Breaking News: Federal Agency Supports Health Findings on Low Risk at Hunters Point Shipyard

A new report from a federal agency supports recent findings by state and local public health professionals that grading operations at a construction site pose no significant long-term health threats to residents in San Francisco’s Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood.

Federal regulators also concluded in their report issued yesterday that medical testing of residents is unwarranted. The report was issued by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a division of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and included substantial input from the California Department of Health.

“…exposure to the levels of asbestos measured around this excavation was estimated to have risks that, on a personal level, would be considered low,” the report concluded.

ATSDR recognized that the San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH) and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) “have taken many steps to protect the public” in regulating construction at the construction site.

Extensive analysis has been conducted by the San Francisco and California Departments of Health, the BAAQMD, an independent environmental consulting firm and Dr. John Balmes, Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco and one of the nation’s foremost physicians studying air-borne pollutants. All of these public health professionals have concluded that the long-term health risks posed to local residents from exposure to naturally occurring asbestos in dust is low.

“I agree with DPH that it is highly unlikely that exposure to naturally occurring asbestos from grading operations at Parcel A will create a significant risk to human health in the community,” Dr. Balmes concluded in a separate analysis he recently submitted to community leaders.



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Homebuyers Workshop...Get Excited!

Get on track to owning your own home today by attending tonight’s free Lennar Homebuyers Assistance workshop from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the
Lennar Trailer located at Donahue and Hudson Avenunes on the Hunters Point Shipyard.

This is a homeownership opportunity that you don’t want to miss. At the workshop you will receive information on homeownership opportunities and first-time homebuyer financing programs, as well as to get in touch with organizations that offer one-on-one homebuyer counseling services. Workshop participants will also receive a free credit report, a first step to qualifying for homeownership.

The workshop will review both market-rate opportunities and will provide a summary on the Limited Equity program, which is the affordable housing component for the sale of the homes on the Shipyard. Approximately 30 percent of homes will be affordable to low-income families.

REMEMBER, if you are a San Francisco Redevelopment Agency Residential Certificate of Preference holder, you have top priority in the sale of the new homes at the Hunters Point Shipyard. Certificates of Preference were awarded to households previously displaced by Redevelopment Activity in Hunters Point and Western Addition in the past. If you think you are entitled to the Certificate, please call (415) 749-2432 or visit http://www.sfraaffordablehousing.org/

We look forward to seeing you at our workshop!

The Doctor is In

On Monday, Dr. John Balmes, Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, appeared before the Bayview-Hunters Point Citizens Advisory Committee to discuss his role in evaluating conditions at Hunters Point Shipyard.

Dr. Balmes is chief of Occupation and Environmental Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital where he frequently treats members of the Bayview-Hunters Point community. He is widely acknowledged as an expert in the field of environmental causes of respiratory illness.

Dr. Balmes has conducted a review of air monitoring data at the Shipyard at the request of community members and ministers. His time and expenses are being paid for by Lennar but he reports directly to the community and his findings are fully independent.

After careful study and a tour of the Shipyard, Dr. Balmes has concluded that naturally occurring asbestos found at the site poses no “significant long-term health risk to the community.” Furthermore, Dr. Balmes concluded that health concerns reported by some residents “predate construction and involve symptoms that are not associated with exposure to naturally occurring asbestos.”

Dr. Balmes independent findings are consistent with determinations made by the San Francisco Department of Public Health as well as state and federal officials. We believe they are further proof that Lennar’s construction of a new, vibrant neighborhood is a positive development that can only serve to improve residents’ quality of life.

49ers Faithful? – Only if the Team Stays in San Francisco

This year’s San Francisco Chamber of Commerce annual football booster luncheon lived up to the advance hype thanks to Sen. Diane Feinstein who led the charge to keep the San Francisco 49ers playing in the City by the Bay.

“Where do you want the 49ers to continue to play?” asked the senior senator from California of the sold-out crowd “San Francisco!” the audience roared back. Twice.

While a spokeswoman for the team talked about the supposed appeal of Santa Clara as a site for a new 49ers stadium, Feinstein was having none of it

“NFL teams belong in big cities,” the senator declared. “That’s why it is so hard for me to imagine the team anywhere but San Francisco.”

Lennar stands ready to make a new stadium a reality, working with San Francisco city officials to develop a new site near Hunters Point Shipyard. We hope the 49ers will stay in the city where they have made so many great memories. But with or without the team, Lennar’s redevelopment in Bayview-Hunters Point will include a sports venue and numerous other recreational facilities.