Living with Wedgewood's legacy
- November 21, 2014
- / Shannon Nickinson
- / community-dashboard
Myra Lightner’s house is no longer a home.
Lightner can’t live in her house on Longleaf Drive because it is next to a pit.
The proximity of the pit devalued her property; the sores in her mouth, the breathing problems and the skin rashes prompted her doctor to tell her to move, she says.
“What kind of plan did they have in place when they dug that hole?” Lightner said. “They’re going to have to do something about my home. They pushed me out of my home and I want it back.”
Lightner and others who live in and near the Wedgewood area have complained for years about the concerns about the health, safety and well-being of their neighborhood. This summer, someone finally listened.
In August, Escambia County commissioners approved a moratorium on permits to operate borrow pits, land-clearing debris pits and construction and demolition debris pits. The rules the county is considering are something few other counties in the state regulate.
[sidebar]
State leaders will talk pits on Nov. 24
A meeting is planned at 10 a.m. on Nov. 24, including Escambia County Commissioners, State Rep. Mike Hill, City of Pensacola officials and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection regarding the Wedgewood area borrow pits, mines and construction and demolition (C&D) disposal facilities.
This public meeting will take place at 221 Palafox Place, Pensacola, in the Escambia County Commission Chambers located on the first floor.
Watch it live on MyEscambia.com/ectv, channel 98 for Bright House, Cox Cable and Mediacom (Pensacola Beach) subscribers and channel 99 for AT&T U-verse subscribers and are available on ECTV On Demand.
[/sidebar]
For many in Wedgewood, it is a change that is decades in the making. And it can’t come soon enough.
“It’s no use for me to keep going on about what the pits do to our health and our property values,” Wedgewood resident Wanda Shakur said at the Aug. 21 commission meeting. “The majority of my community is 70, 80 and 90 years old. They cannot speak for themselves because they are sick. The majority are veterans as far back as World War II.
“They cannot have gardens because of fears about contamination in the soil,” she said. “They cannot watch their grandchildren play.”
HARD DATA
Since the moratorium, county staff has been gathering data to create new rules to govern landfills and debris pits.
“We are trying to put together a menu to take to board in coming months,” says County Administrator Jack Brown. “It looks simple on the surface. It leads to other areas that need to be discussed.”
[caption id="attachment_10875" align="alignright" width="300"]
Myra Lightner looks over the pit behind her home off Longleaf Drive in Pensacola. (Michael Spooneybarger/ Pensacola Today)[/caption]
Escambia Commission Chairman Lumon May said at a Nov. 13 meeting he wants to see progress made on this issue.
“Our own staff has brought us data we can now hold up,” May said. “We have a responsibility as elected officials for the health of our citizens.”
The data May referred to came from Keith Wilkins, director of environmental services.
The county installed a permanent air-monitoring unit at the Wedgewood Community Center, a stone’s throw from the Rolling Hills C&D facility, which has drawn residents’ complaints and the scrutiny of the Department of Environmental Protection.
Air quality data from that unit for the last three months confirm the presence of hydrogen sulfide in the air near the center.
Of the 2,725 samples taken at Wedgewood Community Center, 58 percent showed at least one sample that exceeded the threshold for intermediate exposure to hydrogen sulfide gas.
The gas, which smells like rotten eggs, is a byproduct of decomposition. But decomposing drywall throws it off more. The gas exacerbates symptoms for people with respiratory problems. And over time, people can lose the ability to smell it at lower levels, potentially increasing their exposure before they notice it.
“There is a continuing, low-level exposure going on there,” said Wilkins.
View Wilkins presentation here.
Slow progress
Commissioner Grover Robinson says the moratorium is a chance to hit the pause button and create a better roadmap for such permits in the future.
It is his hope that the new regulations that come from this process will put Escambia County’s guidelines for such facilities “among the most progressive, articulate (ordinances) in the state in terms of this kind of monitoring.”
The progress is coming, but it is coming “at a snail’s pace” for folks like Gloria Horning, who is working with the Wedgewood community in its fight against the history of neglect that allowed such facilities to multiply near homes and schools.
At the meeting where the moratorium was considered, Horning called the legacy of public health issues the pits have brought to Wedgewood was “our Ferguson. You may not be shooting these people in the head, but you are systematically killing them.”
At several public meetings, residents of the neighborhood and their allies have taken to the microphone to express their frustration, their concerns about the safety of the soil, air and water in their neighborhood and the lasting impact on their health — and the health of their children and grandchildren.
They often show up in orange T-shirts to stand up for their neighborhood.
When they speak, as Judy Cook, who lives on Pinestead Road did in August, years of frustration, anger and fear bubble over in their voices.
“I stand before you and ask again what are you going to do? We can’t breathe. We can’t sleep at night. Who is going to fix that; it needs to be fixed,” Cook said. “Cancer is roaming the neighborhood and you cannot tell me that the God I serve is letting that go on. That He is causing that sickness. There is something in there that’s toxic. You are killing us … Don’t open another pit in my neighborhood.”
In July, county officials hosted a fact-finding tour of the neighborhood. Watch the video here.
[youtube id="bil-XDakKUA"]
Horning says a resident of the Marcus Point neighborhood has been in touch with her, reporting that the hydrogen sulfide smell has been near her home for two months.
She had a plumber come out a few times but found nothing wrong, Horning said. “Then she started smelling it on their children’s clothes.
“If (the state) is not going to be responsive, (the county commission) are the next government body to go to.”
Myra Lightner looks over the pit behind her home off Longleaf Drive in Pensacola. (Michael Spooneybarger/ Pensacola Today)[/caption]
Escambia Commission Chairman Lumon May said at a Nov. 13 meeting he wants to see progress made on this issue.
“Our own staff has brought us data we can now hold up,” May said. “We have a responsibility as elected officials for the health of our citizens.”
The data May referred to came from Keith Wilkins, director of environmental services.
The county installed a permanent air-monitoring unit at the Wedgewood Community Center, a stone’s throw from the Rolling Hills C&D facility, which has drawn residents’ complaints and the scrutiny of the Department of Environmental Protection.
Air quality data from that unit for the last three months confirm the presence of hydrogen sulfide in the air near the center.
Of the 2,725 samples taken at Wedgewood Community Center, 58 percent showed at least one sample that exceeded the threshold for intermediate exposure to hydrogen sulfide gas.
The gas, which smells like rotten eggs, is a byproduct of decomposition. But decomposing drywall throws it off more. The gas exacerbates symptoms for people with respiratory problems. And over time, people can lose the ability to smell it at lower levels, potentially increasing their exposure before they notice it.
“There is a continuing, low-level exposure going on there,” said Wilkins.
View Wilkins presentation here.
Slow progress
Commissioner Grover Robinson says the moratorium is a chance to hit the pause button and create a better roadmap for such permits in the future.
It is his hope that the new regulations that come from this process will put Escambia County’s guidelines for such facilities “among the most progressive, articulate (ordinances) in the state in terms of this kind of monitoring.”
The progress is coming, but it is coming “at a snail’s pace” for folks like Gloria Horning, who is working with the Wedgewood community in its fight against the history of neglect that allowed such facilities to multiply near homes and schools.
At the meeting where the moratorium was considered, Horning called the legacy of public health issues the pits have brought to Wedgewood was “our Ferguson. You may not be shooting these people in the head, but you are systematically killing them.”
At several public meetings, residents of the neighborhood and their allies have taken to the microphone to express their frustration, their concerns about the safety of the soil, air and water in their neighborhood and the lasting impact on their health — and the health of their children and grandchildren.
They often show up in orange T-shirts to stand up for their neighborhood.
When they speak, as Judy Cook, who lives on Pinestead Road did in August, years of frustration, anger and fear bubble over in their voices.
“I stand before you and ask again what are you going to do? We can’t breathe. We can’t sleep at night. Who is going to fix that; it needs to be fixed,” Cook said. “Cancer is roaming the neighborhood and you cannot tell me that the God I serve is letting that go on. That He is causing that sickness. There is something in there that’s toxic. You are killing us … Don’t open another pit in my neighborhood.”
In July, county officials hosted a fact-finding tour of the neighborhood. Watch the video here.
[youtube id="bil-XDakKUA"]
Horning says a resident of the Marcus Point neighborhood has been in touch with her, reporting that the hydrogen sulfide smell has been near her home for two months.
She had a plumber come out a few times but found nothing wrong, Horning said. “Then she started smelling it on their children’s clothes.
“If (the state) is not going to be responsive, (the county commission) are the next government body to go to.”
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