The soil under Hamilton’s Central Park, off of Bay Street North, is severely contaminated with various chemicals, including benzene, a carcinogenic substance linked to blood cancers. Some of the park’s soil must be removed and disposed of as hazardous waste. Much of the removal is already complete. A clean soil cap is needed to separate users from the contaminated soil, and a groundwater drainage system built to protect neighbouring homes from further contamination. The park was created in 1981 after the old City of Hamilton expropriated the property from Currie Products in 1979. Currie operated a tar processing plant on the site and often stored toxic chemicals on-site as well. Residents near the park warned of contamination for decades. Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment became involved in late 2012 after residents reported substances oozing out of the ground in the park. The Ministry ordered the City of Hamilton to conduct testing, which found chemicals in the soil resulting in further testing. The testing found serious contamination in the soil of Central Park site with “benzene PHC F2-F3, PAHs (acenaphthylene, benzo[a]anthracene, benzo[a]pyrene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[ghi]perylene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, chrysene, dibenz[a,h]anthracene, fluoranthene, indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene, 1- and 2-Methylnaphthalene, pyrene), metals (antimony, arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, zinc)” and “benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylones, PHC F1 and F2, styrene, trichloroethylene, and vinyl chloride, PAHs (acenaphthene, acenaphthylene, fluorene, and naphthalene), and mercury” among the contaminants. “Concentrations of one or more of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes, PHC F2, and/or F3 exceeded the selected MECP Table 5 standards in subsurface soil samples,” reads a report on the testing. The results will not surprise nearby residents who’ve warned about the pollution for decades. Steve Rudaniecki, who had stage IV chronic lymphocytic leukemia in his 50s and was age 61 in 2013, spoke extensively to local media at the time, sharing how others in his home and nearby houses died of brain cancers. Rudaniecki lived in his home bordering the Central Park site his entire life. Speaking to The Hamilton Spectator’s Steve Buist, Rudaniecki stated his mother ‘had had a breast removed because of cancer, and she also had a brain tumour. His stepfather died from a combination of lung and brain cancer.” He told Buist of people experiencing cancers in neighbouring houses and is quoted stating, “Coincidence? I don’t know” “But seven people and four houses in a row?” The park’s contamination is detailed in recent environmental assessments commissioned by the Hamilton City Council and released to potential contractors last week. There have been no public discussions of the contamination at City Council, nor has the City Manager’s Office released the reports in public statements nor media releases. It is unknown how many closed meetings have been held by City Hall to discuss the reports during the past two years. Recent testing confirms that “The maximum measured soil vapour benzene concentration of 83 μg/m3 (SVPI 8-04 measured on October 22, 2018) exceeded the residential sub-slab vapour criteria of 25.3 μg/m3 (residential land use Health Based Indoor Air Criteria adjusted with an attenuation factor of 0.02).” The 2019 and 2021 Environmental Site Assessment reports state the park requires an engineered groundwater mitigation system “to mitigate risks to neighbouring properties through indoor air inhalation from a groundwater source.” The ESA is not a study of health impacts. No studies have been done regarding the health outcomes and effects for nearby residents. The Central Park ESA reports became public last week when City Hall shared them with potential bidders for the contract to complete removal of the most contaminated soil, remediation of the ground, installation of groundwater drainage systems to stop underground toxins from continuing to endanger neighbouring residential homes and complete construction of the new Central Park before the municipal election in fall 2022. The reports confirm the City of Hamilton has known of some contamination for decades. In 1994, during the construction of a children’s play structure, workers found “just one foot beneath the surface, a foul-smelling, tar substance was discovered over an area of about a square yard,” reads a November 23 Hamilton Spectator article from that year. The ESA reports cite a 1994 City of Hamilton memo and state at the time, “The City retained Golder Associates Ltd. to collect one sample from the excavation.