Toxic cover ups

Excellent article in the Miami New Times about the toxic chemicals in Coconut Grove parks and other areas. It seems that they recently found arsenic in a small patch of soil outside City Hall including petroleum residue, assumed to be there from the Pan Am days in the 1930s.

While the city plays it down, it's been shown that rates of pancreatic cancer in and around Coconut Grove are higher than they should be, possibly due to drinking water from private wells.

Old Smokey site today

As for all this artificial grass, the Astroturf we have been seeing lately, it seems that it is being used to cover up the messes. They are using it to "cap" the toxins. Blache Park has had the turf for quite a while now and an athletic field in Armbrister Park is being given over $200,000 as a gift of Astroturf by the builder of the controversial trolley garage in Village West, Astor Development.

Old Smokey, the old incinerator next to Armbrister Park in Village West was discovered to have all types of toxins. It tested positive for arsenic, lead, cadmium and a lot more toxins. It's been thought that the local government has known about this for years, yet daily, school kids, sports teams and all sorts of events take place in the park. I was recently at an event in that park.

University of Miami student Zach Lipshultz uncovered this innocently enough when he got involved in the trolley mess in Village West, one thing led to another and as it turns out, the contaminated areas all were exposed. Zach is part of the Village West's pro bono legal group fighting the Coral Gables trolley garage/maintenance facility in Coconut Grove's Village West.