With more than 50 buildings downtown still without power since Hurricane Sandy, residents are choking on noxious fumes from the massive generators chugging around the clock.
“The street and the apartment smells. I’m coughing and short of breath. It’s not right to breathe this stuff. It’s harmful,” said Barry Rosenthal, 60, who lives on the eighth floor of a co-op at 24 Beaver St.
Rosenthal, who suffered respiratory injuries after 9/11, lives with his wife and teen daughter, who also feel nauseous in their apartment.
Trailer-size generators sit across the street, with 1,000-gallon diesel tanks, to power 60 Broad St., a major commercial high-rise. The smoke-spewing generators roar 24/7, though the offices are empty at night.
City Councilman Margaret Chin wrote state Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joseph Martins Friday, citing dozens of complaints — and health fears — about the exhaust, smoke and grit seeping into their homes
One Hanover Square resident and his wife, who is 5-months pregnant,
tried to seal their windows with plastic to keep out the fumes.
“After 9/11, residents were assured by government that the air was safe to breathe. Sadly, this turned out not to be the case,” Chin wrote.