Work continues at the “mystery lot” at the corner of N. 11 Street and Bedford Avenue. The bad news is that some of the soil and rubble being excavated is covered and some is not. The good news is that it’s been raining so much the site is a mud heap so any presumably toxic dust won’t be blowing around the heavily populated and trafficked surroundings. Still, work is going forward on the big Karl Fischer rental building that will rise on the property. The official address is 95 Bedford and the site was once a paint factory and most recently a parking lot. Here’s some fascinating information about the property’s history shared by a GL reader:

This lot previously was the site of a paint manufacturing plant owned by NJZ Color and Reichhold Chemical. Reichhold made color paint products there starting before WWII. They produced a variety of lead based paints, including yellow cadmium paint. Both lead and cadmium are highly toxic if inhaled as dust. During WWII, this facility became the source of one-third of the U.S. military’s rust prevention primer, which basically is a coating of lead paint and something called molybdate pigments. Google that one and see what used to be used in these paints. The company went on to produce coatings for tanks, battleships, bombers, ground vehicles, and more prosaic products, such as radios and furniture. It’s most certainly the sort of place that has toxicity.

Apparently plant employees got a lot of blood tests while working there. It’s not that we doubt the lot can be detoxed. The troubling thing is that it seems to be going forward without a consistent approach to protecting neighbors and passersby.