By Nora Bosworth

Nobody asked Martin Rosenblatt to protect the schoolchildren at the Upper West Side’s P.S. 163, but he may have done just that. The story begins with a nursing home, one very informed citizen, and a lot of paperwork.

Since 2008, the elder care company Jewish Home Lifecare (JHL) has been planning to erect a 20-story nursing home alongside a public elementary school on the Upper West Side. The tower would be built on West 97th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues, on a parking lot that is now part of the Park West Village apartment complex, which borders P.S. 163.

Over the last several years, community members have organized to resist the development project for a wide array of reasons: fear of sending children to study amid a noisy, long-term construction zone, objections to the noise, dust and debris of such a project, increased traffic the nursing home would bring, and the loss of an above-ground parking lot.

Residents listen to Rosenblatt explain the lead findings.

Jewish Home Lifecare says their planned facility will transform the hospital-like feel and architecture of many nursing homes to a place that will make elderly residents feel at home. They hope their construction will provide “dignity and privacy” to clients.

Up until April of last year, all of the opposition facing the nursing home plan has been relatively standard backlash for a development project of this scale– with, granted, the added concern of the school’s welfare. And, if all had gone as planned, JHL would probably be beginning construction in Spring of 2014.

Enter Martin Rosenblatt, a resident who lives across the street from the proposed development site and a retired investigator, experienced with the hazardous effects of lead dust.

After going to meetings about the nursing home’s plans, Rosenblatt decided to test the parking lot for lead, just in case the future demolition site was home to hazardous chemicals. It wasn’t a random suspicion. Until the Clean Air Act of 1996, lead was a legal component of gasoline. Thus, in the past, when cars turned on, their tailpipes would sometimes emit combustion dust that was contaminated by lead. Rosenblatt figured that because the parking lot had been around for over fifty years, it was worth assessing.
Rosenblatt hired Laurence Molloy, an authority on lead to analyze soil samples throughout the grounds, along with 11 other New York City Housing Authority lots. Despite the two men’s hunches, what they found still took them by surprise.

On Wednesday evening, around 150 West Siders gathered in the auditorium of the Holy Name School on 96th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, to hear Rosenblatt discuss his discovery of toxic levels of lead beneath the proposed site for the high-rise nursing home.

Out of 100 samples of soil, the highest lead level of all was found in a hotspot at the West 97th Street location. The level of lead was at 1,044 ppm (parts per million); to put this number in context, the Environmental Protection Agency’s limit for acceptable lead levels in soil areas on which children play is 400 ppm.

The health effects of lead exposure in children include behavioral disorders and learning disabilities. Lead becomes dangerous once unearthed, thus the proposed construction is a scare to many people.

“The soil definitely contains lead and is certainly a potential hazard to school children if blown onto the adjacent school grounds,” writes Molloy, in his letter testifying to his results from the Park West Village samples.

Rosenblatt also took it upon himself to send the lab results from West 97th Street to eleven different medical professionals, four of whom wrote back with their findings.

“According to the National Toxicology Program of the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics, dispersion locally of these lead contaminated dusts, into academic and residential buildings nearby, can cause adverse health effects in children under 72 months of age, such as developmental-cognitive impairments, neurobehavioral disturbances, loss in IQ points and ADHD,” wrote John Rosen, a pediatrician and the Head of Environmental Sciences at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In his letter to Rosenblatt, he adds that pregnant women are also at risk, as lead can damage the developing fetus.

Avery Brandon, whose asthmatic 5-year-old daughter currently attends P.S. 163, called the results “terrifying.”

“If there’s lead in the soil and they break ground, we have to move,” she said.

Brandon is grateful to Rosenblatt for his research.

“Without Mr. Rosenblatt, I’m not exactly sure where we would be right now,” she said. Molloy voiced a similar opinion.

“The average citizen doesn’t know about lead in a parking lot,” Molloy said in a telephone interview. “Wouldn’t even suspect it.”

Rosenblatt believes that if an environmental impact study is conducted and lead is found, the costs of removing the lead would be enormous. He says it is unclear which party would cover what he estimates would be an operation in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Moreover, according to Molloy, there is water beneath the lot, and if the water is also contaminated, then pumping it out would add greatly to the cost of cleanup.

As of now, it is unclear how the state and Jewish Home Lifecare want to proceed.

“JHL has adhered to all government regulations regarding site review and will continue to do so,” said Ethan Geto, a public affairs representative for JHL, in an email.

“Not having seen the analysis of lead contamination claimed in the study – or having it reviewed by an expert not associated with advocates for blocking the project – it is not possible to know at this juncture if any further environmental review is warranted.”

At the meeting, Rosenblatt and the director of the Park West Village Association, Maggi Peyton, urged attendees to sign a petition that demands an environmental impact study. Residents at the meeting expressed hope that these latest findings will make a difference, along with a determination to be heard.

