A Bureau of Labor Services spokesman said these guidelines call for an average 20 percent minority representation on the job. Electricians, for instance, must have a six-and-a-half showing of minorities, while carpenters must show 32 percent. The remainder of the 18 categories require 17.5 percent.Rick Rosan, director of the Mayor%u2019s Office of Development, said he will consider the merchants%u2019 demands and that the latter of their requests%u2014to shut down the project or to slow the work%u2014is more likely to occur.In a related development, Chairman Hydok said that to avoid any conflict of interest, he is resigning from FMIA to accept hisHV/%u00bb1 WO 111V V H J O V t l lV V lU lof operations. Shulman will head a committee to name Hydok%u2019s successor.SITE SEEN: Water main on which work should resumeon Fulton Mall Monday.Page 4, THE PHOENIX, November 16,1978