More from UA on the mold.....

[Guest guest]

Well I feel alittle better about this story. I think UA waited too

long to embrace the mold problem. I also think they will never live

down the fact that they said the mold on my ceilings was

food....anything to avoid the truth.

Mold story true, ex-resident says

By Garrecht Gassen

Arizona Daily Star

UA student Charla Carr understands the frustration

City residents feel after learning their

homes will be shut down at the end of summer.

But she's also happy to hear the news. She blames mold

in her City apartment for causing her

6-year-old daughter's asthma.

" You've got to look at the bigger picture, " Carr said

yesterday. " Nobody should have to go through what we

went through. "

City residents learned Friday that mold

was found in at least 20 apartments tested at the

complex.

They will have to move out by Aug. 31 and find

housing on their own after University of Arizona

officials decided the $2.5 million price tag to renovate

the more than 350 units was too much.

The UA announced it would provide moving

allowances to help offset the cost of relocating. The

allowances ranged from $1,250 for people in studio

apartments to $1,550 for families in three-bedroom

units.

Some students are protesting the closure, saying the

mold story is just a cover for the UA wanting sell the

land and raze the complex.

The UA does plan to sell the property, a plan

Residence Life Director Jim Van Arsdel said has been

in the works since at least last summer and is unrelated

to the mold. Even if all or part of the property is sold,

however, new student housing is expected to be built on

the site, university officials said.

Carr said her experience shows the mold problem is

real. Van Arsdel said it was health problems with

Carr's daughter and another resident that prompted the

UA to look at the mold problem.

The single mother's experience with City

did not get off to a great start. Last August, Carr and her

daughter e sold most of their possessions, packed

the rest and moved 1,800 miles from the Pacific

Northwest.

They moved into the University of Arizona's graduate

and family housing complex City, at the

northwest corner of East Fort Lowell Road and North

Columbus Boulevard.

It's a large, barren group of low-slung lime-green-block

apartment buildings with a history of sewage backups

and bug infestations.

City is also a community of mostly

graduate and international students where residents let

their children play outside without worry. Many patios

are adorned with flowers and children's toys.

Some residents are fighting to keep the complex open

until new family housing can be built.

" I'm a single parent, and I was living in Seattle; I didn't

have the money to fly down and check it all out, " Carr

said, referring to City. " I took their word

for it over the phone. "

Carr's housewarming was not a happy experience.

" I remember looking at the 26 boxes stacked in my

living room and then looking around, " Carr said.

" There were dead roaches everywhere. "

But Carr said the real problems started when she

noticed her daughter coughing through the night.

" e was up almost all night with a dry, hacking

cough, " she said. Both Carr and her daughter noticed

diarrhea, and e also complained of stomach pain.

She tried over-the-counter medications, but nothing

worked. By October the cough was " like a bark,

almost. "

At first she thought their symptoms were related to a

new climate.

A doctor diagnosed e with asthma last November.

" I was like what? How the hell did my kid get asthma? "

Carr said.

Puzzled by the diagnosis, Carr said she started looking

around the apartment for clues.

" I looked at the ceiling and noticed brown spots, " she

said.

Carr then asked that her apartment be inspected.

An examination found mold in the air-handling system

and contractors removed fiberglass in the system,

which can act as a mold farm of sorts. They also

cleaned other components.

Residents cannot access the air-handling systems

because utility closets are padlocked by

City management.

Pipe insulation contains asbestos, and according to Van

Arsdel, people would use the closets for storage and

that could expose them to asbestos, a carcinogen that

can cause lung disease.

The report from the UA Department of Risk

Management and Safety, dated Nov. 29, 1999, states

that the ceiling spots did " not appear to be mold

growth, but rather historic splash stains from food or

other product. "

Van Arsdel said mold has been a problem at

City before this year. Part of the difficulty

is that only recently has mold become known as a

serious health hazard.

" Historically, we thought we were dealing with a

problem with condensation collecting underneath the

windows and dripping onto the carpet below, " he said.

" You could see it on the walls, but until very recently,

my understanding of dealing with it is that you get out

some cleaner with bleach, wash the walls, and life goes

on.

" We still do some of that, but there is just a heightened

sense of importance now, " Van Arsdel said.

Carr decided to leave the complex and moved out in

December. " This affected my daughter. She might have

asthma for her entire life, " Carr said.

Skiles, the other resident who filed

complaints that she became ill from mold exposure, has

moved out of state and could not be reached for

comment yesterday.