Love Canal revisited 40 years later
It was the summer of 1978 and he happened to be in a place that overnight had gained notoriety for an environmental disaster.
When she asked where he was -- on his sales trip -- the static in the line interfered.
After repeating '
That horrific nightmare in the LaSalle neighborhood had surfaced only a few weeks before on
Suddenly the phone line became clearer and the woman knew exactly where her husband was.
"It's on the front page of our paper this morning," she said, referring to the
While the
It was in the late 1970s, when the
LOVE'S DREAM
Closer to home, the neighborhood here took its name from
The initial announcement of Love's project -- better known in earlier days as "Modeltown" -- was under a real estate listing in the
Love pressured
In
No question, Love predicted, that
With the canal plan eventually abandoned, there wasn't much use for the open waterway although some local residents quickly looked at it as a swimming hole. Subsequently, the
That deal included a proviso that, in retrospect, was crucial: The board was required to sign a document that it would not hold Hooker responsible for any of the chemicals buried at the site. Despite an additional warning that the property should not be used for any new construction, the board proceeded to build a school directly on the landfill area and to sell adjacent lots for real estate development.
It should be noted that the negotiations that culminated in Hooker's transfer of the
As an example of how advanced was the planning, the board's documents included a map dated 1951 and labeled, "School Site Study, Plan A." It not only revealed the proposed school being constructed atop the center of the canal, but it also showed the assessed condemnation values for the canal property and each of the properties bordering it. In addition, there were two letters from the school board attorney in the fall of 1952, informing the board's business manager that the process was underway to buy four lots abutting the canal.
SHATTERED DREAMS
Before long, hundreds of families were investing their savings to build new homes in that area. Prospective buyers were convinced they were at the edge of realizing a dream, having a nice home in safe surroundings for their children and a school within walking distance.
Those dreams were shattered on
A
In the end, his reporting was nominated for three categories of the Pulitzer Prize and drew a special award from the
A number of activists addressed congressional committees in the winter and spring of 1979. Among those testifying was
"I'm a wife and a mother. I also live close to a dump called
Another
People often ask if other
The company's many warnings were repeatedly ignored by the governmental bodies involved in "desecrating a chemical tomb." In retrospect, others who must share the blame: the
CONTINUING STORY
Legal issues surrounding
Neighborhood streets north and west of the landfill were refurbished following a
Beginning in 1990, about 260 homes were given new vinyl siding, roofs and windows and resold at prices 20 percent below market value. The neighborhood was renamed
Residents began filing lawsuits in 2013, claiming they are being sickened by the same buried chemicals from the disaster in the neighborhood in the 1970s.
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(c)2018 the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal (Lockport, N.Y.)
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