MILWAUKEE — Residents of the Community within the Corridor apartments said they were left with more questions than answers following a meeting with the developers, Roers Companies, LLC and Scott Crawford, Inc, and officials from state and local agencies.
The apartments were evacuated on Saturday due to high levels of Trichloroethylene, or TCE, a cancer-causing chemical.
Media wasn't allowed at that meeting, but residents of the apartments called the Tuesday night meeting unproductive. They said their concerns were not addressed, and one woman called the developer's presentation "garbage."
Before the meeting even began, residents expressed frustration.
Christa Bishop was heading into the meet with her three kids, ages 12, 10, and one. She called the situation "shocking." She's been living at the apartment building since December.
"My main concern is where are all my neighbors going to go? Where's me and my kids going to go?" Bishop questioned before the meeting.
She wants to know why people were even able to move in to begin with. She said people had been moving into the building as late as Friday.
"There's a lot of people there that have children. If this is something that is so toxic, why would y'all risk putting families' health at danger for money?" she said.
Christa said that she herself has health problems along with her one-year-old child.
The apartment building sits on a former Briggs and Stratton industrial site.
In a press conference on Tuesday, about an hour and a half before the meeting for residents, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said it was aware of the contamination long before development began and recommended no one live there until mitigation measures were proven effective.
"The DNR has not had to work with this type of situation previously in that our recommendations are typically implemented by the party responsible for the contamination," said DNR representative Christine Seager.
Seager said the DNR just found out last week that people were living at the apartments.
On the flip side, the Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS), which is responsible for approving occupancy, said it was not aware of any hazard at the building.
"The department was asked to approve temporary occupancy certificates back in July of last year. At that time, the department was unaware of any of the ongoing investigations or levels of any potential hazards within the building," said Erica Roberts with DNS.
It's unclear why the two departments weren't in communication with each other and why the developers of the Community within the Corridor went against the DNR's recommendation.
Although the building developers did show up to the meeting for the residents, they didn't show up to the press conference where they were expected to answer questions from reporters.
One thing is for sure, this situation has uprooted dozens of families lives.
Families have been put up in hotels, but Bishop described their current living situation as hectic.
"With them putting us way on the south side, a lot of people don't have transportation. My kids' school is on the north side closer to where we live. So, it's been very, very hectic,' Bishop said.
When asked if she'd feel safe returning to her apartment, Bishop said, "No, I don't. I don't feel safe at all, especially with my health conditions and my one-year-old's health conditions."
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