1061 Allen Street (January 2023)

The corporation that owns the former Crawford Furniture Building that burned down in a fire in November 2022 is expected to plead guilty to code violations.

City of Jamestown Corporation Counsel Elliot Raimondo and Allen Street Development LLC Attorney Daryl Brautigam appeared in Housing Court Friday, April 28 before Judge George Panebianco.

Brautigam informed the Judge that he is advising his client at a pre-trial hearing scheduled for June 2, 2023 to enter a guilty plea on two tickets.

Jamestown Director of Development Crystal Surdyk said these tickets are for on-going violations at 1061 Allen Street that go back several years in regards to junk and debris issues as well as other code issues that preceded the fire on November 16, 2022.

Raimondo said this plea will allow the City to seek damages against the corporation, “After the fire, the city had to pay H.H. Rauh Contracting $100,000 for an emergency demolition just due to the fact that the site was so unsafe during and immediately after the fire for any individuals to near there. That said, anyone who drives on Allen Street and past 1061 Allen will still see that there are massive, and what we would say is Superfund type site, that needs to be cleaned up at the site of the fire.”

Raimondo said the city has received quotes for over a million dollars for that clean-up. He added that the owners also owe over $90,000 in back taxes for the past five years.

The pre-trial motion on June 2 also will determine if Richard Rusiniak has any personal liability as one of the principal owners of Allen Street Development LLC. A sentencing date for the guilty pleas will be determined at the pre-trial and that future date also will include the hearing of contempt charges against Richard Rusiniak by the City for providing false statements in court.

Meanwhile, Surdyk said the Environmental Protection Agency is still assessing the site. She said their involvement with the site in the years before the fire has been a benefit to the city, “I think the fire could have been much more damaging and catastrophic had they (EPA) not been able to achieve some compliance with removing some of the chemicals and hazardous materials from the site. We do know there were still some hazardous materials that remained at the time of the fire, but like I said, it could have been much more catastrophic than it was.”

The DEC and EPA are each pursuing independent actions against the property owners.

Surdyk added that Jamestown Police have not charged anyone with setting the fire but said she believed they did have suspects in the case. WRFA contacted Jamestown Police Chief Tim Jackson about the matter but had not heard back by press time.

Local officials join U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer at the site of the former Crawford Furniture Factory that was destroyed in a fire on November 16, 2022. (January 11, 2023)

U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer visited Jamestown Wednesday to announce a plan to help clean up the former Crawford Furniture Factory site following a devastating fire this past November.

Schumer, standing with officials in front of the former factory at 1061 Allen Street, said he is calling on the Federal Environmental Protection Agency to launch a full investigation, “But we now need them to quickly assess the public health risk and determine how bad the pollution is here and exactly what kind of clean-up efforts we’re going to need, especially after the fire. I’m asking them to complete this ASAP. Once they determine it’s a health risk, that frees the Federal dollars. And as I’ve said, I’ve got billions of dollars in the Infrastructure bill for projects just like this.”

Schumer said the EPA has already assisted the city by installing a fence to secure the property after the fire and had been working prior to the fire to remove several barrels of hazardous materials from the site.
He said city taxpayers should not have to bear the burden of the estimated clean-up costs for the site which are in excess of $1 million.

Schumer said the Superfund tax has been reinstated which will help the EPA, “So once the EPA pays for it, they can go after the people who own the property, the people who were negligent and let the fire occur, and recoup the money. And they can sue them. That law had expired and we got it back in place, so even the Federal taxpayers ultimately wouldn’t have to pay for this.”

Schumer said once the clean up is completed, the EPA’s Brownfields program can come in to help restore the site for future use.

Director of Development Crystal Surdyk said that Allen Street Development LLC, whose principal owners are Richard and Patricia Rusiniak of Cheektowaga, did not have insurance on the building.

She said the City will also be continuing their cases against the Rusiniaks, in an attempt to recoup the cost of the emergency demolition. They also are leveling charges of contempt against Mr. Rusiniak for providing false statements in court. These cases are expected to be heard in Housing and/or City Court later this month.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

City Council Housing Committee (December 5, 2022)

The clean-up cost following the fire at the former Crawford Furniture building on Allen Street could cost over $1 million.

