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I am the owner of the 259 East Sydney in Philadelphia, but I can no longer live there because of illness caused by excavation of contaminated soil in the land surrounding my home. Additionally three years of exposure to various forms of dust, brick dust, cement dust and contaminated dust from the construction has affected my breathing. The City of Philadelphia and the developers failed at every turn to protect me or my neighbors from environmental toxins and air pollutants. My home, as you will see in the photos, was in the direct line of fire. As of today, I have never received any help to relocate me or help me start my life over elsewhere or treat my health. My neighbors have never been informed of the hazards they were exposed to for over three years. Today is September 23, 2008. I shall add more pages to this blog when I can. I want to tell the whole story and help the citizens of Philadelphia clean up some of the ills of the City itself. Crimes are committed more often when people don’t talk about them, so I’m talking. The environmental crimes in my neighborhood were kept hidden and my rights were deliberately violated because they knew I knew. Margaret Motheral IMPORTANT LETTER TO MT AIRY AT BOTTOM OF ENTRY LIST
me I moved to Philadelphia in 1999 from California to go to Barbara Brennan’s School of Science Healing. It had been my dream to go to this school for years. Finally my twin daughters were at university and it was time for me! I spent five intense years in school , then bought my first house, the end row on East Sydney Street. It was near the train so I could easily get to New York or Center City, Philadelphia. I was happy. The first thing I did in my new neighborhood was trap ten feral cats and get them fixed and immunized. I also did lot of plumbing on the old house. Lined my dining room with tall bookshelves for my hundreds of books and started to unpack. I wrote the rough draft of half a novel and started to set up my office for my healing practice. I was so happy to have a home of my own. To mark this milestone of completing school and setting up my household AND starting my healing practice, I went to Greece in February 2006 with a group of healers, doctors and psychotherapists to visit the ancient healing sites of Asklepious and explore the roots of modern medicine. Trouble started just before I left. Demolition without permits on the vacant land next to me cracked and shift my house. When I returned, everything I had worked so hard for went up in dust and chemical vapors. I found myself in a nightmare of Philadelphia dysfunction and corruption. People have told me that not many people would work as hard as I have to find out what went wrong and try to bring justice, but I didn’t have a choice. It is my home and my health. This disaster is impossible to run away from. You can leave a wrecked car at the side of the road but you can’t leave a house. And you have to BREATH. I have to defend all the loses I’ve suffered and stand up for myself and my rights. Lawyers often make money but the lawyers in Philadelphia either don’t want to go against the City or don’t care about making change or said this was beyond their scope. I want to make change. I don’t want any other neighbor to ever be poisoned by environmental toxins ever again. Nobody should ever be treated the way I have been treated by this city. There are a lot of people in Philadelphia that don’t like the way the city treats them. A lot of people have attacked me for getting angry and speaking out. Too bad. I’m angry and speaking out for all those people who would have died in my house or been too afraid to speak out. Yes, if I had been an eighty year old woman with asthma I would have died. If I had been premie baby, I could have easily died. If I didn’t have the wits to recognize something was wrong with the soil, I could have killed myself as one of the symptoms of many chemical vapors is suicide. But I did have a relentless anger at being poisoned, dusted, burglarized, violated, lied about, and abused to the point where I want the whole world to know what the City of Philadelphia did to me and allowed the developers to do to me. And I want everyone to know what has been to the land and the creek that is in the land. Other than that, I’m really a very nice person and most people really like me. But enough is enough. I worked hard for my home and take care of my health and generally make life better for everybody I meet. Enough is enough. I want my life back. I also really care about Philadelphia and the people who live here and when I see a city or government abuse its own citizens, I am outraged. Margaret Tell me your complaint about Philadelphia and how you would make it better. I get a lot of hate mail. iF you send me hate mail, I’ll probably post it along with those sincere folks who want to see some good change. No Discrimination by Commonwealth and Its Political Subdivisions Section 26. Neither the Commonwealth nor any political subdivision thereof shall deny to any person the enjoyment of any civil right, nor discriminate against any person in the exercise of any civil right. (from the Constitution of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) http://www.PetitionOnline.com/greenphi/petition.html

AND Natural LAW IN

PHILADELPHIA

supported by the following Citizens of Philadelphia in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and other Citizens of Earth to up hold the Natural Laws of Earth by which all Life is Sustained.

