Editorial

New Recruits Needed in Filtration War

Many residents of the northwest Bronx are breathing a deep sigh of relief now that the Jerome Park Reservoir appears to be permanently banished from the city's filtration sights.

For good reason. Building at that site would have driven a knife through the heart of the vibrant residential and educational communities that surround the reservoir. It would have encouraged people to move from the area and discouraged others from moving in.

The fact that the city's intention to put the plant in Jerome Park seemed virtually set in stone only a couple of years ago is a testament to what is probably hundreds of thousands of hours of collective activism on the part of community residents. We congratulate everyone involved.

However, it's not the end of the story, only the beginning of a new chapter.

The Mosholu Golf Course site, announced by the Department of Environmental Protection on Tuesday, is less than a few football fields away from Jerome Park and strikes at Norwood more directly. It is less visible to residents than Jerome Park, but within a stone's throw of Van Cortlandt Village, Woodlawn and Norwood. In light of their victory, Van Cortlandt Village and Kingsbridge Heights residents might be tempted to tone down their role in fighting the filtration plant. They deserve a rest, but we believe many of the impacts they feared at Jerome Park, (their front yard), are replicated at the golf course (their backyard). So we hope they stay involved in whatever way they can.

That said, it is clearly time for more Norwood residents to come to the fore of this battle and move into positions of leadership, because building at the golf course will have the greatest impact on this area. Residents who use the park, live near it, shop near it, or drive near it, will be affected by years of construction.

The DEP says adverse impacts on the community will be negligible, but they said the same about Jerome Park. The DEP has also not made the study of filtration avoidance a priority, even though its commissioner told The New York Times in May that it would. "If I can show them logic, common sense and science," DEP chief Joel Miele told the Times, "they [federal and state regulators] will be able to go back to the powers that be and say, 'Hey, this is the right thing.'" If Miele was serious, he needs to put his staff to work an add his voice to those of elected officials calling loudly for filtration avoidance.

It's also not clear why the city passed up the opportunity to put the plant in Westchester where the impact would have truly been the smallest (despite what the DEP says) on residential neighborhoods.

These are all questions that deserve real answers from the DEP. Norwood residents, already have a head start organizing themselves because the Mosholu Woodlawn South Community Coalition and other community organizations are up to speed on the issue. But if there is to be a real debate and a real fight, these groups need a great deal of help.

A good start would be to attend the meeting at Mosholu Montefiore Community Center on Dec. 15 at 7 p.m The center is located at 3450 DeKalb Ave. at the corner of East Gun Hill Road. Call the Mosholu Woodlawn South Community Coalition at 655-1054 for more information.

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