for breaking news visit www.timesnewsweekly.com JULY 16, 2015 • times 3 CB 5 sounds off on waste-by-rail company’s permits BY ANTHONY GIUDICE [email protected] @A_GiudiceReport After learning of the extended time frame for public comments regarding two waste-by-rail permits, members of Community Board 5 (CB 5) collectively voted against them during its meeting on July 8 at Christ the King High School in Middle Village. The board unanimously recommended denying the renewal of permits for One World Recycling Inc. and Coastal Distribution, which operate through the Fresh Pond Rail Yard that runs through parts of Middle Village, Glendale and Ridgewood, until certain stipulations are met. One World Recycling submitted a permit renewal and modification application to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), requesting to increase their daily throughput from 370 tons to a total of 1,100 tons. The permit submitted by Coastal Distribution requests to expand the type of waste it transports to include commercial and residential waste. “The big problem we have is that somehow the idea of mixing commercial Vincent Arcuri (at podium), chair of Community Board 5 laying out the stipulations for the waste-by-rail permits during Wednesday night’s meeting at Christ the King High School in Middle Village. solid waste and construction and demolition debris…we disagree with that,” said Vincent Arcuri, chair of CB 5. “We also had a concern over the years, and continue to be concerned about the lack of solid covers on the construction and demolition rail cars.” The current method for sealing construction and demolition debris in rail cars is by using a mesh lining to cover the rail car. The mesh leaves the waste vulnerable to rain and pests, as well as subjecting residents of the communities the rail cars pass through to dust, odors and vectors. “We had success with the Department of Sanitation and them getting Waste Management to put the, what I would call, the putrescible or municipal solid waste in sealed containers,” said Gary Giordano, district manager of CB 5. “But the construction and demolition debris continues to move back and forth in our neighborhoods.” Another issue raised by Arcuri about RIDGEWOOD TIMES/Photo by Anthony Giudice waste-by-rail operations is the lack of control of pollution from the rail cars traveling through the communities in CB 5. “We’ve been working with the FRA (Federal Railroad Administration), the state and the CURES (Civics United for Railroad Environmental Solutions) group to basically upgrade all of the engines in the Long Island Rail Road’s transportation department,” Arcuri said. The official stance of CB 5 is that “putrescible solid waste garbage should be transported separately in sealed containers as Waste Management currently does in its agreement to transport city garbage in sealed, odorless containers,” Arcuri said. “Construction and demolition debris should also be loaded and transported in sealed, odorless containers that will totally prevent dust and odors from escaping,” he continued. “There should not be a renewal of, or granting of any permits to these two companies unless the above mentioned items are accomplished. And these companies should certainly not be permitted to expand their operations until these stipulations are included in their permits by New York State DEC.” The board’s next step is to send their recommendation to NYSDEC before Aug. 9, the deadline for the public comment period. Redbird car-turned tourist center closing BY ROBERT POZARYCKI [email protected] @robbpoz The Queens Tourism Center reached the end of the line. The Kew Gardens facility, created out of a retrofitted Redbird subway car that previously ran on the 7 line, shut its doors on the afternoon of July 10 due to lack of use. Opened in 2005, the Queens Tourism Center was built through $500,000 in funds secured by then-Borough President Helen Marshall as a way of attracting visitors from across the globe to Queens. The center operated four hours a day, five days a week. According to a source, it has drawn more than 15,000 visitors in the past five years, many of whom are Queens residents. One possible reason for the light attendance could be its location, as it is on the eastern side of Borough Hall adjacent to the Queens Criminal Court, a long block away from the entrance to the Union Turnpike subway station. “The decision” to close the center was “made recently upon review of the limited utility of the Redbird at its current site,” Queens Borough President Melinda Katz’s spokesperson said. “In the past, it has had on average 12 visitors a day, the majority of whom were not tourists but rather Queens residents on jury duty.” The Redbird was part of a fleet of R33 and R36 subway cars that first took to the tracks between 1959 and 1964. They were originally painted cream and blue for the 1964-65 World’s Fair and later in silver and blue. During the 1980s, MTA New York City Transit painted the cars red in an effort to keep them graffiti-free. Commuters and train enthusiasts started calling them “Redbirds” for the cars’ bright color. The MTA took the Redbirds permanently out of service in 2003 while modernizing its fleet. The Redbird on display in Kew Gardens is one of the last still above sea level; most of the others were sunk in the Atlantic Ocean for use as reefs to help propagate aquatic life. It was not immediately known what would come of the Kew Gardens Redbird. For now, Katz’s spokesperson said, the Redbird will remain at its present location. Photo via Wikimedia Commons The former Redbird subway car-turned-Queens tourist information center in Kew Gardens closed on July 10.
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