“In terms of politicians,” said Patricia Loftman, a resident of Park West Village for the last forty years, “I don’t think we will ever forgive them if they don’t do the right thing on this issue.”

Now 39, Levi has been the director of community life activities at Jewish Home Lifecare, which provides health care services for seniors on the Upper West Side.

She recalls moving to New York from Southfield, Mich., a suburb of Detroit, when she was only 20.

“I love the city, with all its many resources at your fingertips. You can go to the theater, parks or museums; really anything you want,” Levi said. “I think the accessibility of the city is really great.”

Some of Levi’s key responsibilities at the Jewish Home include overseeing recreational activities for more than 500 seniors in addition to helping organize a virtual army of 250-plus annual volunteers from community service groups, such as synagogues and churches.

“I’ve loved working with seniors since being a kid—I love being able to enrich their lives in a meaningful way and then to figure out the things seniors like to do and then find ways to make those things happen,” said Levi, who holds a master’s degree in health care management.

Discussing the role of volunteers, Levi recalls her own early volunteer experiences as a teen back in Michigan. “I started volunteering at a local Jewish nursing home in Southfield when I was only 15 and I found it very rewarding,” she says.

Recent examples of corporate volunteer groups included employees from Turner Broadcasting and UJA who came to donate their time to either help residents with tasks such as writing letters or using computers to send messages to relatives and loved ones.

“Our elders really benefit from these volunteer experiences,” Levis said. “The coordination of all the volunteer groups is a mutually beneficial arrangement because not only do our seniors benefit from the engagement and interaction with people, but the volunteers themselves learn a great deal and also gain tremendous satisfaction from helping people in their community.”

Further, Levi also serves as co-chair of a combined committee of union and staff members working to transition the home toward a new building on 96th Street in a few years in addition to a new type of self-directed care for elders dubbed “Green House.”

“I’ve worked hard with many different people to help manage this somewhat major transition,” Levi says.

Judith Nicholson, an administrator with Jewish Home Lifecare, counts herself lucky to have Levi as a colleague. “Miriam truly understands … how to brighten the lives of our elders while providing rich volunteer opportunities for our neighbors and surrounding community,” Nicholson said.

“I have had the pleasure of working with Miriam for many years and must tell you that I don’t know where she gets the time or energy to do it all—but I am certainly very, very grateful that she is here.”

Levi says that health care is forever changing.

“One of my biggest concerns,” she said, “is that we don’t forget about the elderly. If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be able to do what we’re doing today.”

She relates how the home has been working to make better use of technology to keep its residents connected.

“We recently purchased iPads and have been working with college/school groups to teach our seniors how to use the iPads to send email and search the Internet,” Levi says. “We want our residents to do the same things everyone else is doing online.”

UWS residents line up Wed. night to voice their concerns to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. (Photo Courtesy of @scottmstringer)

At a packed town hall meeting on the Upper West Side last night, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer fielded questions from concerned residents of the West 90s and 100s. The community came out in full force, pressing Stringer, City Council Member Gale Brewer and a panel of officials representing various city agencies to address their complaints and fears about various neighborhood issues.

Between 100 and 150 residents attended the forum, and the line of people waiting to step up to the microphone to say their piece stretched to the back of the room for the entire two-hour meeting. Armed with literature and, sometimes, un-concealed anger, community members and self-identified local activists pressed their elected officials for answers and action.

Stringer, a contender in the Democratic primary for the 2013 mayoral race, addressed concerns ranging from construction to hydrofracking to rat infestation.

The most-discussed issue of the night was the proposed construction of a Jewish Home Lifecare center on West 97th Street. JHL, an organization that provides health care and support services for the elderly, seeks to build a new, 20-story high-rise nursing home next door to P.S. 163, an elementary school. Although the New York City Planning Commission approved the application, Community Board 7 and local activists have continued to fight against the project.

Avery Brandon, who lives near the 97th Street site and whose kindergarten-aged daughter will be attending P.S. 163 for the next several years, spoke out vehemently against the new building at the meeting.

“A huge construction project like this can have untold effects on the health of our children,” Brandon said. “With the noise levels, and the mental stress that this construction will cause, how will our children be able to learn?”

Brandon and various other residents also cited increased congestion, dust and debris and decreased access to the block for emergency responders as potential negative consequences of the project.

Later, on the issue of fracking, the focus of the conversation centered around the contentious Spectra Pipeline, a proposed natural gas pipeline intended to expand the delivery of natural gas to areas in New York and New Jersey. The project, which was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in May, is slated to run along the coast of New Jersey and cross the Hudson River into Manhattan, bringing gas from the Marcellus Shale — acquired through the process of hydraulic fracturing — to New York City homes on the West Side.

