| Releases & Statements
New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and elected
officials from the Bronx today called upon the City to take immediate
action to remove illegally parked, foul-smelling diesel trucks
filled with solid waste from a lot next to an 800-student high
school in the Soundview neighborhood.
“These trucks present a double-edged threat to the community
because they emit pollutants and because they are filled with
solid waste. They have no business near a school or residential
community. Residents say they can smell the garbage from blocks
away,” Gotbaum said.
Gotbaum was joined by Council Member Maria del Carmen Arroyo,
Council Member Anabel Palma, Community Board 9 Chairman Enrique
Vega, Community Board 9 District Manager Francisco Gonzalez and
members of the Concerned Residents Organization outside 1440 Story
Avenue, the site of the lot and the high school.
"The former Loral Electronics site is of serious concern
to our community, the current use of the site in particular. The
owner(s) of the property are using it to park large trucks filled
with solid waste. Trucks are left, filled with waste, parked in
the lot overnight. This has a serious environmental impact and
exacerbates an already critical quality of life problem in the
community. The site is located within close proximity to a large
residential area, which is already suffering the maladies associated
with the pollution and stench created by the various waste transfer
stations and the sewage treatment plant in the Hunts Point area.
We are calling on the owner(s) to be good neighbors and to cooperate
with the community. We are asking them to change the use of the
site, and to help us make our community a better place to live,
work and play,” Arroyo said.
"We have to make a commitment as a city that the single highest
priority is the health and safety of our children. The situation
at 1440 Story Ave. is a prime example of this city's failure to
commit to that priority. Parking sanitation trucks on the same
property as an educational facility is wrong and we as a community
and as a city must stand up and say ‘No’. If our children
can not even be assured of a clean healthy space to learn and
grow how can we ever expect them to flourish into productive positive
adults,” Palma said.
“Community Board 9 has joined with the Concerned Citizens
Organization and elected officials in this effort against the
diesel trucks out of concern for the health and well being of
the residents and students who are being affected. These tractor
trailers are nuisances and health hazards because of the noise
they make and the material they carry,” Gonzalez said.
“The raw waste in the trucks
and the stench of the fumes from the idling trucks are stinking
up the community. This should not be happening in a neighborhood
with such high rates of cancer and asthma. We can’t even
open our windows because of it,” said Concerned Residents
Organization Chairperson Mary McKinney.
Gotbaum recently wrote a letter to the Department of Buildings,
Department of Sanitation, Department of Transportation, and Department
of Environmental Protection, calling on them to remove the trucks,
which illegally park and idle next to the Soundview Educational
Complex. Two 19-story Mitchell-Lama buildings located near the
educational complex are also affected by the trucks.
In the letter, Gotbaum writes, “I have heard reports that
up to 30 trucks at a time have been parked on this property. These
are large tractor-size trucks with a high level of emissions and
enough weight to break down the contaminated soil, causing toxins
to stir in the air. The asthma rate in the neighborhood is high
to begin with, and a concentration of diesel fumes can only make
it worse.”
In her letter and at the news conference,
Gotbaum pointed out two Department of Buildings violations for
“dead storage” and illegal truck parking, which strengthens
the argument that diesel trucks do not belong on this property.
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