NY Republican Convention Sparks Civil Rights Protest

Syracuse, NY –At Noon, Wednesday, May 19th, members of the Partnership for Onondaga Creek will join a rally at the Sheraton Hotel of Syracuse University, 801 University Avenue, in response to the demolition of 3 homes on W. Castle Street by Onondaga County for a proposed sewage treatment plant at the corner of Midland Avenue and Blaine Street.

Partnership for Onondaga Creek
340 Midland Ave. , Syracuse, NY 13202

For Immediate Release
Tuesday, May 18th, 2004
*Photo Opportunity*

Contact: Zac Moore, Partnership for Onondaga Creek, 445-2273 zdmoore@maxwell.syr.edu

Home Demolitions Spark Creek Partnership Protest
at NY Republican Convention

Syracuse, NY –At Noon, Wednesday, May 19th, members of the Partnership for Onondaga Creek will join a rally at the Sheraton Hotel of Syracuse University, 801 University Avenue, in response to the demolition of 3 homes on W. Castle Street by Onondaga County for a proposed sewage treatment plant at the corner of Midland Avenue and Blaine Street. The rally is being organized by the CNY Labor Federation.

The Partnership has initiated a formal petition drive asking NY Sen. Nancy Larraine Hoffman and Gov. George Pataki to support a more environmentally sound and community friendly solution employing underground storage instead of building sewage plants in the Midland neighborhood and Armory Square business district. In 1997, Gov. Pataki personally helped to negotiate the cleanup of Onondaga Lake and Onondaga Creek. Sen. Hoffmann’s district includes the proposed Midland sewage site. The Partnership has called for Hoffmann to take a formal position against the proposal and support underground storage.

On April 9th, with the assistance of the Syracuse University Public Interest Law Clinic, the Partnership filed an administrative complaint to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Title VI of Federal Civil Rights Act. The EPA is expected to make a ruling on the matter within a month. (please find the enclosed executive summary).

On Sunday, May 2nd, over 300 activists involved in the Midland sewage plant struggle joined with Armory Square merchants and enthusiasts of Onondaga Creek for a “Reclaim Our Creek – Save Our City Rally” downtown. Organizers of the rally said the event was to draw attention to the need for sewage solutions at Midland Ave and Armory Square that enhance rather than diminish homes and businesses in our city.

At the rally, members of the Partnership provided information on the plungers for sale at participating Armory Square merchants including the One-20 Salon. For more information, contact Karin Vladimir (472-1799). Merchants agreed to sell the decorative plungers as a symbolic gesture of the economic damage that an above-ground sewage plant may cause to their businesses and the loss to an important asset to the city if partially treated sewage is dumped into Onondaga Creek.

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Title VI Administrative Complaint

on Behalf of the Partnership for Onondaga Creek

- Filed April 9, 2004 by the Syracuse University

Public Interest Law Firm

Executive Summary

The Partnership of Onondaga Creek (“POC”) files this complaint under Title VI and its implementing regulations to challenge the collective actions of Onondaga County (“the County”) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) in selecting and approving the placement of an above ground, regional treatment facility (“RTF” or the “Midland Avenue RTF”) on Syracuse’s Southside. The complaint alleges that the decision of the County and the DEC will discriminate against the predominantly African-American residents of the Midland Avenue community both because of the siting and the RTF’s impacts on Onondaga Creek.

The POC is an alliance of neighborhood residents and others who have come together with the shared goal of restoring Onondaga Creek and restoring environmental justice to the Creek communities on the Southside. They are represented in this matter by the Public Interest Law Firm I (“PILF I”) of the Clinical Legal Education Program at Syracuse University College of Law.

Key Aspects of the Complaint:

• This project violates Title VI and its regulations because neither the County nor DEC provided adequate and effective public participation opportunities. Public participation was inadequate because: (1) public participation was offered only after a preferred treatment method had been selected, limiting the effectiveness of public comment; (2) certain phases of the project have not yet been finalized, effectively precluding effective public comment on those decisions; (3) the timeframe for public comment and the search for alternative technologies was shortened by the County’s voluntary decision to move construction deadlines forwar! d; and (4) information about the RTF was presented in a form that was not readily understood by the community.

