Outraged parents claim that the construction of a new Memorial Sloan Kettering cancer treatment facility on the Upper East Side could expose young people to carcinogens and other toxic substances.
A 31-story cancer treatment facility planned for York Avenue between East 66th and 67th Streets in Manhattan’s Lenox Hill neighborhood has infuriated parents in recent weeks, with a Change.org petition arguing that demolition, which would include removing asbestos and lead paint, would put nearby schoolchildren at risk.
“The whole point of this petition is to ensure that an impartial third party is monitoring the situation and taking any necessary action,” Anat Rosenberg, co-founder of the grassroots organization behind the petition, told The Washington Post.
document Submitted by MSK over 20 years ago It said “there is the potential for adverse impacts” during construction due to “the presence of chemicals, radioactive materials, hazardous waste, oil storage tanks, asbestos-containing materials, PCB-containing materials and lead paint.”
“Construction activities may disturb hazardous materials and increase pathways of human exposure,” the document adds.
An MSK representative told The Washington Post that “most of the original buildings contain asbestos,” and that the cancer center, scheduled for completion in 2030, is following all state- and city-mandated procedures to ensure safety in and around the site.
Asbestos concerns are not uncommon in the neighborhood. August 1st: Steam pipe leak Upper East Side residents sheltered indoors and closed their windows on Park Avenue.
The coalition of parents behind the petition, Families Advocating for Child Thrive (FACT) of Lenox Hill, is calling on MSK to hire an environmental pediatrician to act as an independent advocate.
They also want to reduce the height of the pavilion to account for the shadows it would cast on PS 183 Robert L. Stevenson’s garden and the school’s southeast windows.
Rosenberg, 49, a mother of two at PS 183, said the school only formally notified parents about plans for the new center in April, and argued that with many families out of town for the summer, not all community voices are being heard.
FACT’s petition, which says the cancer treatment center did not give parents “sufficient assurances” when gathering community feedback about its plans, had 272 signatures as of Wednesday and aims to reach 500.
“Despite MSK claiming to be in constant communication with PS 183 administration, their first and last engagement with public parents was at the last PTA meeting of the year on June 14, 2024, which was poorly attended as usual,” Yasmina Caleo, a member of Lenox Hill FACT, told The Post.
“The meeting flippantly confirmed the presence of asbestos in a residential building scheduled for demolition to make way for the pavilion. Many parents in attendance felt caught off guard,” Caleo added.
Upper East Side residents spoke out near the demolition site Tuesday afternoon, voicing the same concerns as local parents about the dangers of toxic substances in the air.
“It’s ironic that they were so lame about asbestos and now they’re a cancer hospital,” said Alida Camp, 69, who lives on the Upper East Side.
“They’re world leaders in cancer research and it would be a good thing if the expansion leads to saving more lives, but I can’t help but worry that this will result in lives being lost,” added Linda Cho, 43. “I have three young children and they often develop cancer years after inhaling asbestos… I feel like I’ll need to be in self-isolation until the demolition is finished.”
MSK claims it has worked with the community for “years,” including attending local meetings, working with City Councilwoman Julie Mennin’s office and uploading all of the posts. Application documents posted on the website.
MSK said air quality monitoring is already in place using a third-party company that must be independent of all other companies involved in the project.
Plans for providing MSK’s air quality data to the public are still being coordinated with Menin’s office, even as asbestos removal work is scheduled to begin Monday, the cancer treatment center said.
“We simply will not accept putting our community at risk,” Mennin told the Post. “I have made it clear to MSK that non-negotiable measures must include 24/7 air quality monitoring with online public tracking, rigorous asbestos removal, sound barriers and other noise mitigation measures.”
Similar concerns were raised by Community Board 8 last summer, which asked MSK to coordinate with PS 183 to reduce noise and construction impacts as part of final arrangements. Task Force Resolution.
Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine’s office in June, among many other recommendations, recommended that MSK work with PS 183 to mitigate noise and study the impact of the tower’s shadow on the school.
Other concerns include traffic congestion, including “logistical issues with dropping off and picking up,” according to the petition, which MSK isn’t necessarily opposed to.
According to a May 2024 presentation provided by MSK, Environmental Impact Statement It found there would be “significant adverse impacts” in terms of shade, construction traffic and construction noise.
MSK continues to “consult community stakeholders to determine whether it is appropriate for an independent consultant to be involved in this project,” the spokesperson said.
MSK is also working with Mennin’s office on techniques that could reduce noise, such as using soundproofing material on equipment and moving rocks from the site to reduce noise, the spokesperson said.
Hazards at construction sites can also be reduced by washing all vehicles leaving the site, enforcing slow speed limits, and installing HVAC filters in adjacent buildings.
Three other civic groups, Friends of the Upper East Side, CIVITAS and Carnegie Hill Neighbors, have already rejected the MSK Pavilion plan, citing its size, The Washington Post previously reported.
Rosenberg said PS 183 will have to reexamine its fire drills and dispersal patterns because construction vehicles have already begun blocking parts of the road as a result of the pavilion construction project.
“What happens if the air quality is deemed poor? Will schools be closed?” Rosenberg asked. “There are no contingency plans for that. At this point, everyone is trying to assure us they’re working on it, but we’re three weeks away from school starting and we haven’t received any information.”
“It’s a lack of communication, a lack of transparency and really a lack of consideration for the families who live in this area who have their children in this school,” Rosenberg added.
MSK Pavilion
The current 336-unit housing unit at 1233 York Avenue, which once housed hospital staff and doctoral students, would be converted into 28 operating rooms and about 200 inpatient beds under the current proposal, and would be connected to the main hospital building via a skybridge.
During the period Task Force meeting last summerThe local community board has encouraged MSK to replace all of the housing that will be lost in the current tower, but MSK argues that dormitory-style housing has never been available to the public before.
According to the civic group Friends of the Upper East Side, demolition of the existing buildings is “expected to exacerbate the affordable housing crisis in the UES.”
To provide additional housing for staff in the coming years, MSK purchased the units in the Roosevelt Island building, cancer center officials said.
The city’s Planning Commission voted in June in favor of the major rezoning needed for the 900,000-square-foot site, the same day as the school’s fifth-grade graduation, Rosenberg said.
Prior to the Mayor’s review, a public meeting will be held on August 27 for New York City Council approval.
MSK says that with or without approval, the size of the proposed pavilion is important because it relates to what it needs to serve the community, especially given rising cancer rates among young people and ageing local residents, and that the tower’s controversial height is significant.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicts that by 2050 Number of cancer cases in the United States each year That’s nearly double, MSK noted.
