Re: Re: Credentials for finding air quality problems

[Guest guest]

It would be good if you could both get a flat rate and also (somehow) be

there to make sure that they actually do the containment well.

I think smaller companies might not be so good on this because no matter how

flat the rate is supposed to be, if a job ends up taking longer than they

had anticipated they might end up rushing to finish it and for someone who

is sick that could lead to disaster.

, I am sorry if you thought I was referring to you, I was just trying

to make the point that any professional who comes to a house is going to

want to make at least several hundred dollars a day just to pay their

expenses and for someone who is sick and often unemployed making

committments to pay open ended amounts of money is not just stupid, its

often money they don't have.

Barb, it sounds as if you have more income than I do right now. I was just

trying to help you by trying to put myself in your position. I am sorry to

hear about your experience with lead paint. I had not realized it a few

years ago but it seems as if these hazards are all around us and nobody is

in a position it seems to simply say 'lets clean them up and get them out of

here' because often the solution' provided' is worse than the thing it is

supposed to cure.

Thats why people like myself who have been poor at one time or another have

a very ingrained distrust of those who would push them into changes of any

kind too quickly. Changes often don't work out the way they are represented

as working at all.

For example, I was just reading an article about how a lot of employed but

working class people in San Francisco are being forced out of their rented

homes but because they got on a list five years ago or worked for the city

as a teacher or policeperson or some other important job they were able to

get into some of the newer condominium buildings as sort of charity cases (a

certain amount of apartments are reserved for 'below market rate' people as

part of the deal a developer often makes so they can tear down a poor

neighborhood.)

Anyway, the martgages are borderline affordable, often only 1 1/2 to 2 times

what the people might have been paying in rent before they were forced out

for gentrification. But while say, $2200 a month might not be much to a

young urban professional making a six figure income, the teacher who makes

$55,000 a year is really steretched to pay that much for housing. Its more

than half of their take home pay.

So they are already stretching it to pay that much and often some hiccough

in their income happens and they lose their apartment and they don't get a

second shot at it so they become homeless - even though they have a 'good'

job, they can't find a place to live they can afford.

I was just assuming that Barb might be in a position like that like so many

people.. and so I was trying to think ahead as to what might go wrong with

the best laid plans of mice and men.