• The County and the DEC’s decision to approve this project violates Title VI and its regulations because it imposes disparate and adverse impacts on the predominantly African-American community in which the RTF is sited. These disparate, adverse impacts include: (1) disrupting the community’s efforts to restore Onondaga Creek through the continued discharges of untreated and partially treated sewage, which may contain chlorination by-products, phosphorus, ammonia, other nutrients and bacteria; (2) imposing an incompatible use on a predominantly residential community and adding to the creeping industrialization threatening the residential character of the area; and (3) potentially ex! posing community members to environmental toxins without consideration of the cumulative impacts of these chemicals in combination with existing pollution in the area or in light of the health-related vulnerabilities of the exposed community.

• The County and DEC’s decision to approve the RTF violates Title VI and its regulations, because it rejects a feasible, less discriminatory alternative. Rather than simply standing in opposition to this project, the POC developed an alternative proposal, a combination of underground storage and sewer separation, which avoided most of the adverse impacts of the planned RTF. Despite the fact that its own engineering consultants endorsed this technique as a viable CSO control option in another location, the County rejected the alternative and affirmed its selection of the more environmentally and socially disruptive RTF.

Key evidence provided within the complaint include:

· 1991 County Swirler Plans Originated; 1998 Public Participation Began. Onondaga County decided to use ! vortex swirlers as the appropriate technology for their sewage projects in 1991, yet public participation did not occur until 1998, after firms had been contracted for the project and key plans developed and submitted to the County (pp. 10-11).

· Deadline Manipulation Undermined Public Participation, National Search for Alternatives. The County undermined public participation by voluntarily moving the legal deadlines to begin construction of the Midland RTF forward by 4 years. Residents believe that this compression was also a major factor in the cancellation of a national search for alternatives and requests for proposals conducted by the Army Corps of Engineers. Over time, however, the deadlines returned to their original dates. (p. 12.)

· Adequate and Timely Public Participation Continues to be Impeded. Residents continue to request specific details regarding the future of their homes and the location of the final phase of the Midland project, which involves the laying of conveyance pipes 9 to 12 feet in diameter, stretching over a mile in length and connect to the RTF. (p. 12.)

· Schiller Park Storage Plan. In a May 2001 report, Onondaga County supported the planning of a storage system analogous to the community’s proposed! storage alternative in Schiller Park, a Syracuse city neighborhood that is between 75% and 88.4% white. In stark contrast, the Midland neighborhood is over 80% African-American. [Source: U.S. 2000 Census] (p. 21).

· Effects of Chemical Byproducts and Asthma on Neighborhood Health. A significant amount of chemical byproducts will be produced at the RTF including: formaldehyde, toluene-d8, chloroform, hydrochloric acid, chlorine dioxide, chloramines, and bromodichloromethane, all of which have notable health effects. There is much uncertainty and concern regarding the ef! fects of long-term exposure to nearby residences and the interaction with 145 nearby industrial pollutant sources. According to NY State statistics, between 1998 and 2000, the Midland neighborhood had the highest asthma rates in the County for children ages 0-12, 13 times higher than the majority of areas in the County. [Sources: NYSDOH and EPA] (pp.19-20.)

· Economic Impact on the Residential Neighborhood. Over 100 houses have been built within a 10-block radius of the proposed above-ground sewage plant. Such a project could undermine community revitalization efforts and cause long-term economic damage to the value of homes and businesses. (pp. 2, 16 and 18-19.)

· Inadequate Compensation/Consideration of Displaced Residents. At least 36 families will be dislocated and/or permanently lose their homes. Oxford and Blaine Street residents will only receive $5,250 each as payment for their permanent dislocation (totaling $57,750 for 11 homes). Other families will be give! n only from $500 to $1500 as a moving allowance. (p. 17.)

· History of Displacement, Relocation of Residents, and Industrial Burden. The Midland community is already burdened with multiple industrial facilities including Coyne Textiles, Byrne Dairy, Fleet Garage, Centro, Midstate Elevator, Upstate Amalgamated Services and PT Fibison Cleaners. In addition, the African-American community in Syracuse has been repeatedly disrupted and relocated by such public and private projects as the Near East Side Urban Renewal Project, expansion of Upstate Medical Center, and construction of the Centro bus depot. For example, John Thomas, a Midland community resident may face yet another move after multiple relocations from the above projects. [Source: U.S. 2000 Census] (pp. 6-8).

· RTF Undermines EPA-Funded Creek Restoration Efforts, ACJ Cleanup. The County’s plan to use vortex swirlers at Midland Avenue will dump 77 million gallons of partially treated sewage into Onondaga Creek, undermining EPA-funded efforts to restore the habitat of the Creek. Furthermore, the RTF swirlers will not directly treat ammonia and phosphorus, key pollutants addressed under the Amended Consent Judgment. (pp. 2, 9, and 13-14.)