Lincoln Park Residents Fed Up: Mold, dampness cause problems

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Lincoln Park Residents Fed Up: Mold, dampness cause problems

By Amy Renczkowski

Published on 7/29/2005

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Fifty-four-year-old Getty already had health problems when she

moved into the state-subsidized Lincoln Park Senior Community two

years ago. But Getty and her doctor say mold and moisture problems

at the low-income/elderly-housing complex have made her health much

worse.

" I'm saying this from my heart that we have to do something... save

people's lives, " Getty said to residents and Preston Housing

Authority members at a Housing Authority meeting last week at the

Lincoln Park Community Center.

She wasn't the only one to speak up about the problems facing the 50

to 60 tenants at Lincoln Park, which was built in 1978.

" I think this is a very serious problem that should be addressed one

way or another, " said Powers, an advocate for the residents who

has been tenant commissioner this past year.

" We have elderly people here that have no circulation. It's our job

to make the living here as comfortable as possible. "

Powers said the moisture and mold problems can be traced to poor

construction at the housing complex. The apartment's asbestos-tile

floors were built over gravel with only a piece of plastic providing

a vapor shield, resulting in constant moisture problems, Powers

said. The floors stay damp because of a lack of ventilation, he

added.

Getty, a former storyteller, has dealt with the problem by creating

a canopy of blankets over and on top of her bed. Still, the sheets

and blankets become so moist in the summer that she recently began

placing a deflated beach float on top of her blankets, and lies on

that to avoid the dampness.

" There are several apartments with floor and mold problems, " Powers

told the commissioners. " If you keep letting this go on, we're going

to get into structural damage. "

Powers suggested buying ceiling fans for each of the ground-floor

apartments to help alleviate the problems. Out of 40 units at

Lincoln Park, only six of them have fans installed.

" Fans would alleviate a great part of that problem (the mold). It's

not going to go away; it's going to get worse, " Powers said.

Money, he said, could come out of a $20,000 account set aside by the

commission to help pay for maintenance costs.

Commissioners, however, were concerned about the costs of

alleviating the problem.

" Once (the money is) gone, you can't get it back, " said Lou

Jensen, secretary/treasurer of Preston Board of Housing.

Goss, temporary vice chairman of the Housing Authority, said

the only way it would be able to replace the money would be to raise

rent.

" We're supposed to protect these people, " Goss said. " If we spend

all the money, where are these people going to go? "

Powers criticized the board for " running from the problem. " He made

a motion to put two fans in each apartment, but it was not seconded.

Powers and board members addressed another issue, the renovation of

apartments. Previously the Housing Authority agreed to renovate

apartments when tenants moved out.

" We've had people who have been here for years and years, and

nothing has been done, " Powers said. " This seems very wrong to me. "

He suggested relying on seniority when choosing to renovate the

apartments.

" Let us try to do the right thing... give them an option to move out

(into the renovated apartments) -- at least they'd be given the

opportunity, " Powers said.

However, Goss said he saw this as a domino effect and said the board

doesn't have the money to refurbish them all.

" You're making a big mistake here; I'm just waiting for a disaster

to happen, " Powers said.

The disaster, Getty said, has been living at Lincoln Park.

" The pain gets worse every day, " she said.

Her doctor, Dr. E. of Sound Medical Associates at East

Lyme, has seen Getty for five years.

" I believe her living conditions are exacerbating her underlying

health problems, " wrote in a memo.

Other residents are less concerned with their health than with the

living conditions at Lincoln Park.

" Getting into a bed that feels like a washcloth isn't right, " said

Margo , 60, a resident for five years.

has her own method of preventing moisture on the floors and

mold problems. She operates four fans in her apartment -- the stove

fan and one fan in the bedroom hallway, living room and bathroom.

" I have high electric bills because of operating all the fans, "

said. " The floor sweats; it comes right up and makes puddles. "

" If I put a newspaper on the floor for one day, it'll be damp all

the way through (by the end of the day). I haven't pulled out the

rug because I'm afraid of what is underneath, " added.

questioned the distribution of the grant money for the

projects being done at Lincoln Park. She asked board members why

they didn't deal with fixing the major problems first in the

complex, such as the floors. Instead, the board is going ahead with

a nearly $400,000 project to replace siding and install patios.

" Someone isn't asking for the right thing, " said resident Ralph

Larubini.

" If you're going to fix anything... the cabinets, the outside

fixtures... fix the floors in this place, " Getty added.

Getty also said that with her neighbor next door, a smoker, she

smells the cigarette smoke coming through the baseboard in her

apartment. She put plastic over it and the maintenance department

also put plastic over the vents.

" That's an unhealthy situation in itself, " Getty said.

In a separate interview, First Selectman Condon said he'd

suggest that residents ventilate their apartments properly and not

tape up their vents.

" Residents can help themselves by ventilating their apartments to

address the dampness. "

Condon said Lincoln Park is not under the town's budget; its source

of money is through grants and rent.

" We're not forcing anyone to live there, " Condon said. " There's

always people who complain or think you're not doing a good enough

job or something fast enough... But we've done major work and

upgrades (at the complex). Since about nine years ago (when problems

arose) we've invested $750,000 in grant money. "

Though the Housing Authority didn't authorize funding to pay for the

moisture problems, it did ask resident services coordinator Fran

Minor to check into the possibility of securing a grant for to pay

for corrective action.

Reached after the meeting, Carol Onderdonk, executive director of

Preston Housing Authority, said she did not wish to comment

regarding to problems at Lincoln Park. After several attempts, Minor

also was not available to address the housing situation.

Getty is currently waitlisted at Paradise Agency in Colchester and

Avery Heights in Groton. Each has a waitlist ranging from two to 10

years, according to Getty.

" My biggest concern is how I will be if I continue to live here

without anyone helping me, " Getty said. " It's scary. "