Workers suck Styrofoam off a grassy downtown plot

Snow fell on Fort Worth in January, but the tiny white fluff that's been falling in Sundance Square for the past week, swirling on the sidewalks, filling the gutters, sticking to any patch of green and floating in the coffee of sidewalk café patrons, isn't the real stuff. In fact, kids and adults alike had better stay clear of this "snow." It's Styrofoam, and it's dangerous to anyone who suffers from asthma or other upper respiratory ailments, especially in this season of a particularly dangerous flu outbreak, said an Arlington doctor who happened to find himself in the midst of the flurries on a recent weekend.

"This stuff is dangerous when inhaled," said Dr. James Herman, an asthma specialist for 22 years. Herman was in Sundance Square on the weekend of Feb. 23, he said, and saw it blowing for several blocks. "It looked like a heavy concentration to me. ... It's an eye irritant," he said, but worse, when it's inhaled it can damage the respiratory tract, causing serious problems for asthmatics, chronic bronchitis sufferers, and those coming down with the flu."The city ought to be doing something about it," he said.

The Styrofoam particles, ranging in size from the infinitesimal to 2" chunks, are coming from the soon-to-be-completed Bank One building at the corner of Third and Throckmorton streets. The 10-story structure that fills the block is being built by Linbeck Construction for Sundance Square Management, one of the many Bass family enterprises involved in redefining the look of the northern half of downtown Fort Worth -- a look that local architect V. Aubrey Hallum likens to the "architecture of Disneyland or a Hollywood set" because of the favored use of fake stone and painted-on storefronts.

No one from Linbeck or Sundance Square Projects returned repeated calls asking for comment. Linbeck workers were busy on a recent weekday afternoon, using brooms and suction machines to remove bucketsful of the stuff from sidewalks and streets immediately surrounding the construction site.

The new Bank One building's front faŤade, and about half of the rest of the exterior, is real brick laid in attractive patterns. The backside, however, is being covered in huge Styrofoam sheets glued to a material like gypboard, plastered over and then painted to look like stone. This material was used by the Bass' favorite architect, David Schwarz, who is also designing the Bank One building, as a cheap way to remake the exterior of the nearby public library into a classical Greek faŤade, giving it a look of, well, fake stone.

The Sundance Square foam infestation isn't expected to last much longer since the building is nearing completion. It has been produced by workers high above the street sawing and sanding the material as they fit it to the sides of the building. The past week's high winds spread the tiny shreds of debris across most of the city blocks that make up Sundance, filling the air like snowflakes.

The tiny particles stuck to cars, blew into building entries, drifted against buildings and landed in the city's storm sewers. Most disgruntled were those folks who hoped to take advantage of the (former) warm weather and have a cappuccino and a sandwich at the Coffee Haus' outdoor tables, employee Jeff Prange said. "People have been complaining about Styrofoam in their hair and food," he said. "We're just hoping it won't last much longer."

Styrofoam is the brand name for the Dow Chemical product which is a plastic made from polystyrene, a chemical that is absorbed through the lungs, skin, and intestines. It has been listed by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry as a "possible carcinogen" and an irritant that also affects the nervous system. The registry, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, reports on its web page that styrene vapors are most likely to come from building materials and consumer products such as food containers. On Dow Chemical's material safety data sheet, the company lists Styrofoam's hazardous routes into the body as "inhalation and ingestion" and says that it is dangerous to the eyes, may cause choking, is an "upper respiratory tract" irritant, and can cause depression and "irregular heart beats."

The good news, according to the registry, however, is that plastics made from styrene have not been shown to harm fish and wildlife, a fact emphasized by Fort Worth's Environmental Department head Brian Boerner.

"This Styrofoam has been falling for about two weeks," Boerner said, "and we haven't had any reports of bird or fish kills. It doesn't poison the water or get into the fish food chain," because if it gets into rivers, it floats. Boerner acknowledged that the substance doesn't degrade and will be around for eons in solid waste landfills, but he said that it's most troubling aspect is visual.

Asked about the doctor's warning that asthmatics and others with upper respiratory disease could be adversely affected, Boerner said he had no knowledge of such problems. "We would normally call in the health department on these kinds of issues," he said, but this time his department didn't see a need. "It's a short time exposure and the number of people affected is so small," he said. "But we'll start looking at this [the health hazards of Styrofoam] as builders increase the use of the material," he said.

Hallum would like to discourage the use of Styrofoam, even without the health hazards. Besides the fact that it's not aesthetically pleasing, he said, the only time he used it was on a residential home in a high-end wooded neighborhood. Almost as soon as it was finished, the long-time architect said, the side of the house was poked full of holes and had to be patched.

"Woodpeckers love it," he said.