Director of Development Crystal Surdyk informed the City Council Housing Committee that Allen Street Development LLC, whose principal owners are Richard and Patricia Rusiniak of Cheektowaga, did not have insurance on the building. She said the city’s goal is to work to make sure taxpayers do not foot the clean-up bill and are pursuing accountability of the owners.

Surdyk said the city is continuing to coordinate with the Federal Environmental Protection Agency and the State Department of Environmental Conservation. She said the city has requested the EPA consider the site for their “removable” program, “They’ve been involved, they’ve been engaged the last year and a half. There were several barrels of hazardous materials that were removed from the property over the course of the last year and a half. It could have been a much more disastrous event than it was.”

Surdyk said the EPA has also assisted already by installing a fence to secure the property. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Fire at 1061 Allen Street on November 16, 2022 (Photo by Jamestown Professional Firefighters Local 137)

The cause of last week’s fire at 1061 Allen Street remains under investigation.

The Jamestown Fire Department declared the fire out on Friday, November 18, two days after the massive blaze resulted in response by 13 local fire companies. Officials say there were no injuries in the fire.

The property is owned by Allen Street Development LLC whose principal owners are Richard and Patricia Rusiniak of Cheektowaga. The building used to be part of the former Crawford Furniture’s complex.

Jamestown Department of Development Director Crystal Surdyk put out a release stating that various city departments, along with investigators from both the Environmental Protection Agency and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation had inspected the property the week before the fire to assess the condition of the main building of the massive complex and to inventory and test hazardous materials that have been found on site. She said the property was condemned due to imminent structural collapse caused by long deteriorating conditions as a direct result of property owner neglect.

Surdyk added the City has long standing citations for code violations against the owners of the property, which they had not complied with despite six court appearance summons over the last two years. The owner’s son appeared twice on behalf of Allen Street Development LLC and his parents, despite having no legal accountability for the property.

Surdyk said those “two appearances seemed to appease the court, as Richard G. Rusiniak assured the court that he would relay the judge’s orders to show substantial improvement in the cleaning up of the property to his parents. Unfortunately these assurances have not resulted in any corrective action.”

The Department of Development and the City’s Legal team are exploring all legal options available to hold Allen Street Development, LLC and Patricia and Richard J. Rusiniak, accountable for their “intentional and malicious neglect.”

There are thousands of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) chemicals. Since the 1940s, manufacturers have used the chemicals to make coatings and products that can repel water, grease, heat and oil. The chemicals break down slowly over time and leach into water and soil, and have been found in the blood of people and animals.

The most recent science suggests that these chemicals are much more hazardous to human health than scientists had initially thought and are probably more dangerous at levels thousands of times lower than previously believed. Exposure to the chemical may lead to reproductive problems, heart issues, breathing problems, cancer and problems with the immune system.

The EPA’s new proposal is to designate two of the most widely used PFAS: PFOA and PFOS; as hazardous substances under Superfund regulations. The EPA said it will publish the proposed rule in the federal register in the next several weeks. That would give the public 60 days to comment before the rule could be finalized.

If the proposal is finalized, releases of certain amounts of these chemicals would have to be reported to the government. The EPA believes this would encourage the companies to have better waste management practices at the facilities that handle the chemical.

The EPA said the rule could also make the polluter pay fines and cleanup costs.

Ketanji Brown Jackson (Wikipedia)

CNN reports the U.S. Supreme Court has curbed the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to broadly regulate carbon emissions from existing power plants.

The decision is a major defeat for the Biden administration’s attempts to slash emissions at a moment when scientists are sounding alarms about the accelerating pace of global warming.

In addition, the court cut back the agency’s authority in general invoking the so-called “major questions” doctrine — a ruling that will impact the federal government’s authority to regulate in other areas of climate policy, as well as regulation of the internet and worker safety.

The ruling was 6-3. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for the conservative majority, with the three liberal justices dissenting.

