Mayor Mike Taken To Court for 91st Marine Transfer Station
By Daniel Edward Rosen June 26, 2012 8:30 am
reprintsMayor Michael Bloomberg, along with the the city Department of Sanitation and the state Department of Environmental Conservation, have been formally sued by a group lead by State Assemblyman Micah Kellner (D-Upper East Side/Yorkville/Roosevelt Island) aimed at putting an end to the proposed East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station.
The station, which has been in the planning stages for 10 years and would collect waste in place of shipping Manhattan’s trash to New Jersey, had been largely criticized by residents for possibly causing unsafe and unsanitary living conditions for the Upper East Side. The biggest concern has been the Marine Transfer Station’s proximity to the Asphalt Green recreation center, which offers child-friendly amenities like a soccer pitch and playground.
The lawsuit was filed yesterday and demands that a temporary restraining order be placed on the Marine Transfer Station, which will reportedly cost the city $554 million over the next 20 years.
The lawsuit also claims that Mayor Bloomberg and his administration failed to file an amendment to its Solid Waste Management Plan with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, according to a press release that announced the lawsuit’s filing.
The aim of the lawsuit, in the end, is to “force a new Environmental Impact Statement and a vote by the City Council on a new Solid Waste Management Plan,” according to the plan.
“Mayor Bloomberg is so arrogant that he thinks he can violate environmental law and no one will stop him,” said Assemblyman Kellner in a statement. “The Mayor has left me no choice but to go to court to protect the children, whose park he plans to ruin,” he added.
A group lead by Assemblyman Kellner and includes The Gracie Point Community Council and Residents for Sane Trash Solutions claim the new 24-hour marine waste station would bring upwards to 4,290 tons of trash daily.
“We feel it’s the right lawsuit at the right time,” Jed Garfield, president of Residents for Sane Trash Solutions, told The Commercial Observer. “I personally feel very strongly that residential neighborhoods should not be subjected to heavy industrial waste stations,” he added.
A spokeswoman for the City Law Department confirmed that it had received the lawsuit on Monday morning and would be meeting with Assemblyman Kellner and company’s attorneys before Judge Barbara Jaffe at State Supreme Court tomorrow morning.
