DATE: Thursday, May 29, 1997                TAG: 9705290407

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   62 lines

APARTMENT RESIDENTS WARY OF RETURNING TO AREA OF EPA CLEANUP

Residents of the Washington Park public housing neighborhood are not happy about going home this week.

The residents were moved out of their apartments a month ago during the first stage of a Superfund cleanup of the old Abex factory site.

Now the residents are ``running scared'' after learning that five of the 25 vacated units showed ``elevated levels'' of lead, Helen Person said Wednesday.

Person is a longtime resident who frequently speaks to City Council members about the neighborhood dealings with the Environmental Protection Agency, which is responsible for the removal of lead and other contaminants in the area.

The vacated units are adjacent to the factory site that was razed and cleaned over the past four weeks. All of the vacant apartments and houses were tested for lead, and the five with elevated levels were cleaned, said Lisa Brown of the EPA's community involvement team.

Only three of those with problems were Washington Park apartments. The other two were private residences, EPA toxicologist Nancy Rios Jafolla said.

The residents will return to their apartments today and Friday from a motel and an apartment building in Olde Towne.

Sabrina Vinson, mother of four children, said she mistrusts the EPA claim that the apartments are ``clean.''

``They said they tested on May 14,'' she said. ``That's too long ago.''

Vinson said she had requested a videotape of the cleanup but had not received an answer.

``They're not treating us right,'' Chvonne Richardson told City Council Tuesday night. ``Parents with children fear returning to their homes. They need assurance that it is safe.''

While residents claimed they have been unable to get information, Brown said each person has access to written information and that written updates on the project have been mailed to every resident on a weekly basis.

The on-site community information trailer has been open on a regularly advertised schedule and closed only for the Memorial Day holiday Monday.

``We are letting them know the levels in their homes and explaining the process for cleaning to each of them,'' Brown said. ``We're also distributing information. Lead-testing for children and adults is available free at the city's public health department.''

The presence of the elevated levels in any unit was enough to rekindle the efforts of some Washington Park residents to get new homes.

``If five of those 25 units were contaminated, how many are there in 160 units?'' asked Person, who has been a spokeswoman for her fellow residents throughout the EPA cleanup. ``It's time the City Council, EPA and everybody else banded together and got us out of here. All we need is permanent relocation.''

Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority has offered to move any resident of Washington Park to another housing park; however, PRHA Director Danny Cruse said only one person had taken the offer.

As for razing Washington Park, that seems highly unlikely since the EPA has said the apartments will be as clean as any in town when the operation is complete. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

TO LEARN MORE

Residents of Washington Park can get written information about lead

tests of their apartments by calling Lisa Brown at 393-7807.

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