Can a park rise from a trash heap in West Harlem? (CapitalNewYork - June 5, 2014) #Harlem #EnvironmentalEducation #NutritionalEducation News: Community Board 9 Manhattan, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, Gale Brewer, Mark D. Levine EXCERPT: Its been a long time since trash trucks lined up along the 135th Street marine transfer station, filling the West Harlem air with diesel fumes and the stench of garbage. After shutting down the plant in 1998, the city threatened to reopen it in 2003, but environmental and community groups organized in protest and then-mayor Michael Bloomberg relented in a significant victory for West Harlem. Now, many of those same groups are about to wage a new campaign—to turn the abandoned site into a park, or perhaps even a community garden. Community Board 9 is pleased to be here after such a long journey, the groups president, the Rev. Georgette Morgan-Thomas, said Wednesday at a news conference hosted by WE ACT For Environmental Justice, adding that the board wants to transfer the transfer station into a beautiful park. But theres a long way to go before the park becomes a reality. The shell of the former transfer station juts out into the Hudson River. Large swaths of metal have been stripped from the sides of the building for use as scrap. Even the stairs have been pried loose by determined scrap traders. Surrounded by a barbed wire fence, the site is a long-standing eyesore on what could be a premium piece of uptown waterfront property. Cleaning up the site could cost tens of millions of dollars. Today, WE ACT and CB9, along with the New York League of Conservation Voters will host a town hall meeting at the Manhattan Pentecostal Church on 125th Street to gather community input on what developing a park on the site will entail. This community, West Harlem, for decades has been subject to more than its fair share of environmental threats, Councilman Mark Levine said. We have a non-negotiable demand that this be a project that is driven from the ground up. We knocked on over 5,000 doors in this community, said NYLCV sustainability director Ya-Ting Liu.The overwhelming response is that this is a resource, a treasure and an opportunity and now is the time to seize that. Levine and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer said they would be pushing for federal, state, city and private dollars to invest in the site. Theres a lot of excitement about waterfront access, Brewer said. You really can find the resources. Brewer said other pier projects in which she has been involved have cost between $20 million and $100 million. Some ideas are already percolating with community members, including an aquaponic farm, an ecological education center, and fitness and recreation facilities. We still have a major problem with being able to eat healthy, conveniently, Morgan-Thomas said after the news conference, referring to the possibility of a farm at the site. Alicia Barksdale, who heads up the tenant organization in a building that overlooks the site, echoed the need for some kind of agriculture and education program, saying that if children could learn more about organic foods and growing they could bring that knowledge back to their families.
Posted on: Mon, 09 Jun 2014 21:30:36 +0000
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