By Scott Sieber
Miller gave in to the mayor's trash plan after several weeks of rangling over the locations of other waste transfer stations in the city, mainly one proposed for his Upper East Side district.Last week Miller – one of Bloomberg's Democratic challengers – came up two votes shy of the necessary 34 votes to override the Republican mayor's veto, prompting the speaker to let the veto stand and in effect allowing it to proceed. “It's extremely dis a pointing that the mayor has refused to negotiate a comprehensive and responsible citywide plan for waste management,” Miller said in a statement.Over the past month, plans for what to do with the 50,000 tons of trash hauled through the city streets each day have been knocked back and forth between Miller and Bloomberg, culminating in a City Council vote-down of the mayor's plan and a subsequent veto by the mayor. The trash would be shipped on barges to sites in the northeast.The mayor's plan calls for the activation of four waterfront waste transfer stations, including one in College Point, which was not voted on by the Council in the original vote because Community Board 7 already had approved the site. Although given the go-ahead by CB 7, the College Point plan still rested on the shoulders of the entire plan, according to Bloomberg spokesman Jordan Barowitz, which included two sites in Brooklyn and one in Miller's Upper East Side District on 91st Street. Miller said the solid waste facility proposed in Manhattan, located next to a park, was unsuitable for a residential area, but the mayor claimed there were other motivations. “Gifford Miller expressed opposition to the plan mainly because one of the stations is in his district,” said Barowitz the week leading up to the veto. “The speaker's thrown everything, including the kitchen sink, at the plan and nothing sticks to it.”Bloomberg now has to work with the Council to hammer out the details of the plan, which is supported by several health and environmental groups.”I look forward to working with the City Council on passing the Solid Waste Management Plan, an environmentally sound and fair system for disposing of our city's trash which will mean cleaner air and safer streets for all New Yorkers,” Bloomberg said in a statement. Reach reporter Scott Sieber by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 7818-229-0300, Ext. 138.
