Jersey Journal, May 3, 2002

Dear Editor:

At the same time that Stevens Institute of Technology was creating the copy for their advertisements that have been placed in the Hoboken Reporter, including stories about addressing environmental toxins in Third World countries through their research and inventions, they did nothing to control the asbestos-containing dust caused by their garage excavation.

This toxic dust settled on Sinatra Park and the Little League Field, went into the air over Hoboken, possibly into the ventilation systems of their campus buildings, and on and on. How did this happen? It seems that Stevens was granted a permit by Hoboken, although the 750- to 800-car garage that will face Sinatra Park (entering and exiting across from the soccer field) may be lacking the approvals that the rest of us are required to obtain before beginning construction.

When I complained to Stevens about the dust, they said that they could not get a hydrant permit to wet the site down (after one of the driest winters and springs ever) and so they did absolutely nothing. Stevens claims that they knew the serpentine rock that they were blasting contained asbestos, which is why they set up air monitoring. They said they never informed the city about the presence of the asbestos because they believed that they were not required to do so.

We now know that some of the asbestos released into the air from drilling, blasting, removing the rock and open hauling of the asbestos-containing rock through Hoboken exceeded acceptabe limits. The highest readings to date occurred on March 19 (about a week after this work started); the second highest readings were on April 8. On April 10, a garden hose was hooked up (but not in use) while the drilling, blasting, excavating and hauling continued.

Stevens provides high-tech solutions to environmental toxins for the Third World, while Hoboken gets a garden hose.

While contaminating our air, Stevens Institute pursues the purchase of the remaining waterfront properties. Stevens Institute now appears to be the latest waterfront developer to thwart Hoboken's vision of a continuous waterfront park.

City officials got snookered on this one and allowed Stevens to go on for far too long until the Fund for a Better Waterfront brought it to their attention when they learned that the serpentine rock contained asbestos.

Aaron Lewit
Hoboken