fixBuffalo

Sweet Kleen(ed) - FollowUp...

In May, I first wrote this piece about a recently announced toxic hot-spot being cleaned up here on the city's east-side. I showed a few spots where some middle school kids were still accessing the site despite the EPA warnings. The property is known as 764 Kennsington Avenue (check the cool google satellite map).

I sited a Buffalo News article announcing the clean-up.

While this is a very good thing and the EPA has been doing fantastic work here in WNY with Superfund dollars, Buffalo News staff reporter John F. Bonfatti failed to mention that the current owner of the property is, yes...brace yourself...the City of Buffalo! Here's the official property description. There was no mention in Bonfatti's article of the environmental hazards and levels of contamination. Another example of loserville journalism.

Well I had the opportunity to check out the former business known as Sweet Kleen and the $600,000 tax payer demolition of the site. The "deco" looking facade is pretty much all that remains of the complex. The buiding to the right of the main entrance is down and the buildings toward the rear have been demolished.

click to enlarge

Kids still sneak in through the "properly secured" fencing on the site. I mean, I was wondering too, what might be in those white barrels. The Buffalo News mentioned something about theommon dry-cleaning solvent tetrachloroethylene. Wonder if a "Hickory Woods" style tax-payer subsidized housing complex will appear on the site sometime soon?

Related Post: Sweet Kleen(ed) 5/13/05

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