East Chicago residents near Superfund site want testing

EAST CHICAGO, Ind. (AP) - Residents of an East Chicago public housing building near a lead- and arsenic-polluted Superfund site said they have tested positive for lead and want the entire building tested.

Sherlene Lowe, who lives at the John B. Nicosia Senior Building, said she and other residents of the East Chicago Housing Authority's high-rise building have tested positive for lead, the (Northwest Indiana) Times (http://bit.ly/2gynRrq ) reported. The building is northwest of the Superfund site.

"We have seniors. We have people who are handicapped. We need someone to come in here and get everyone tested," said Lowe, president of the building's Resident Council.

Lowe asked the City Council last week to pay attention to the Nicosia building. City Attorney Carla Morgan said the health department will consider on-site testing, and the housing authority's attorney said the agency has requested historical testing data from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Local, state and federal officials have focused for the last several months on the West Calumet Housing Complex, along with Carrie Gosch Elementary School and sections of the city east of the housing complex.

Clifford Rainer, vice president of the building's Resident Council, believes the needs of seniors at his building were put aside once news emerged of the high levels of toxins at West Calumet.

"We have been complaining about the living conditions here long before West Calumet," Rainer said. "Now I feel we were put on the back burner."

In March, the city's building commissioner deemed the high-rise unsafe and a serious health and fire hazard. He ordered that the building be demolished or repaired. In May, the housing authority announced its intent to eventually demolish the building.

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Information from: The Times, http://www.nwitimes.com