Last weekend I hopped on a bus tour sponsored by Friends of the High Line. Our destination was the former Fresh Kills landfill, on Staten Island, NY. The tour was provided by the New York City Parks and City Planning Departments, which did a solid job explaining the intense process of converting a 3,000 acre landfill into a park flowing with green grass, wildlife, and eventually people, yes, people. Lots of them.
But how does one even begin to transform a place that for 53 years was the dumping ground for New York City’s garbage? The landfill, opened by Robert Moses (we can't seem to dodge this guy) in 1947, received at its peak an average of 11,000 tons of residential and commercial garbage per day. The technology and resources needed to transform an environmental wasteland to an environmental gem are daunting, and one would guess there are countless environmental and health concerns. To ensure the environmental security of the site, Fresh Kills will undergo both the City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR) and State Environmental Quality Review (SEQRA). The environmental review process will analyze the various proposed changes to the park, along with the possible affects on the exposed public, wildlife, and surrounding environment. The various other controls that will be implemented include methane gas control, which the City harvests and sells; leachate collection and treatment, which is the liquid byproduct of the trash decomposition; and a post-closure operation and maintenance plan for a 30-year period, all enforced by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
Fresh Kills Park has become one of the jewels of Mayor Bloomberg's crown. The City and Field Operations, (a private design firm and winner of the competition to design Fresh Kills Park) along with scores of other stakeholders, have created an oasis-like vision for the former dump, and includes 2,315 acres of park land with open public spaces, athletic facilities, field houses, and commercial uses. What is most ironic are plans for revitalizing the natural landscape of the site. Fresh Kills Park will build upon the area’s rich environmental history, a difficult thought given the site's reputation as the world’s largest landfill.
Is it any wonder that a project of this magnitude would take place in New York City? Of course you can argue that no other City in the U.S. would need a 3,000 acre landfill. But the Bloomberg Administration has sustained its axiom that there is no project too big. He and his administration continue to push the limits with bold ideas.
Last weekend I hopped on a bus tour sponsored by Friends of the High Line. Our destination was the former Fresh Kills landfill, on Staten Island, NY. The tour was provided by the New York City Parks and City Planning Departments, which did a solid job explaining the intense process of converting a 3,000 acre landfill into a park flowing with green grass, wildlife, and eventually people, yes, people. Lots of them.
But how does one even begin to transform a place that for 53 years was the dumping ground for New York City’s garbage? The landfill, opened by Robert Moses (we can't seem to dodge this guy) in 1947, received at its peak an average of 11,000 tons of residential and commercial garbage per day. The technology and resources needed to transform an environmental wasteland to an environmental gem are daunting, and one would guess there are countless environmental and health concerns. To ensure the environmental security of the site, Fresh Kills will undergo both the City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR) and State Environmental Quality Review (SEQRA). The environmental review process will analyze the various proposed changes to the park, along with the possible affects on the exposed public, wildlife, and surrounding environment. The various other controls that will be implemented include methane gas control, which the City harvests and sells; leachate collection and treatment, which is the liquid byproduct of the trash decomposition; and a post-closure operation and maintenance plan for a 30-year period, all enforced by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
Fresh Kills Park has become one of the jewels of Mayor Bloomberg's crown. The City and Field Operations, (a private design firm and winner of the competition to design Fresh Kills Park) along with scores of other stakeholders, have created an oasis-like vision for the former dump, and includes 2,315 acres of park land with open public spaces, athletic facilities, field houses, and commercial uses. What is most ironic are plans for revitalizing the natural landscape of the site. Fresh Kills Park will build upon the area’s rich environmental history, a difficult thought given the site's reputation as the world’s largest landfill.
Is it any wonder that a project of this magnitude would take place in New York City? Of course you can argue that no other City in the U.S. would need a 3,000 acre landfill. But the Bloomberg Administration has sustained its axiom that there is no project too big. He and his administration continue to push the limits with bold ideas.
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