The prior Marine Transfer Station facility (top center) has been removed to make way for a massive 10-story one. Cost to construct and operate the city's only Marine Transfer Station facility in a densely populated residential neighborhood have continured to ballon.
The Bloomberg administration had desperately sought to portray the opposition to the siting of the transfer station on East 91st Street in Yorkville as an "environmental racism" issue.
(Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on images to enlarge.
The Bloomberg administration had desperately sought to portray the opposition to the siting of the transfer station on East 91st Street in Yorkville as an "environmental racism" issue.
(Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on images to enlarge.
Manhattan
By Geoffrey Croft
By Geoffrey Croft
A massive 10-story garbage-transfer station set to be built on East 91st Street in Manhattan would be three times as expensive as the current method of moving Manhattan's residential trash, according to an analysis by the city's Independent Budget Office.
The plan to construct the city's only Marine Transfer Station facility in a densely populated residential neighborhood would cost an estimated $ 632.5 million over two decades, up from an estimated $554.3 million from just 17 months ago.
An analysis by the IBO projected a cost of about $278 per ton to process garbage at the new Yorkville facility in its first year up from $238 in 2012. Trucking the same garbage would cost $93 per ton up from $ 90 dollars per ton in 2012.
Over the 20-year contract for the new Yorkville facility, the city would pay $379.3 million more than it would have under the existing truck-based system, according to the IBO report, up from $ 338 in 2012. Over the 20-year contract the city would pay $253.2 million, compared with $ 632.5 for constructing and operating the new East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station (MTS).
The proposed garbage facility is part of part of then Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Solid Waste Management Plan (SMAP) which was approved by the City Council in 2006. The plan's purported motive is to distribute trash facilities more equitably throughout the city. Manhattan is the only borough without a waste-transfer station.
IBO's report was issued in response to a request in April from City Council member Benjamin Kallos who has been opponent of the plan.
The proposed project has been fiercely opposed by community residents and local elected officials. The opposition however has fallen on deaf ears from two consecutive mayors.
The Bloomberg administration had desperately sought to portray the opposition to the siting of the transfer station their as an "environmental racism" issue.
According to PLEDGE 2 Protect data 62% more minority residents live in this area than at any other proposed site. There are more than 1,100 public housing units – only one other location has any public housing units, and that site’s total is 33.
The MTS would also affect significantly more people than any other proposed marine transfer station, including more people (22,056) than the other six MTS combined and 35 times the number of families living in public housing than the other 6 MTS combined.
In court proceedings the City made a series of bizarre claims meant to avoid seeking certain regulatory approvals including State parkland alienation.
Runners exercise on the Bobby Wagner Walk along the FDR Drive. The previous Marine Transfer Station (above) has been removed (below) to make way for a massive 10-story facility.
In attempting to mislead the court Parks Department lawyer Alessandro Olivieri downplayed the dedicated park and recreational uses and argued among other things that Bobby Wagner Walk is not parkland but instead "primarily used as a thoroughfare.”
Besides representing that the Asphalt Green was not park land Olivieri also argued in the case that DeKovats Playground was not entitled to legal protection because the City never mapped it as parkland and therefor it was not “dedicated” as parkland.
Construction has begun.
(Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on images to enlarge.
Construction has begun.
(Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on images to enlarge.
For a decade residents, environmental groups and elected officials have also been fighting against the proposed SouthWest Brooklyn Waste-Transfer Station in Bensonhurst off of Shore Parkway near Bay 41st Street & 25th Street on a former incinerator site.
The site is adjacent to the 73-acre Calvert Vaux Park and Gravesend Bay which are important bird and fish habitats.
Read More:
IBO - November 5, 2014
Wall Street Journal - May 22, 2012 - By Joseph De Avila
A Walk In The Park - October 12, 2014 - By Tony Ard
