MANHATTAN

WASTE STATION EYED AT GANSEVOORT PENINSULA

The Gansevoort Peninsula in the heart of the stylish Meat Packing District could be transformed into a waste station as part of Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to restart the city’s recycling program.

An unused marine waste-transfer station on the peninsula, at Little West 12th and Gansevoort streets, would be replaced with a new environmentally friendly station, an executive of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, Kate Ascher, told Community Board 2’s waterfront committee at a meeting last week. The new transfer station would house up to 35 trucks that would dump metal, glass, plastic, and paper into barges, which would bring the material to the mayor’s proposed $45 million recycling plant in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

The peninsula was tapped as the site for a seven-acre extension of the city’s Hudson River Park that is estimated to cost $330 million, $100 million of which has been secured.

Supporters of the plan to build a marine transfer station on the peninsula say it will not infringe on the proposed park and that in fact it will increase the likelihood the park will be built.

Board members had mixed reactions to the plan, said those who were at the meeting. The committee did not make a recommendation to the full board, which is scheduled to meet Thursday. The Economic Development Corporation did not return calls for comment. Ms. Ascher had told those at the meeting that no decision regarding the marine transfer station had been finalized, and that to create the facility on the Gansevoort Peninsula an amendment by the state Legislature to the Hudson River Act would be needed.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

CITYWIDE

IMMIGRATION HUNGER STRIKE ENDS

A five-day fast to raise awareness of immigration issues will conclude this morning with a ceremony at the African Services Committee in Harlem. During the past week, more than 100 New York immigrants and activists participated in vigils and fasts; some for five days, others just for one day. The action was conducted in conjunction with similar hunger strikes across the country, many of which will continue until September 25.

“We’ve got a lot of feedback from immigrant communities that they were very motivated to see people fighting back in this way,” said the executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, Margie McHugh. “Hundreds of thousands see their issues matter even if it’s hard for the country to focus on anything other than the issue of the day related to the elections.”

Tomorrow many of the activists will continue to Washington, where they will join a national contingent from 50 cities to commemorate the anniversary of last year’s Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, the largest immigrant rights mobilization in American history. One year later, activists say they are frustrated by the lack of response to immigrant issues at all levels of government.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

STATEWIDE

SCHUMER: AIRPORT SCREENING WOEFUL

The screening of America-bound planes at foreign airports is dangerously ineffective, a study by Senator Schumer concluded yesterday.

The study found almost 100 flights a day land at New York area airports from 10 countries known to harbor terrorists. In many of these countries, there are no Transportation Security Administration representatives – there are just 20 worldwide – who are responsible for screening at all foreign airports, Mr. Schumer said. “If terrorists know they can just as easily board a America-bound plane halfway across the world carrying a bomb – and they can – that’s just what they are going to do,” said Mr. Schumer, the chairman of the Senate Democratic Task Force on Homeland and National Security. “We need to crack down on foreign airports to make sure their security measures meet our minimal standards. If they don’t, we need to end those flights immediately.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun