Judge William Pauley of New York City is disappointed and frustrated with the New York City Housing Authority over their lack of efforts to clean up a toxic mold problem in dilapidated apartments.

Back in December of 2014, NYCHA signed a decree stating that they would remediate affected apartments within 7 days of signing for ?simple? mold infestations, and within 15 days of ?complex? situations. There was no indication in the cited news article on what is deemed simple versus what is a complex mold problem. At the scheduled hearing Friday, only a single NYCHA lawyer arrived, but no one else had officially responded as to why they failed to live up to the agreed upon terms that were signed in 2013. Judge Pauley was noted as saying, ?I can?t believe they have more important things to do.? Months after the initial decree, tenants sued in a third of these remediation situations, stating that the mold had returned. The single NYCHA lawyer who showed up to the hearing- Donna Murphy- stated that the agency needs to extend their deadline and have it apply to only 95% of cases the NYCHA feels can be addressed. The other 5%- labeled as the toughest cases- need to be exempt from the deadline, according to her statement.

A speaker for the agency issued an announcement, saying that the ?NYCHA takes this litigation and the remediation of mold and excessive moisture in its public housing very seriously.? However, there was no explanation as to why no other officials, besides a single lawyer, showed up to the hearing.

We find it interesting that anyone would wait even as short as a 7-15 day time period to remediate a mold situation. In our experience, mold can grow after a water damage emergency in as short as 24-48 hours. If it is not remediated right away, more extensive and costly remediation practices need to be completed to ensure mold removal, such as completely removing flooring, drywall, ceiling, etc in addition to having to put up larger containments if the mold has spread, which interrupts your daily life. Such costs and time consuming efforts can be eliminated if a water damage problem is addressed right away, even if the mold problem seems small and insignificant to start. Additionally, if a company is using the right techniques for mold removal and cleanup, mold and water damage should not return after remediation is complete. MVP Environmental attacks the mold at the source of the problem and completely eliminates it so that your life can get back to normal as soon as possible, but with your budget in mind at all times.

Sources:

Smith, Greg B. ?Judge Slams NYCHA Bigs for Not Showing up to Mold Hearing.? NY Daily News. New York Daily News, 10 July 2015. Web. 12 July 2015. <http://m.nydailynews.com/new-york/judge-slams-nycha-bigs-not-showing-mold-hearing-article-1.2288724>.