What Is A "Garbage Tree" Anyway?

DPW has plenty of additional space to dump their plowed snow in the Washington Street lot since they expanded the lot to about twice its size last year.  An impressive amount of fill from the creation of the bicycle/pedestrian path along Harry Howard was dumped in the lot over the course of a few months.

If you were unaware of this project, you are probably not alone.  DPW Superintendent Robert Perry never once included mention of the dumping and lot expansion during any of his monthly Common Council meeting reports (at least not that I heard).  Not before the heavy dumping began, not during the project, nor after it was finished.  If he did mention anything about the project, it was brief and not at all comprehensive or insightful.

At a Conservation Advisory Council meeting 3 or 4 months ago, a few council members expressed their surprise and concerns about the lot expansion.  None of them really knew what was going on at the lot; the CAC had not been informed of the expansion ahead of time or at all; many trees had been felled; a small wetland area had been filled in; and the stream to Underhill Pond was now very close to the new fill and lot.  They all expressed the opinion that there was little to no oversight of the dumping at the lot, and that it likely had not adhered to State DEC regulations. One CAC member called the project a "construction debris landfill," since there were large pieces of concrete pipes, huge chunks of asphalt, and other industrial debris mixed in with the dirt.  

Most puzzling and concerning to the council was a stagnant pool of water that suddenly appeared among a stand of spared trees near the DSS driveway.  It appears that the newly expanded lot had backed up a flow of water.  Hillary Hillman, the former CAC director, called it "Underhill Pond North," I believe.  The new CAC director, Rich Volo, decided that some information and explanation about the expanded lot from Robert Perry was in order. Rich concluded, "I will reach out to Rob to invite him to a future meeting."  That meeting has not occurred, and I do not know if Rich has spoken with Mr. Perry about the expanded lot or invited him to a CAC meeting.  My guess is NO and NO.

One day last summer, I noticed Robert Perry was filling the garbage vending machine in front of City Hall.  I asked him if he was keeping track of how many trees had been knocked over at the expanded Washington Street lot.  He responded in his special dismissive manner: "You mean the garbage trees?"

Can you imagine?  After a huge dirt lot expansion project is completed near a wetland and near a stream that runs to a local lake which feeds the Hudson River, with trees knocked over in an ecologically sensitive area, our own Conservation Advisory Council is asking "What happened over there?  Why do we not know anything about this?"  Somehow, the environmentalists among us were all completely uninformed and befuddled.  And, of course, every Common Council member is equally in the dark about what happened at the Washington Street lot and why.  Actually, I don't think anyone besides the DPW Superintendent even knows if the project is finished.