The decision is one of the most consequential cases for climate change and clean air in decades.

Also, Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in as the 116th justice of the Supreme Court, making history as the first Black woman to serve on the highest court of the nation.

Jackson was confirmed by the Senate in April and is filling the seat of retiring Justice Stephen Breyer.
Though her addition to the bench won’t change the ideological balance of the court, it marks a significant historic milestone for the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary.

CCIDA CEO Mark Geise said the county has a lot of brownfields, which are former industrial sites that have some level of contamination. He said getting those sites back into active use is often hampered by the cost of remediation, “Developers looking at those sites don’t always have the funding or cash available to go and do that, so one of the programs that the Environmental Protection Agency offers every year is a grant cycle to apply for funding to establish a Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund and grant program”

The grant received from the Environmental Protection Agency is $600,000 with a cash match from Chautauqua County and in-kind program administration match from the CCIDA bringing the total program amount to $720,000.

Geise said a benefit to remediating brownfields is that most are located in areas that already have infrastructure, “So it’s not like a grape field where you got to extend water and sewer, which would be very expensive. They’re already zoned correctly. Typically, the neighbors are already used to activity there, or were used to it, so it’s not like a big shock to the neighborhood. So there are a lot of advantages of looking at brownfields. Unfortunately, a lot aren’t that big. You know, we’re looking for big sites, but there are certainly really attractive sites for us to be concentrating on.”

Geise said details about the loan fund are still being finalized, but that they have submitted a work plan to the EPA that’s modeled on Niagara County‘s successful Brownfield Revolving Loan Fund.

According to Geise, the program should be ready to accept applications before the end of the year.

1061 Allen Street

An Allen Street industrial property in danger of collapsing is also under investigation by the State Department of Environmental Conservation and Environmental Protection Agency for contamination.

The property is located at 1061 Allen Street is owned by Allen Street Development LLC whose principal owners are Richard Rusiniak and his wife of Cheektowaga. The building used to be part of the former Crawford Furniture’s complex.

Jamestown Director of Development Crystal Surdyk said the City has cited the property numerous times in Housing Court, with Friday, January 21 being the most recent appearance. Mr. Rusiniak, nor any associates, appeared at Friday’s hearing.

Surdyk said the City is trying to get Mr. Rusiniak to secure the property and make it safe, “We have been working with the EPA and now the DEC on really assessing the site and determining what and where the potential hazards are. There are known hazards. It’s really just a matter of getting that full assessment of where all that is located. The building itself, a large portion of it, is collapsing and so there is serious concern there.”

Surdyk said they have serious concerns that if the building collapsed, anyone inside could be injured, “We also have a very serious concern about fire. It is attractive because you can enter the premises and there’s a lot going on in there. There have been some known thefts. So it’s a potential fire hazard, so it’s just an attractive nuisance.”

Surdyk added the City would like to see a controlled demolition of the back portion of the structure. She said the brick structure closer to Allen Street is in good shape and could be redeveloped.

She said with the property being located in a Brownfield Opportunity Area and its history of being part of furniture manufacturing, she contacted the EPA for guidance, “That led them to decide that they needed to take a closer look at it. The ended up coming down and doing their own independent investigation. They actually are in town right now [Friday] doing some additional investigation. We met with them yesterday and the DEC on site. The DEC has a history with this property owner. There are a number of other properties they have been working with him on to get cleaned up.”

Surdyk added the EPA is also doing an assessment and testing with all agencies collaborating to ensure all hazards are mitigated. She said the DEC and EPA are each pursuing independent actions against the property owners.

In Housing Court, Judge George Panebianco adjourned the case until Friday, February 4 in hopes that the property owners would appear and also ordered that Mr. Rusiniak should continue clean-up of the junk and debris on the site.

Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation requiring that seasonal and decorative lighting products manufactured, sold, or distributed in the state that have an electrical cord casing with lead present must have a warning label.

Any manufacturer who violates this shall be subject to a fine of $500.

