N.O., SCHOOL BOARD SUED FOR BUILDING ON LANDFILL
Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA) - April 12, 1994

Author/Byline: MARK SCHLEIFSTEIN Staff writer
Section: METRO
Page: B4
A group of 9th Ward residents have filed a class-action lawsuit against the city of New Orleans, the New Orleans School Board and two
unnamed construction companies for damages they claim resulted from building their homes on top of the old Agriculture Street Landfill.
The suit, filed Friday by residents of the Gordon Plaza and Press Park neighborhoods, says the city and School Board were aware that
the site was contaminated by hazardous materials when they allowed construction of homes for low- and moderate-income families and
the Moton Elementary School on the site.
The landfill was used by the city from the early 1900s until the 1970s for disposal of garbage and other materials. After the landfill was
closed, houses and apartment buildings were built on the property.
The entire 190-acre site is being investigated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. EPA officials have said they believe there's
a good chance the area will be added to the national Superfund site list, which will qualify it for federal cleanup funds.
EPA tests in 1986 and again in 1993 showed the site is contaminated by lead and at least 11 toxic chemical compounds. In February,
EPA officials warned several homeowners to make sure their children wash their hands every time they play in their yards to avoid lead
poisoning.
Blood tests for several children in the area have shown higher than normal levels of lead.
Suzette Peychaud Bagneris, an attorney representing the residents, said several have complained of illnesses ranging from lead
poisoning, rashes and vomiting to seizures and cancer.
Residents hope to get the city to provide medical services and clean up the site. Many of the residents are too poor to afford medical tests
to determine the cause of their illnesses, she said.
Bagneris said School Board records show that at least one engineering firm indicated the landfill site might be unfit for a public school,
and that the board hired three more engineering firms before finding one that would recommend building the school if the site were first
covered with 18 inches of clean sand.
The city hired unnamed construction firms to excavate 18 inches of soil and replace it with 18 inches of clean river sand on the sites the
houses and apartment buildings would be located, according to the lawsuit filed in Orleans Parish Civil District Court.
But the construction firms "either failed to take the preventive measures or inadequately undertook this task, thereby exposing the harmful
soil contaminants to the public," the suit says.
Ike Spears, an attorney representing the city in the case, said he couldn't comment on the lawsuit until he had time to study it. However,
he said the city got an attorney representing other residents in the area to drop a similar lawsuit last week.
Ken Ducote, director of facilities planning for the School Board, said he believes the board will be exonerated or dropped from the suit
because several EPA soil tests have shown the school site to be free of contamination.
Record: 9404120014
Copyright: Copyright, 1994, The Times-Picayune Publishing Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Used by NewsBank with Permission.