Residents at the meeting last night voiced opposition shared by many critics of the controversial method, citing in particular what they said are particularly high levels of radon and other radioactive material in Marcellus gas. They emphasized the dangers of using radon-infused gas in New York City kitchens, which tend to be small and often not well-ventilated, as well as the potential effects exposure to fracked gas could have on children in the neighborhood.

Attendees also complained of a growing rat infestation on Upper West Side streets — a problem which Council Member Brewer assured would be tackled next month in a block-by-block effort conducted by the Department of Health — and the New York Police Department’s ever-contentious Stop and Frisk policy, which NYPD representatives declined to discuss in detail last night.

By Sara Dover

Working with Jewish Home Lifecare was meant to be, so it seems, said West Sider David Orelowitz.

The VP of Goldman Sachs started volunteering at the not-for-profit elder care system by flipping burgers for a company-sponsored barbecue for Lifecare a few years ago, but he became more committed when a friend bumped into him in the hallway and told him the institution was looking for someone with an IT background to work on a electronic records project.

David Orelowitz, a volunteer at Jewish Home Lifecare, is saving the retirement home money with efficient recordkeeping.

“It seemed the connection was really there with the Jewish Home, so it was an easy decision to make,” said Orelowitz, who has been helping upgrade their records system for three years. “It would have expanded my involvement. I wanted to have more involvement in a charity more than one day a year.”

The South Africa native volunteers on the Jewish Home’s board, working with their IT department and vendors to facilitate the project that is rolling out its first phase (patient info) this month. An electronic records system, Orelowitz said, is more efficient, cost-cutting and, most importantly, will improve the care of the retirement home.

The Jewish Home is more than happy with having Orelowitz on board and the project’s progress.

“David’s talent and expertise afforded our organization the ability to put a valuable system into operation,” said Thomas Gilmartin, chief administrative officer. “Throughout his leadership role and guidance on the project, David had one clear goal—to implement a system that benefits our community, our residents and their families.”

When Orelowitz moved to New York from South Africa two decades ago, he said the West Side felt “comfortable,” likely because “it certainly had a Jewish feel” and “it had a liberal sensibility.”

Therefore, it was natural for the technologist to find a way to get to know his community upon moving to his new neighborhood on 104th Street with his family four years ago, and he signed up to barbecue at the Jewish Home soon afterward.

Orelowitz took one year of medical school before switching to engineering, so he always had an interest in healthcare. But something that really hit home for Orelowitz, and motivated him to volunteer for Jewish Home Lifecare, was his grandparents.

“Both of my elderly grandparents eventually landed in a home in South Africa, a very nice home in South Africa,” he said. “I had not expected to find that sort of facility in New York, that took care of my grandparents in later years… when I found the Jewish Home, it surprised me in a very pleasant way.”

Jewish Home Lifecare’s electronic records system is expected to be finalized in the next year and Orelowitz said he is looking forward to seeing the project through.

“The quality of the people, the dedication of the people, the commitment is absolutely outstanding.”

Critics of Jewish Home Lifecare’s planned West 100th Street nursing facility are demanding new public hearings.

When the nonprofit healthcare provider wanted to build the new facility on its current West 106th Street property, public review was part of the approval process from the state Health Department.

Jewish Home Lifecare. Photo by: Andrew Schwartz

But the economy soured and Jewish Home Lifecare decided to swap properties with a developer that owned a piece of West 100th Street in order to successfully build a 22-story nursing facility.

Jewish Home Lifecare, much to the chagrin of its new West 100th Street neighbors, only modified its application for approval—known as a Certificate of Need. The state Health Department approved the modification June 3, 2010.

A modification can be made without additional public comment. But given a change in size and location, the Park West Village community and elected officials believe Jewish Home Lifecare should have been required to file an amendment, opening the project to additional public comment and hearings.

“It’s a whole new development project,” said Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito, whose district covers both parcels of land. “For it to be passed without a community review is not really accountable.”

While Mark-Viverito prefers Jewish Home Lifecare to submit an entirely new application, State Sen. Bill Perkins wants an amendment and a public hearing.

In letters to State Commissioner of Health Richard Daines, Perkins argued that an amendment is required when there’s a “substantial change” in the construction agreement through “a purchase, lease or other arrangement, any land or building” according to state regulations.

“Based on that section of the law, this is more than a modification,” Perkins said in an interview. “This is much more substantial.”

Perkins wants to hold his own hearing to determine whether the nursing facility’s change in address warrants an amendment so that there is an increase in public review.

“The public hearings will vet out these differences and allow them to justify how they can simply call this a modification,” Perkins said.

