A Hunters Point Mystery

IT'S HARD TO believe that the high incidence of sickness and disease among residents of four Hunters Point housing complexes is unrelated to the mold and mildew that have been seeping through their apartment walls for years.

Even though scientific evidence can't seem to pin the blame on the slime, it's hard to conclude that the disproportionately large numbers of rashes and respiratory ailments among residents are occurring merely by chance.

It takes some gall for the apartments' owner to offer paint and cosmetic changes as real solutions to apparently horrendous defects. And it must take a measure of indifference for health and government officials to watch it all without leveling penalties or demanding remedies.

Yet, such are the circumstances that allow the 1,000 men, women and children of All Hallows Gardens to suffer continuing bouts of headaches, nosebleeds, coughs and skin infections. Of 604 units, 530 have fungus inside, including 123 with hazardous Stachybotrys mold, 287 have molds that produce toxins and one has a growth that has not been identified.

To be sure, health and building inspectors have issued citations. But water and sewage still ooze into the apartments; fungus and mildew still grow inside,

and residents remain sick while the Department of Housing and Urban Development has paid more than $12 million in subsidies to the owner, the Apartment and Investment Management Co.

Although experts are reluctant to blame the mold for the sickness, residents say they are most ill when in their apartments, less ill when they're not -- and the mold is a common denominator.

Even if mold is not causing their ailments, residents shouldn't have to live with the unsightly slime. The owner must be held accountable, fined and/or have his buildings condemned until the drainage problems are fixed.