If city planners have their way, in 2013 the Sanitation Department will begin transferring 2,100 tons of waste every day from stations on the Queens border. One facility will be built in College Point, the other in Sunnyside.
Queens leaders have expressed concerns about the plans. Both facilities will be built near residential neighborhoods. These communities need to know the city has a plan for trucking garbage in from every point in Queens without disrupting the neighborhoods. College Point and Sunnyside will not smell like a dump if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction.
The College Point facility will be a marine transfer station. The garbage will be placed in containers and taken out on barges. The Sunnyside facility will transfer trash containers by rail. The goal is to eliminate the need to take trash containers out of the borough by truck.
The trains will pass through or close to residential neighborhoods. There is fear the marine transfer could increase the bird population near LaGuardia Airport.
We have not heard of a better way of getting trash out of Queens. Nevertheless, Marshall and community leaders need to stay involved in every step of the process to make certain the transfer stations do not have a negative impact on the quality of life in College Point and Sunnyside.
There is time to make certain the job is done right.
Out of the Frying Pan
The state is looking for a company to operate a video lottery casino at Aqueduct Racetrack. At first the state contract was awarded to the Aqueduct Entertainment Group, based in the Queens area. AEG won and lost the contract.
Unfortunately, two of the remaining six bidders are not even based in this country. That means much of the money thrown down the slot machines would be headed to other countries.
One of the companies, the Genting Group, is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Despite the fact Genting runs successful casinos in the United Kingdom, we are suspicious of any business headquartered in Malaysia.
Now that AEG is out of the running, we hope a company in the states will win the contract. This business must be regulated. Allowing a foreign company to run this casino would make regulation harder.