Decorative and seasonal holiday lights have been shown to contain potentially unsafe levels of lead. Several independent studies, which followed the Consumer Product Safety Commission‘s standard wipe test to see how much lead would come off on someone’s hands, revealed that some brands contained more than 30 times the levels regulators permit in children’s products. One 2008 study published in the Journal of Environmental Health, found that nearly all the light sets tested had levels that surpassed the Environmental Protection Agency‘s limit for windowsills and floors.

Exposure to lead has been repeatedly proven to be attributed to serious health problems including attacks on the brain and central nervous system, heart and kidney disease, reduced fertility and depression, and severe consequences for children. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is no safe blood level concentration. While federal law bans the sale and manufacture of lead in house paint and gasoline and New York enacts stringent limits only on paint on children’s toys and furniture and some glazed tableware, the sale of most other consumer products containing lead in the state are not as strictly regulated.

On Monday, the Governor also issued a letter to Acting Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Andrew Wheeler urging him to abandon the EPA’s proposed replacement of the Clean Power Plan to prop up the coal industry.

“The future of our environment, our economy and our children is at stake, and New York will not let President Donald Trump take us backward. Today I am proud to announce that New York will join the Powering Past Coal Alliance to share our expertise and experience and continue to lead the fight against dirty and dangerous fossil fuels,” Governor Cuomo said. “With our bold mandate to close all coal-fired power plants by 2020 and our nation-leading commitment to renewables, we are already at the forefront of the clean energy revolution and we will not go back.”

“As the Trump administration works to roll back our progress when it comes to our environment, Governor Cuomo and I are fighting to protect it,” said Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. “New York is proud to join governments and organizations across the world as part of the Powering Past Coal Alliance to end the use of traditional coal power. The Alliance is another step in advancing New York’s aggressive clean energy goals and ensuring our climate is protected and safe.”

The response from the governor is due to the Trump administration’s plan to roll back the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s efforts to slow global warming.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration came out with new rules scaling back Obama-era constraints on coal-fired power plants, striking at one of the former administration’s legacy programs to rein in climate-changing fossil-fuel emissions.

The Environmental Protection Agency called the Obama-era regulations on coal power plants “overly prescriptive and burdensome.”

The Trump administration plan broadly increases the leeway given states to decide how and how much to regulate coal power plants. The EPA says it “empowers states, promotes energy independence, and facilitates economic growth and job creation.”

Meanwhile, the Powering Past Coal Alliance, launched by the UK and Canada on the margins of COP 23, is a coalition of governments, businesses, and other organizations to lead the rest of the world in ending the use of traditional coal power. The Alliance is committed to taking action to accelerate clean growth and climate protection through the rapid phase-out of traditional power.

FIGHTING THE FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY WITH ‘CLEAN ENERGY’ INITIATIVES

NY Governor Andrew Cuomo

Delivering on the Governor’s 2016 State of the State pledge to go coal-free by 2020, Governor Cuomo in May directed New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to propose regulations will tighten the state’s CO2 Performance Standards for Major Electric Generating Facilities by establishing CO2 emission rate requirements for existing major electric generating facilities. The state stands ready to help workers and communities transition to a clean energy future through the Governor’s Clean Climate Careers initiative and the Electric Generation Facility Cessation Mitigation Fund created to address the needs of the local communities affected by any closures, as well as a host of clean energy programs to support transitioning these plants away from coal.

After the federal government announced its intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change, New York joined with California and Washington State to form the U.S. Climate Alliance to uphold the goals of the agreement. The U.S. Climate Alliance has grown to include 17 governors representing nearly half U.S. gross domestic product.

New York has also established a Clean Energy Standard for half of its electricity to come from renewable sources by 2030, complementing Governor Cuomo’s ambitious Reforming the Energy Vision strategy (REV). The governor’s office says REV is building a cleaner, more resilient and affordable energy system for all New Yorkers by stimulating investment in clean technologies like solar, wind, and energy efficiency. The REV strategy is intended to ensure New York State reduces economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2030 and achieves the internationally-recognized target of reducing emissions 80 percent by 2050.