City Of Buffalo Approves $7.2M Settlement With 226 Plaintiffs; Homes Built On Contaminated Soil

In Buffalo, New York, WKBW-TV Channel 7 reports:

• Owning your own home. It's part of the American dream. But, for residents in South Buffalo's Hickory Woods neighborhood it's become a nightmare. "My house that I bought for $70,000 is assessed for $15,000," says Patrick Blake who has lived in Hickory Woods for 11 years. The financial losses are not even the worst of it for many. Blake says his family and his neighbors are suffering serious health problems from living in homes built on contaminated soil. "We were lied to by the E.P.A," says Blake, "We were lied to by the Health Department. The Health Department is probably the worst agency in this state. They do not care about anything but big business. They wanted to get this cleaned up so they could put businesses across the street. They didn't care about us at all."

• Now after many years of battling, at least some help is finally on the way. The Buffalo Common Council on Tuesday approved a $7.2 million settlement for 226 plaintiffs in a lawsuit.

For more, see Multi-Million Dollar Settlement for Hickory Woods (read story) (watch video) (no longer available online).