In a recent response to Perkins, Daines wrote in a letter that the change in Jewish Home Lifecare’s modification fails to meet the criteria for an amendment. Daines even defends the new location as well, writing that West 100th Street represents a “superior environment” over the old plan because construction of a new building would be better for Jewish Home Lifecare’s clients and have lower operating costs.

Locals at Park West Village have clamored to weigh in on the project.

Paul Bunten is the founder of nonprofit community group Westsiders for Public Participation, formed in 2007 during the Columbus Village development near Park West Village. Westsiders for Public Participation believe the planned nursing home is inappropriate for this congested part of the Upper West Side.

Bunten and the group have been organizing opposition to this project and gathering petitions for public hearings.

“No meeting held by Jewish Home Lifecare is a substitute for public hearings held by the New York State agencies responsible for enforcing the Public Health Law,” Bunten wrote in an email.

Others have complained about the size and layout of the new nursing home. Catherine Unsino, a nursing home reform advocate and consultant, has argued against the height and location of the planned 22-story facility.

“The height of the building is not to the well-being of the elders who would live there,” Unsino said. “They would be separated from their neighborhood and they wouldn’t have access to getting outside.”

Ethan Geto, the nonprofit’s spokesperson, said the plan would be less “institutional” than other nursing homes and would create communities on each floor by providing common spaces and kitchens for small clusters of residents.

Geto also defended the modification and the state Health Department’s approval.

“The change of location is so negligible as to be totally irrelevant,” Geto said. “That’s what we thought and that’s what the state Department of Health ruled.”

He added that he understands that the community and elected officials want Jewish Home Lifecare to file an amendment to increase public review and transparency. The healthcare provider, he argued, will engage the community in the coming weeks.

“They’re complaining about communication and involvement and engagement with Jewish Home,” Geto said. “We’re just going to take many, many steps to involve and engage the Park West Village community in a way that will be maximum transparency, maximum collaboration, and we want to get their input on design.”

Jewish Home Lifecare, based on West 106th Street, generated some controversy last year when administrators announced the construction of a new state-of-the-art nursing facility on West 100th Street. The organization originally planned to renovate the facility on its current property, but when the economic downturn made it difficult to find a partner developer, Jewish Home swapped its West 106th Street property with Joseph Chetrit, a developer who owned the West 100th Street parcel that will soon become the organization’s nursing facility.

Planning ahead, P.S. 163 school officials and parents are looking to Jewish Home Lifecare for needed space. Photo by Andrew Schwartz

Parents are concerned that the hundreds of new residential units built near the school in the past decade could bring in new students to a building that is overcapacity. Students are already using trailers behind the school for additional space.

“It makes a nice space for now, but we’re looking 10 years down the road,” said Carrie Reynolds, co-president of the school’s Parent Teacher Association.

One development proposal would include constructing a new Bloomingdale Library branch inside the nursing facility. A sheltered walkway behind the school would allow P.S. 163 students to get from their building, at 163 W. 97th St. between Amsterdam and Columbus avenues, to Jewish Home’s planned facility on West 100th Street.

“It would be a natural situation to take full advantage of that library,” Reynolds said. “I know the library is very excited to work with a school closely.”

The new library would be built partly on the current parking lot, abutting the existing library branch. Moving the footprint of the library away from the parking lot would allow for more open public space, according to Ethan Geto, a spokesperson for Jewish Home Lifecare.

In another proposal, the new facility could be used for pre-K programming, kindergarten classes or music and art rooms, though the library proposal is the frontrunner.

“We’re ready to do it, we can do it in this building, but we’ll have to look together to see where we can get the public funding,” Geto said.

The plan is only in the discussion stage. Exactly how much and what kind of space Jewish Home can provide to students has yet to be determined. But it’s clear that Jewish Home and the P.S. 163 community will have to do this without money from the Department of Education. The department has not allocated funds to the northern part of the school district, which is underutilized compared to the heavily crowded southern part. But that could change when capital funding plans are updated each year.

Money for the project, however, could come from local elected officials, including Borough President Scott Stringer and Assembly Member Daniel O’Donnell. Both are supportive of working with Jewish Home to find more space for the school. n

The New York State Home Care Association gave Rappaport the award because of her “patience, compassion, persistence and unflagging optimism in working with her patients who frequently are coping with very difficult circumstances,” said Bridget Gallagher, vice president of Jewish Home Lifecare’s Community Services.

The organization operates three nursing homes and rehabilitation centers in the Bronx, Manhattan and Westchester.

Pauline Raiff and David Orelowitz were also recently elected to the Manhattan division of the board of trustees, and Stan Pantowich was elected chairman of the system board of trustees of Jewish Home Lifecare.

Pantowich is managing director and CEO the New York wealth management firm Tag Associates LLC, Raiff has worked as an investment analyst and financial advisor for S. R. Weltz & Co. and Orelowitz is a vice president of Global Security Services for Goldman Sachs in New York.