Kellner to City: Don't Flood Our Community with Garbage
I am delighted to announce that my legislation ( A.919 ) prohibiting a marine transfer station from being located within 800 feet of a public housing project has passed the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee. I am continuing to fight to bring this bill to the floor of the Assembly for a vote.
The East 91st Street MTS is part of a Solid Waste Management Plan that was conceived by the City of New York with admirable intentions - among them, the notion that solid waste management should be distributed evenly across the city, so as not to unduly burden any particular population. But these good intentions have led the City to pursue an MTS siting plan in which ideology trumps reality, and the City's commitment to an abstract big picture has blinded it to the fact that East 91st Street is, for a multitude of reasons, a completely inappropriate place at which to construct a marine transfer station.
Located in the midst of one of the densest residential areas, two new schools, a public housing development, three parks, and centered in a flood plain, the East 91st Street MTS location would be extremely detrimental to the surrounding community.
According to the New York City Department of Health, East Harlem has the highest rate of child hospitalization for asthma and other respiratory ailments in all of New York City. The proposed East 91st Street MTS will be situated less than six blocks from this community.
Having garbage trucks that spew noxious fumes and leak trash driving past your home all day every day is an undue burden that low-income residents of public housing should not be saddled with. All New Yorkers deserve to be protected from environmental injustice. My bill will ensure that the City creates a more responsible plan for waste management.
In another effort to prohibit the construction of the MTS, I, along with my colleagues on the East Side, have called upon the United States Army Corps of Engineers to hold a public hearing following the City's recently submitted mitigation plan for the MTS. In light of the significant impact this project will have on the East Side, the public needs to have the opportunity to voice their concerns. The Army Corps of Engineers ultimately provides the permit for the MTS, and it vital that they understand the demonstrable negative impact this project will have on the community.