From:            llbeal@aol.com
To:                Commission-Public-Records
Subject:           Re: [EXTERNAL] T117 meeting speaking today
Date:              Tuesday, April 28, 2020 11:38:47 AM
Attachments:      image002.png
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Thank you. Here is my comment:

My name is Liana Beal. I am the daughter of John Beal, who has championed and advocated
for a clean & restored river & shoreline. He moved his family here around 1976 and called
South Park home. I remember being an excited 9 year old, living nearly a block or so away
from the Duwamish River on Southern St. I had assumed all rivers had a beautifully green
shoreline and pristine water as other rivers, such as the Green River. I was excited to play in
and around it. When I first went up to the river, planning to go in and play on the banks, many
children warned me never to go in the river. The water is bad for you. You would come out
with a terrible rash & hurt your feet on the sharp discarded debris. I was perplexed, as I
looked out from the shore, seeing large, smelly industry & no greenery along the banks. Only
large, man-placed rocks, years of dumped debris, such as broken concrete, refrigerators full of
dead fish, dumped cars, etc. How does a river become this way?
You then soon see large oil trucks pouring oil on the roads nearby. You are told it is to keep
the dirt down. I thought it was odd they would do this so late at night. During the day, the
neighborhood children, including myself and siblings would play on those oiled streets &
shoreline. Sometimes we were barefoot, not knowing there were PCBs and Dioxins freshly
poured onto them. The company was actively disposing of their used contaminated oil on our
neighborhood streets, as well as along the river shoreline and surrounding area. 
Once my father found out this was happening, he turned them in. He advocated for the
Duwamish river and river banks from that point forward, for the remainder of his life.
Unfortunately, due to the pollution from the asphalt company, there have been casualties,
such as dead fish, animals, beloved pets with cancer and sores on their feet. My sister's
childhood best friend, was diagnosed with a bone cancer that was likely caused by Dioxin
exposure, playing along the contaminated shoreline and streets. His spine was like cheddar
cheese and needed a spinal fusion. He died several years ago, at a young age, leaving a wife
and young children. 
I applaud the actions of the clean up of the T117 site & am so grateful. There are very few
clean and restored sites along the Duwamish River. This is one of the most contaminated
shoreline locations in our neighborhood. I raised my son for a few years just a block or so
away on Donovan St. from the former asphalt company, not realizing we were living on
contaminated soil. I recently purchased my childhood home on Southern St. It would be very
beneficial for South Park to see this shoreline restored to an original state, probably for the
first time in 100 years. While my father will never see this happen, hopefully his grown

children will be able to take his grandchildren to a restored habitat along the Duwamish river,
having the ability to see a living shoreline, rather than a dead shoreline, like we did.
Liana Beal  South Park Resident

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