Madigan, Quinn launch online petition
By Tim Hadac
Managing Editor
Southwest Chicago Post
The Midway
area’s elected officials this week continued to apply pressure to the Chicago
Department of Aviation to provide relief for homeowners whose government-supplied windows
and doors are emitting foul—and possibly toxic—fumes.
Illinois
House Speaker Michael J. Madigan (D-22nd) and 13th Ward
Ald. Marty Quinn launched an online petition “demanding that the city replace
residents’ windows and storm doors at any time, even if the 10-year warranty
has expired.”
Quinn said he hopes residents will sign the online
petition in advance of another joint meeting of the City Council Committees on
Finance and Aviation, expected to occur downtown next month.
Here is a link to the petition:
The
petition directly addresses what appears to be the Chicago Department of
Aviation’s ongoing refusal to provide replacement doors and windows for
Residential Sound Insulation Program homeowners whose doors and windows were
installed more than 10 years ago—and are therefore out of warranty.
Several
aldermen, including Quinn, have publicly requested that CDA ensure replacement
of all faulty doors and windows, regardless of warranty.
Other
requests from aldermen, including one that CDA conduct a mass-mailing to all
10,000-plus RSIP households to alert them to the ongoing situation, have not
been responded to.
A
CDA promise to respond to a request for an update on the
number of RSIP households with confirmed foul odors has gone unfulfilled.
In
addition to the online petition, Quinn joined three aldermanic
colleagues—Edward M. Burke (14th), Michael R. Zalewski (23rd)
and Raymond Lopez (15th)—in amending the City Code to enable the
Department of Aviation to conduct testing on all RSIP windows and doors that
have been found to be emitting odors. Further, the new language mandates that
CDA test a minimum of 10 percent of all RSIP households where windows and doors
are found to emit odors.
Currently,
CDA is testing the indoor air quality of nine Midway area homes. The new
ordinance, if passed, would require that number to rise as the number of confirmed
cases rises.
“The
language of this ordinance memorializes what we have asked the Aviation
Department to do,” Quinn said.
The
move was praised by Chrysler Village homeowner Pam Zidarich, who said she welcomes “any significant move designed to make the
Chicago Department of Aviation stop turning a deaf ear to us and get serious
about its promise of transparency. We should not have to hold their feet to the
fire; but they’re making us do it, so we will.”
Zidarich
is the founder of the non-profit Midway Defective Window Recipients, a group of
Southwest Sides homeowners who are concerned about the RSIP windows and doors
they have received.
MDWR
recently held its first public meeting, and plans a second for 6:30 to 8:30
p.m. Monday, Dec. 11 at West Lawn Park, 4233 W. 65th St. The public
is invited.
The
defective windows and doors have been provided to homeowners near Midway and
O’Hare in recent years through the Chicago Department of Aviation’s Residential
Sound Insulation Program, an initiative designed to improve the quality of life
for people living near the airports by reducing jet-engine noise in their
homes.
Homeowner
concern over RSIP windows and doors was first reported exclusively by the Southwest
News-Herald in early June, with a number of front-page follow-ups as the story
developed over the summer and fall.
While
the large majority of RSIP homeowners have not voiced complaints, a small
minority—about 250 households--report that their windows and doors are emitting
foul-smelling fumes. Homeowners, some of whom have been diagnosed with cancer
in recent years, are highly concerned that the fumes may be toxic—causing or at
least exacerbating their serious illness, and possibly having long-term,
negative effects on the health of their children.
It
appears that years of exposure to heat and sunlight may be breaking down the
materials used in the manufacture of the windows and frames. One of those
materials is polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a known carcinogen banned in some
countries outside the U.S.
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