Baby's Mold-Infested Nursery In Murray Hill Inspires New Bill

MURRAY HILL, NY — A Murray Hill dad's battle with his baby's mold-infested nursery has inspired a new City Council bill meant to more quickly alert tenants to potentially dangerous mold in their apartments.

The problems began nearly a year ago, when an upstairs leak in Jarret Berg's apartment spiraled into a monthslong issue, leaving water stains on the walls and buckled floorboards in his child's nursery.

His building management company, Rose Terra, recently renamed Allied Partners, hired a company called ALC Environmental to test for mold at Berg's request. He was afraid that spores may be floating where his child plays and sleeps.

But it took nearly six weeks after the inspection to get the reports — which were dated four days after testing was done in his East 38th Street home, according to records provided to Patch.

Berg says his "heart sank" when he discovered the results: The nursery and its closet and bathroom contained high levels of mold that would require thousands of dollars worth of work to repair, the reports show.

"ALC had known about the hazardous condition for six weeks and didn't disclose it to our family," said Berg, a lawyer and co-founder of Vote Early NY. His family fled for a month while the work was underway.

"I realized then that my kid was playing in that room at that moment and had played and slept in that space for six weeks longer than necessary," he said.

Berg was first told reports couldn't be obtained from the environmental company until the management company paid for them, but he later heard the payment had been made weeks earlier, according to the Murray Hill dad.

"I did everything an attentive and vigilant parent could do to raise this concern and put urgency behind my requests," he said. "Despite that, my family's health was put at risk because of either greed or gross incompetence and probably both."

Though his child hasn't shown any health issues attributable to mold — known to spark asthma symptoms and allergies or other respiratory problems — Berg says representatives for both companies didn't explain the delays.

A representative for ALC told Patch the company couldn't comment without authorization from the management company, but felt it had met its obligations. Rose Terra/Allied Partners did not respond to multiple requests for comment this week.

His story inspired City Council Member Keith Powers to introduce a bill this fall aimed to speed up when tenants are alerted to high levels of mold.

"I thought it was important that we address his particular situation in a way that ensures other people in a similar situation don't find out too late about a mold situation in an apartment, or in their building, rather, that can have a real impact on them," said Powers, who represents Murray Hill, Stuyvesant Town and parts of the Upper East Side.

The bill would require mold assessors to tell the landlord within 24 hours of finding possibly dangerous levels of mold, and then require the landlord to inform the tenant within 24 hours.

A City Council hearing hasn't been scheduled, but Powers says his office is beginning outreach to promote it and awaits feedback from all stakeholders. City Council Speaker Corey Johnson is monitoring the bill through the legislative process, according to a spokesperson for Johnson.

Powers hopes that introducing the bill draws other tenants to share similar experiences.

"We are tackling his issue on a more citywide level," he said. "I haven't heard from others yet but I feel once we get the word out about the new legislation that we'll hear from more folks."

"(W)e are going to make sure this is made illegal if it's not illegal already," Berg said.