6 AUGUST 15, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Radiation site remediations set to begin FDNY warns
BY BILL PARRY
BPARRY@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
The Fire Department this
week notified more than
10,000 patients whom
the FDNY EMS had previously
treated of transported that their
personal information may have
been compromised by the loss of
an agency employee’s personal
external hard drive last March.
The employee, who was
authorized to access the records,
had uploaded the information
onto the personal external
device, which was reported
missing.
Although there is no evidence
to date that any of the information
stored on the personal device
has been accessed, the FDNY is
treating the incident as if the
information may have been
seen by an unauthorized person.
FDNY has notified the impacted
patients.
Further, 3,000 patients
whose social security numbers
may have been compromised
are being offered free credit
monitoring.
The 10,253 patients who were
notified this week by mail of the
data breach were all treated and
or transported by EMS during
the period from 2011 to 2018.
The FDNY is following the
Health Insurance Portability
and Accountability Act of 1996
guidelines in notifying all
people whose information may
have been compromised.
Patients can call toll-free
877-213-1732 between the hours
of 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Monday
through Friday if they have
any questions about the breach
or if they think their personal
information was included in the
breach.
The loss of the external drive
was also reported to the New
York City Police Department and
internally to the New York City
Fire Department Fire Marshals
and investigated.
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Aft er a chemical company spent
over three decades harvesting
radioactive minerals from sand
and dumping the refuse into the city
sewers, the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) plans to begin a long
concerted eff ort of remediations that
have been in the books since 2017.
The EPA and state Department of
Environmental Protection plans to
begin relocating up to seven business
tenants at the former site of the Wolff -
Alport chemical company so buildings
can be razed and soil excavated.
Not only that, but the EPA is aiming
to hold responsible parties to certain
fi nancial obligations of the work, one
of them blaming the city of New York
for the contaminated sewers and
streets, according to an update from
the EPA’ Elias Rodriguez.
Rodriguez said the city is
cooperating with their part which
pertains to sidewalks, sewers and
streets.
The EPA signed a record of
decision for the Wolff-Alport site
located at 1125 to 1139 Irving Ave. and
1514 Cooper Ave. in 2017 and has been
on the government’s radar since 2013
when they began evaluating how
to remedy the dangers under the
Superfund program.
“The EPA searches for parties
that may be legally responsible
for contamination at sites that are
placed on the Superfund list, and it
The EPA expects to gether the ball rolling on major remediations for a
radioactive site in Ridgewood near the end of summer.
Google Street View
seeks to obtain commitments from
any identifi ed parties to perform or
fund investigations and cleanups,”
Rodriguez said. “The EPA has
identifi ed the City of New York as a
potentially responsible party for a
portion of the site that it owns, and we
are in discussions with it concerning
performing certain activities related
to work on its property.”
Wolff-Alport operated between
1920 and 1954 on the quarter acre
patch of Ridgewood that has since
been broken up into six parcels.
They worked extracting thorium
from imported monazite sand, which
contains about 6 to 8 percent of the
radiological metal.
The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
ordered it to stop dumping in the
sewers in 1947, however, according to
the EPA.
Although Radon gas was discovered
emanating from a hole in the basement
– which was later sealed with concrete
– tests came back with radioactive
readings below what would be
considered a threat, the EPA has said.
Should residents and workers in the
surrounding area be worried about
their well-being?
According to the state Department of
Health, the six parcels of land in a 10-
block section showed only 19 cases of
cancer from 2005 to 2010. The cancer
count was relatively low compared to
the sections which sit adjacent to the
Wolff -Alport site with each having 34,
26 and 27 cases within the same time
frame.
Demolition of the site’s buildings
was approved in March and a study
of off -site contamination will begin in
late summer, Rodriguez said.
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
RPOZARYCKI@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@ROBBPOZ
Plenty of high-rise apartment
buildings already line 63rd
Road in Rego Park, and a new
one may soon be ready to sprout.
The Department of Buildings
received plans on Aug. 7 for the
construction of a 21-story residential
building at 98-10 63rd Road (Block
2098, Lot 5), a vacant lot adjacent to
the now-shuttered Our Lady of the
Angelus Catholic Academy.
New York YIMBY reported that
Anthony Ng of Angelo Ng and Anthony
Ng Architect in Maspeth fi led the plans
on behalf of Chuang Heng Rego Park
LLC, a holding company connected to
developer Kenny Liu.
Department of Finance records
indicated that the Chuang Heng Rego
Park LLC purchased the lot from Our
Lady of the Angelus Church for $30
million in January 2019.
The lot at 98-10 63rd Road in Rego Park, adjacent to the now-closed Our
Lady of the Angelus Catholic Academy. Photo via Google Maps
The new apartment building
planned for the lot will include
261 dwelling units within a total
of 177,376 square feet; the average
apartment would measure about
676 square feet. The plans also call
for the creation of 19,024 square feet
of community space and 156 enclosed
parking spaces, located more than
likely underground.
Our Lady of the Angelus Catholic
Academy closed its doors in June 2018
aft er years of fi nancial turmoil and
declining enrollment.
Though the school property was
included in a development agreement
between the holding company and
Our Lady of the Angelus Church as
part of the January sale, it’s not clear
at this point if the project would
include demolition of the former
school. New York YIMBY reported
that demolition plans have not yet
been fi led.
of data breach
Rego Park to get 21-story tower
Photo: Wikipedia Commons/
Kevin.B
/WWW.QNS.COM
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