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Public Hearing on Miller Highway
Date: Wed., June 30th
Time: 6-9 pm
Place: PS 199 270 W70th St., Manhattan
The Empire State Development Corp. will hold a public hearing on the draft environmental
impact statement on moving the newly rebuilt Miller Highway (see story on pg. 1).
It's important that people attend the meeting to oppose the move, which the community
already largely opposes on environmental and economic grounds (the government just
spent $89 million to rebuild the Miller Highway) and to raise the issue of the devastating
impact on the 59th Street marine transfer station.
As we write this fax newsletter, we've learned that Donald Trump's plan to raze the
Miller Highway would jeopardize the use of the 59th Street marine transfer station.
What's the Miller Highway and what does it have to do with solid waste?
The Miller Highway is the elevated part of the West Side Highway in Manhattan. That
highway stretches from W57th Street to W72nd Street. Donald Trump plans to build
a huge building complex on the West Side which abuts the highway.
In part to appease the west side community, which is not in favor of his project,
Trump has proposed creating a park on the Hudson, right where the highway is situated.
This would require razing the elevated Miller Highway and in its place, building
an underground tunnel to handle the traffic. However, this would make use of the
59th St. marine transfer station impossible. That would mean that most of the garbage
in Manhattan would have to be handled by the marine transfer station in Harlem.
What's OWN's
position? Is this a real threat?
Since OWN believes that retrofitting the existing marine transfer stations is the
City's best option in handling solid waste, the potential closure of one of those
marine transfer stations is unacceptable. As a matter of fact, the 59th St. station
is the most modern and would require the least amount of work to be put to use in
any new solid waste plan for the next century.
While it's true that the Trump project has not gotten approval, we have to take all
threats to the viability of the marine transfer stations seriously. Focussing on
the Trump plan would give the City the perfect excuse not to study the use of marine
transfer stations seriously. Therefore, we're planning to attend the public hearing
on Wednesday, June 30th.
People who have been following the Trump project have not yet become aware of the
problem the highway razing would cause for the marine transfer station, and we'll
be at that meeting to educate everyone about that.
We hope you'll come too. There are more details about the hearing in the sidebar
to the left of this story.
In our last issue, we explained the "scope" process and OWN's position
on it. We testified about the inadequacy of the proposed scope. Since then, the City
has issued the final scope
- the document that will determine what areas the City will look at when it does
its environmental impact statement on solid waste plans. In this document,the City
makes a shocking admission - that it will not have a plan in place in time to meet
the Fresh Kills closure deadline. The City ominously says that it may have to use
its "emergency"
powers to handle the garbage crisis it has created.
In addition, the scope is totally inadequate and doesn't address any concerns raised
by community groups at the well-attended "scope" public hearing at City
Hall.
Barbara Warren, an OWN member who took part in the hearing, had this to say, "The
admission by the City that it can't meet the Fresh Kills closure deadline is devastating
and is something we all feared. OWN told the City that its scope needed a major overhaul.
Significant comments from around the City have been summarily dismissed by the Department
of Sanitation (DOS).
A change in the method of handling solid waste requires that the City look at all
the alternatives available -- waste prevention, recycling and composting are key
alternatives to a garbage export plan. The City attempts to solve this problem by
claiming that all 13,000 tons of DOS collected waste is 'unrecyclable.'
DOS is disregarding clear regulatory mandates in the state Solid Waste Management
Act. This makes any Environmental Impact Statement they do fundamentally flawed,
because SEQRA, the State Environmental Quality Review Act, requires analysis of alternatives.
Merely going through the formality of public
comment is just not enough. The City must get serious about developing a solid waste
plan that will have some level of public support, a plan that will work and not be
legally challenged."
.....REAL TRASH TALK....
A regularly issued fax, produced by the
Organization of Waterfront Neighborhoods,
full of information about what's REALLY happening in New York City's garbage crisis
59th Street Marine Waste Transfer Station Jeopardized by Trump Plan for Miller
Highway; Public Hearing June 30th
Final Scope - City Admits No Plan in Place to Meet Fresh Kills Closure Date
Take Action:
......REAL
TRASH TALK.....
More info: Linda Gross, 718.853.5568; 917.775.1940
Final Scope-City Can't Meet Deadline for
Closure of Fresh Kills - cont'd.
Trump/Miller Highway Plan - cont'd.
No outside printer was used to generate this desktop fax newsletter.
Organization of Waterfront Neighborhoods (OWN)
271 West 125th Street, Suite 303
New York, New York 10027
Tel: 212.866.4120; Fax: 212.866.4511
Vol. 1, Issue 2
"Reduce, Recycle, Retrofit"
Organization of Waterfront Neighborhoods (OWN)
271 West 125th Street, Suite 303
New York, New York 10027
Tel: 212.866.4120; Fax: 212.866.4511
"Reduce, Recycle, Retrofit"
Take Action:
Legal and Action Updates
2 Volume 1, Issue 2 June 29, 1999
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