Business owner fights mold

[Guest guest]

Business owner fights mold

Says store makes allergies worse

Times Herald-Record - Middletown,NY*

By Sullivan

Times Herald-Record

April 11, 2008

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articleAID=/20080411/COMM/8

04110375/-1/NEWS

Monroe — Even run-of-the-mill mold is dangerous to people with

certain conditions.

Just ask -Lu Pawlak, who said her asthma and allergies quickly

got worse within months of opening her family store, 3 G's Beauty

Center, at Gateway Plaza on Route 17M.

The businesswoman believes the mold growing within the walls and

heating vents of the mother-and-daughter business made her medical

condition worse, she said.

Pawlak said her landlord, AAA Management of Rockland County, ignored

her repeated requests over a year to fix roof leaks that caused the

mold.

Lab tests in early February confirmed the " unusual " presence

of " cladosporium " and " penicillium, " two of the most common forms of

mold, in Pawlak's store. In high concentrations, they can cause just

as many health risks as the more scary " black mold " that people talk

about, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention.

Pawlak's cry for help, however, met mostly with shoulder shrugs from

regulators.

Orange County Health Department officials told her it wasn't their

business and directed her to the Town of Monroe. Town Building

Inspector Bill Muente said mold should be a health-code problem.

A spokeswoman for the state Health Department said a task force is

looking into mold issues but that there are still no laws to deal

with offenders.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site said

there are no laws that determine just how much mold is too much.

The town has done all it can, Muente said. In February, the building

inspector cited the landlord for seven code violations, including a

leaky roof, wet and rusted electrical outlets, and water-damaged

floors, walls and ceilings. But the town can't force the landlord to

remove mold already existing in air ducts, walls and crevices of the

building, Muente said.

Pawlak said AAA Management is angry that she turned down a deal to

stay quiet about the mold in return for her $4,000 security deposit

back and a pass on the fine for violating her three-year lease

contract.

Aron Taub, a partner in AAA Management, said that Pawlak has failed

to pay her rent and other fees and has been using the mold problem

to get out of her lease without penalties.

He said he was trying to fix leaks in the building long before

Pawlak began complaining, and that he tried to investigate the mold,

but Pawlak stopped him.

Pawlak's daughter Deanna was skeptical the landlord would fix the

problems.

" This is going to let people know that they are going to get sick

from the mold, because he's (the landlord) not going to clean it

up, " she said.

jsullivan@...