Postal Return Receipts from a few of the City people who refused to solve the problem.  There are a lot more. Also asking the reader to forgive typos and bad editing.  I’m under duress.

First problem.  House cracked and shifted because of demolition without permits.

This area would be perfect for Open Space. The Neighbors were never given a chance for discussion. The politicians took over.

                                   Sloppy, careless planning

allows a contaminated site in the middle of a family neighborhood to be approved for development.

Click here and sign a petition to allow faster

and more transparent information about the

health of your Air, Soil and Water.


SIGN PETITION TO PROTECT FROM POLITICAL COVER UP & HEALTH HAZARDS

Shows how City Council Woman Donna Reed Miller and Ward Leader Vernon Price and East Mt Airy Neighbors pitched this project with very little input from East Sydney Street Neighbors.

                      I was traveling the day of the Zoning Meeting.  I sent and attorney to say my house was cracking.  What a disaster!

This area is the headwater area of the Wingohoking Creek.  They say native ghost warriors stay behind to guard the sacred springs.

Earth Movement

Contaminated Soil

No Protection for Neighbors

June 10, 2006 .  I can’t get help in Mt Airy so I go to Redevelopment and Environmental workshop elsewhere. City and PADEP representatives are there.

Spring of 2006.  A friend in Nigeria heard about my trouble in Philadelphia and was inspired to plant a garden in a deserted trash heap.

Site was a coal field with a leaking underground gas tank for the coal trucks, among other things.

Oils waste and other chemical solvents were illegally dumped directly into the ground when it was a Masonry Co.  about 25 years ago. Poison!





What is it?  What to do about it? How London treats its neighbors during construction.





Essential my home was in the middle of a very poorly managed construction site with lots of trash, pollution, violations, etc.






City Planning and Zoning should know better.







MESS







DUST




I told them to remove me at the start.  Everything always got worse. Now I can’t live in my house because my health has been so affected.  The City and Community and Developers were so abusive in ignoring my calls for help and relentlessly committing violation after violation .




Air Management couldn’t find dust, but the rest of the neighbors could.



Attention all you water keepers!.  We had a chance to open the creek!








Yes, you are suppose to involve the neighbors.  The neighbors are “stakeholders” too.




The Creek was lovely as it bubbled free for a brief moment.  We could have had a creek!








Gowen Country






Zoning and the City continued to allow building even when the contamination was obvious.  More exploration on HOW it was remediated later.





The Community’s determination to undermine me and dire consequences.






TERROR



























TO BE  Continued.


Click here to Sign Petition http://www.PetitionOnline.com/greenphi/petition.html http://www.PetitionOnline.com/greenphi/petition.htmlhttp://www.PetitionOnline.com/greenphi/petition.html../../Bill_of_Rights_for_Natural_Law/A_Mother_Law_Bill_of_Rights_for_All_People_and_Natural_Law/A_Mother_Law_Bill_of_Rights_for_All_People_and_Natural_Law.htmlshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1

READ ARTICLE

in CHESTNUT HILL LOCAL about Contaminated Dirt.   The politicians and the City knew about this environmental health hazards years before and never protected our neighborhood.

Now they are all blaming each other and STILL NO ONE has ever TALKED to me.

City and Community Leaders and Developers tried to make me the problem rather than admit they were causing a problem and then taking responsibility.

Chestnut Hill Local Article about Contaminated Dirt

http://chestnuthilllocal.com/issues/2008.08.28/news5.html

Email Me

ETHICS CODE FOR PLANNERS

http://www.planning.org/ethics/conduct.html