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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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