9/11 awoke the world to the harm caused by toxic air pollution releases caused by the demolition of buildings, as the disintegration of the World Trade Center buildings "shot pulverized asbestos, lead, concrete, glass, and other debris into the air throughout lower Manhattan". Since 9/11, the city of Cleveland has enhanced its demolition policy to require watering down buildings being demolished, to prevent the spread of hazardous particulate matter like lead dust into the air... at least that is my understanding from discussions of the Greater Cleveland Lead Advisory Council.

As I now live in an area of Northeast Ohio being substantially demolished - ground zero from George Bush's economic terrorism against urban Americans - the bulldozers have surrounded my home and are pulverizing the neighborhood at a feverish pitch, reimagining Cleveland into a toxic landfill, and I now wonder how formal is demolition policy in Northeast Ohio - is it applied well, and is it enforced, how, and by who?

Today I saw the mid-demo remnants of a house being pulverized on the block behind my home, above, and while the site seems to have been hosed down somewhat during the demolition the site clearing has made a mess of the neighborhood and the site remains largely dry, unsecured and a powderkeg of poison blowing in the wind tonight... with senior citizens and children playing and digging in the rubble for scrap, when I was there around 6PM. A quick survey of the wreckage leads me to doubt there was sufficient precaution during the demolition to prevent significant particulate matter from escaping into the environment and so into my children's lungs. I base this assumption on simple observation of the wreckage and debris strewn throughout the area, discussions with neighbors who observed the demolition and haul-away, and my understanding of particulate matter.

Seeing the bulldozers in action a few 100 yards away from my kids, I am now concerned how well this is being regulated by the cities, the county and the EPA, as their effectiveness today and tomorrow will impact my children's health forever. I do not trust our leadership to protect citizens from environmental hazards, so I am preparing for the worst. My sense is this pollution source is being treated like deep sea oil rigs, pre-Deepwater.

I suspect they may demo a house or two on my street... one in particular two doors down that the local government has neglected for years, making it into a significant hazard for the community. Unfortunately, knowing these old houses and commercial structures being demolished are full of hazardous substances - 100+ years of lead paint, asbestos and God knows what other toxins - I am very concerned they should be treated as toxic waste sites as they are demolished, but they are not.

In a rush to bury and destroy the evidence of 100 years of environmental injustice here, as quickly as possible, our government agents are using our Federal redevelopment money to bulldoze our neighborhoods and I am certain making them more toxic and further harming surrounding citizens in the process. I intend to investigate the precautions being taken to make certain the emissions from demolitions are not harming the surrounding population... in my neighborhood, including children playing on the sidewalks and even exploring mid-demo sites during the process. I believe just my one photo above shows the process is potentially harmful to citizens.

Something similar but on a larger scale is going down further downtown on Carnegie Avenue, on the Cleveland Clinic campus, as the Cleveland Clinic is demolishing and clearing a site of yet another historic medical office building. I noticed they did have a hose on the demolition site yesterday, as they were tearing the building down (I only saw one hose for a massive structure and mess), but I did not see them watering down the site today and it seemed dry and dusty as they hauled off debris, which created clouds of particulate matter blowing into the sky, which may have caused quite a hazard for those driving by and living in the area. What is in that debris....?

Have any realNEO readers observed demolitions in the region over the past few years and noted whether the sites were well contained, and the debris was kept dust-free and removed without adding pollution to the air, water and soil in the immediate area and beyond. How much pollution is caused by each demo, and so how much pollution is created each year through the region's overall reimagining initiatives?

How was Frank Giglio's house demolished - was the site at least watered down well to protect the rest of the public, or did it shoot pulverized asbestos, lead, concrete, glass, and other debris into the air throughout Tremont?