ToxicBuilders.org
What Legal Corruption Looks Like
This Story is of Community, Accountability and Safer Futures
McCormack Baron Salazar, Inc. Developer, Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA), in collaboration with Teichert and Sons, Inc. and Midstate Construction, Inc., constructed Mirasol Village Projects on soil contaminated with Chlordane, a banned and cancer-causing pesticide, and other Volatile Organic Compounds (VOPs), Chemical Compounds of Concern (CCOCs), and Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds (SVOCs).
“The health of our communities depends on holding developers and agencies accountable.”
HUD policy, as described in
24 CFR Part 50.3(i) and 24 CFR 58.5(i)(2), that:
All property proposed for use in HUD programs must be free of hazardous materials, contamination, toxic chemicals and gases, and radioactive substances where a hazard could affect occupants' health and safety or conflict with the property's intended use.
Everyone makes mistakes; the real crime is the attempt to cover them up.
Prior to 1988, before construction, our government saturated the dirt of military and public housing projects with Chlordane, a banned, cancer-causing, potent pesticide used to control termites and underground pests. Chlordane is an extremely effective pesticide with an indestructible long- life cycle.
Once, widely used in federal housing projects, this indestructible chemical persists for decades, posing severe health risks, including cancer."
The Building of Mirasol Village Projects
The new Mirasol Village was built on the dilapidated Dos Rios Housing Projects site, as part of the Twin Rivers Transit-oriented Development and Light Rail Station Project.
Old Dos Rios Projects originally military housing
The new Mirasol Village was built on the dilapidated Dos Rios Housing Projects site, as part of the Twin Rivers Oriental Development and light Rail Project
Mirasol Village as part of HUD's Choice Neighborhoods Initiative aimed to transform the former Dos Rios Projects into safe, affordable homes.
Fugitive Dust: The Monster Unleashed
Cost-cutting pressures often lead to dangerous compromises. Outdated permissible exposure limits allow developers to bypass soil cleanups that would cost millions. During the demolition, grading, and trenching of the land for new housing, construction unearthed this sleeping monster that consistently seeped into my cannabis grow rooms which were the equivalent of 1800 square feet of incubator suites, killing my harvests, eventually forcing me to shut down my company.
The dirt in Mirasol Village’s playground was tested for Chlordane. We can go there tomorrow, grab dirt, and take it to a toxicology lab, and it will test positive for chlordane.
"Only the residents
are victims"
Children playing in the Mirasol Village park, families in their homes—all potentially exposed to this hidden danger.
Folks who need subsidized housing are often permanently disabled, suffer from severe health issues, and/or a single parent with financial challenges.
The last thing tenants expect is to live in an area where the soil they walk on is compromised with cancer-causing, volatile organic compounds.
We are fighting back by exposing this legal toxic practice.
Through a subpoena of SHRA construction records, we have uncovered evidence of repeated irresponsible actions, a lack of internal controls, and failures in managing the Mirasol Village Project, which raise concerns under HUD program requirements.
The story of the construction of Mirasol Village is a wake-up call for us ALL. “Outdated regulatory loopholes and lax standards left businesses, workers on the construction site, and future residents vulnerable."
I closed my company, LIVEADE WELLNESS, a state, and locally celebrated indoor cannabis facility, after becoming an unintended casualty of the Mirasol Village Projects development.
I asked the HUD Office of Inspector General (OIG) to investigate the business practices of the Sacramento Housing & Redevelopment Agency and McCormack Baron Salazar (developer).
Seavey Circle and New Helvetia are slated for demolition by Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency; they were once military housing too.
Downloads
Learn the full story.
Lawsuit
The Ultimate Tragedy
Business Journal Article
Press Release
Arsenic, Lead, and Thallium Concentrations Found in Soil
