$10M in safety upgrades for Memorial Sloan Kettering construction — that could expose kids to asbestos — won’t curb air toxins: parents

Memorial Sloan Kettering is slated to spend millions of dollars to limit the amount of carcinogenic dust nearby students are exposed to during a massive UES construction project — but parents say the cancer hospital still isn’t doing enough to curb the toxins.

Parents like Yasmina Caleo say the $10 million the hospital has spent towards air quality monitoring equipment and playground upgrades is ineffective and could actually worsen air quality on the Upper East Side.

“That list of ‘benefits’ truly doesn’t address a single health concern,” said Caleo, who is part of the Lenox Hill Families Advocating for Children to Thrive (FACT) coalition of opponents.

“If anything, they exacerbate the health concerns because they call for more construction … the entire neighborhood already feels like a construction zone.”

MSK’s investment will also include a new playground for the nearby P.S. 183, an independent engineer to monitor air quality and additional crossing guards, plus renovations to the 24 Sycamores Playground and the East 72nd Street Cul-De-Sac.

Through negotiations with Council Member Julie Menin, MSK has also pledged to provide air conditioners to be purchased for the school and area residents deemed affected by the project — but not air filters, to some parents’ dismay.

“We are asking for HEPA filtration systems for the school,” Caleo added. “And the response from MSK was, ‘we thought, by giving you guys AC units, you could just keep your windows closed.’”

All trucks will be washed of debris before they leave the construction area, Menin’s office said. Other measures supported by the funding include all-electric tower cranes to reduce noise; a sound barrier on the site fence; dust mitigation measures; and emissions and an increased scaffolding height to provide more daylight to neighbors.

“We were not asking for dollars,” Caleo added. “We’re interested in being healthy, we’re interested in our kids being safe.”

News of the new funding came just hours before the New York City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises voted unanimously to approve a massive rezoning needed for the 900,000-square-foot site.

“As chair of the health committee and as a breast cancer survivor, I think it’s very important for MSK to be able to add operating rooms in a city where the cancer rates are pretty high,” Council Member Lynn Schulman said. 

“Council Member Menin, first of all, she got a lot of … stuff for the community, but she is also someone who will hold MSK responsible in terms of the process along the way of the construction,” Schulman added.

The plans are slated to go before the full City Council for a vote on Sept. 26.

When asked for comment about the parents’ group’s complaints, the cancer hospital said: “MSK has taken extraordinary measures to control emissions at the source. The City has reviewed these measures and found them to be safe with no additional filtration systems required.  HEPA filters were not included in the agreed mitigation efforts. AC units are being provided to the school as noise mitigation.”