Expressing Concern Over Prospective Sanitation Garage at Brookdale Campus

On December 23, 2011, I joined New York City Council Member Dan Garodnick and New York State Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh in sending a letter to Deputy Mayor Robert Steel and Seth Pinsky, president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC), conveying our concern regarding the prospective siting of a sanitation garage on the Brookdale Campus of Hunter College.  While no formal proposal has been made, it had come to our attention that EDC was considering such a plan.  We questioned the appropriateness of sandwiching a sanitation garage between the Veterans Administration and Bellevue Hospitals and not far from NYU Medical School and an Administration for Children’s Services facility.  In fact, it appears sanitation truck routes would have to pass immediately in front of the Bellevue Hospital Emergency Room, potentially creating undue health and safety risks for patients.  In the very troubling event that EDC pursues this idea, it must carefully consider the site’s proximity to these health care facilities and the adverse impacts it may have on the community.