| September-October 2003 | Issue 196 |
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SUN demands straight talk from county |
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| Julius Lawrence was shocked
when in mid- October, a neighbor showed him a document that listed
his home as one of seven that could be demolished under Onondaga County’s
$54 million plan to build a sewage plant on Syracuse’s South
Side. For four years Syracuse United Neighbors (SUN) has fought the proposed plans to build an aboveground sewage plant the size of a football field that would put chlorine disinfectant tanks right next to homes. Along with fighting the sewage plant itself, members of the organization have been fighting the massive, 12-foot-pipes that would destroy more than four blocks of the local community, taking home after home in its wake. According to the documents shown to Lawrence, his home could be demolished as soon as March 2004 to make way for the construction of the 12-foot-diameter pipe that would serve the plant. Through negotiations with the county, SUN obtained documents that showed the county was considering taking houses over a three block area, yet none of the residents had been notified. On Saturday, Oct. 25 SUN arranged a meeting on the block, and decided to go down and get some answers from the county executive himself, Nick Pirro, the following Wednesday. Pirro was not in his office when SUN arrived, but about fifteen residents stormed his office chanting, “We¹re not selling! We’re fighting!” They were carrying an array of signs with slogans such as “Stop the Sewage Plant Horror” and “Pirro: Stop the Tricks!” Lawrence read a letter signed by tenants, landlords, and neighbors to Deputy County Executive Ed Kochian demanding: 1. Full disclosure in writing of the sewage pipe route and all properties that may be considered for demolition within seven days. 2. Build more storage on the sewage project so that more homes can be saved. Last year, working with the city's engineers, SUN came up with an alternative that would be cleaner, cheaper, and fair to the neighborhood: underground storage tanks instead of an aboveground sewage plant. The storage would be fair to the neighborhood because it wouldn’t be a visible symbol of industrial pollution, which can cause property values to plummet. Also, there are no carcinogenic chemicals involved. Underground storage also wouldn’t dump 77 million gallons of partially treated sewage back into the creek when it rains. Many scientists have published reports suggesting that the creek’s endpoint, Onondaga Lake, will remain the most polluted lake in the United States and will drain over $380 million in Federal, State and County money in the future. Lawrence has lived in his home for more than 20 years and says he is not leaving. He is outraged that the county didn’t inform him that his home could be targeted for demolition. “My home is right in the middle of it,” Lawrence said to the Syracuse Post-Standard. “I don’t want to move. I don’t want them to take my house. I am almost near retirement age and I planned on living there the rest of my life.” According to the Post-Standard, Michael Cunningham, director of the Lake Improvement Office, said the county didn’t notify the seven property owners because design plants for the pipe haven’t been completed and therefore, it is not certain the county will seize those properties. Cunningham said that the county is focused on starting the construction of the aboveground sewage plant, which is expected to begin next spring. “How can they build a sewage plant without knowing where the pipes are going?” said Zac Moore, an organizer at SUN. “We want this disclosed now.” SUN has a tough fight ahead of it. Governor George Pataki personally helped negotiate this deal with the county. SUN members are now asking groups across the country to send a note to decision-makers. |
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Disclosure
is published by the National Training
and Information Center. 312-243-3035 |
