PUBLISHED BY MOSHOLU PRESERVATION CORPORATION

Filtration Hearing Borders on Chaos

By ARCHIE MCLEAN

At a hearing marred by anger and disruption, community residents and union workers had their say last Wednesday regarding the site of a water filtration plant planned for Mosholu Golf Course in Van Cortlandt Park. 

Nearly 1,000 people, about evenly divided between union members and opponents of the project, jammed the auditorium at DeWitt Clinton High School to comment on the New York City Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which looks at three possible sites for the $1.4 billion plant. 

The atmosphere was charged from the start. DEP Commissioner Christopher O. Ward asked repeatedly for calm. "What kind of example are we setting for our children?" he asked amid the commotion. Ward threatened several times to cancel the proceedings. 

The hearing brought together a coalition of plant opponents from across the north Bronx, virtually all of whom want the city to build the facility at the city-owned Eastview site in Westchester. (A hearing a week earlier in Mt. Pleasant attracted only about 40 people and none were from that town. See sidebar.)

They waved colorful signs, and cheered wildly against the plant. Lyn Pyle, of the COVE youth center, summed up neighborhood opinion. "The city's argument for building at Mosholu no longer holds water," she said. Cost, increased traffic, noise and even rats were all mentioned as problems with the Mosholu site. 

Opponents also voiced concern over the effects construction would have on asthma sufferers. "As a public health nurse, I want to ask how many people here have children with asthma?" asked Marsha Newman, a part-time nurse at St. Ann's School in Norwood, which is just blocks from the proposed site. "I'm afraid for those children."

The federally mandated plant, which would take at least eight years to build, would remove 120,000 cubic feet of soil and rock from a nine-acre pit, 80 feet deep. Construction of associated tunnels would extend from Van Cortlandt Park south to the Jerome Park Reservoir. 

Local union members were equally vocal in their support of the Mosholu site. "We need jobs," said Kevin Johns, a member of the International Union of Operating Engineers and a resident of Amalgamated Houses Ð ironically the union-founded housing development where many of the opponents in attendance were from. "We need jobs in the Bronx."

Speakers were often interrupted by yelling from both sides of the auditorium. "Job creation is not the issue, protection of the environment is the issue," said Councilman Oliver Koppell. His words were quickly drowned out by union chants of "You suck, you suck," and near the end, "Time's up, time's up." 

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, also spoke against the plant. "You're here to save our neighborhood," he told plant opponents to great cheers. 

Some politicians spoke to both sides of the crowd. 

Assemblyman Jeffrey Klein said he still had questions. "Is Van Cortlandt cheaper [than Eastview]?" he asked. "What is the burden on surrounding communities?" But he also asked, "What about the jobs? The last time I checked, the Bronx had an unemployment rate of 10 percent." 

Later, Klein said in an interview that he thought that a memorandum of understanding could be drafted that ensured that Bronx workers would be assured jobs on the project.

Klein also said that he had recently met with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who said that unless Bronx legislators agreed with the terms of the project he would withdraw his support.

"He assured me that unless we're happy with the project, it's just not going to happen," Klein said. 

Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr. also had something for both sides.  "The ideal location for a facility of this type would be as far away from the densely populated areas of New York City as possible," he said. Carrion then explained that the Mosholu site would be cheaper in the long-term. If it is selected, he promised to fight for mitigation of environmental impacts. 

Klein and Carrion were among the Bronx politicians who agreed last summer to a $243 million deal for Bronx parks improvements in exchange for siding with the city on the Mosholu site. 

There were tense moments outside the school before the hearing even began. Under the bright lights and microphones of a media scrum, where a coalition of plant opponents had organized a press conference, Koppell and Dinowitz insisted the plant be built in Eastview. Union members encircled them, and chanted, "Build it in the Bronx! Build it in the Bronx!" Police had to separate the groups. 

"This is the kind of thuggery we have to deal with," Dinowitz said above the noise. 

The final Environmental Impact Statement, which will incorporate comments from the hearing, will be released in June. If the park site is chosen, as is widely expected, construction would begin in August.

But the battle won't end there. While the Clinton hearing was probably the last after 12 years of controversy over the plant, which was originally planned for Jerome Park Reservoir, community groups plan to continue fighting. "We will use every legal means available to us to challenge the site," said Elizabeth Cooke Levy, president of the Friends of Van Cortlandt Park, the advocacy group that successfully sued the city the first time they tried to build the plant in the park. Zoning is the most likely issue over which opponents are likely to sue the city.

"We're going to make sure the DEP follows the law," said Karen Argenti of the Friends of Jerome Park Reservoir. 

Jordan Moss contributed to this article.

Back to News Index Page