By J.D. Heiman, Staff Reporter
Two groups that are normally allies in community politics are battling over the future of the Harlem River Rail Yard in Port Morris. The fight threatens to scrap any plans to revitalize the 90-acre wasteland, unused since the 1940s.
One side wants to build a paper recycling plant as part of a larger industrial park. Opponents argue that the land may be the last location available in the city for a major rail freight terminal that could revitalize the borough's economy.
"If they succeed in stopping this, then the site will be empty for another 40 years," said Allen Hershkowitz, an ecologist working on the recycling project.
The Banana Kelly Community Improvement Association, which develops affordable housing in the South Bronx, is a prime backer of the plant. It sees the facility as an engine that will create jobs, improve the environment and provide money for neighborhood services, including daycare and a dormitory for homeless students.
The plant would take advantage of what Hershkowitz calls "the urban forest" -- the huge amounts of paper discarded in this city every day -- transforming it into pulp.
The $100 million recycling project, developed by Banana Kelly, two commercial paper companies and an environmental group, was hailed by Vice President Al Gore last spring as an unusual marriage of neighborhood groups, environmentalists and business.
Madeline Marquez, a Banana Kelly official, said the plant, which is to be designed by Maya Lin, architect of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington, had broad support. "We're confident that we have a project that will be a benefit to this community," she said.
Banana Kelly, working with the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), explored other areas in the borough but decided that the cost of acquiring land elsewhere was prohibitive.
But last August, the South Bronx Clean Air Coalition, an alliance of neighborhood activists, and several other groups sued the state Department of Transportation, which owns the yards, to stop the planned development.
"Banana Kelly is wrong," said Carlos Padilla of the coalition, "And the NRDC cares more about fish than it does about our community."
Local critics accuse the council of high-handed treatment and characterize the project as a mistake that may jeopardize not only the health of neighborhood people but also the city's economy.
"NRDC came in in a very arrogant way," said Padilla. "We are not just going to be patted on the head."
Padilla said Banana Kelly and its allies had "blinders on" -- advocating the recycling project at all costs while ignoring its environmental impact.
The coalition says increased traffic from the industrial park will exacerbate pollution problems in a community with one of the nation's highest asthma rates.
Also at issue is the Transportation Department's lease of the property. The lawsuit contends that the department reneged on a 1982 mandate requiring potential developers to revive the entire parcel as a regional rail center. When the agency awarded the lease to Harlem River Rail Ventures in 1989, it approved the company's plan to develop warehouses and other structures in addition to the recycling plant, with a smaller portion of the land devoted to rail.
John McHugh, the coalition's lawyer, says reducing rail capability will harm the city, which needs all the Harlem River land to upgrade its transportation network.
"You could fit a paper mill in any number of locations," he said.
New York depends on trucks to carry in 90 percent of its freight. In contrast, most American cities have almost half their cargo brought in by rail. Overdependence on trucking has put the city at a severe economic disadvantage, McHugh said.
The coalition says that a revived rail yard could create as many as 2,000 new jobs, but Hershkowitz and others say that is unrealistic.
Both Banana Kelly and the council say they are satisfied that their plan is environmentally sound and hope to break ground this summer. The industrial park project has broad political support, including that of Borough President Fernando Ferrer.
If the coalition wins its lawsuit and Judge Jerry Crispino throws out Harlem Rail Ventures' lease, however, Hershkowitz said the council will build a recycling plant with a community group in another city.
"If it doesn't happen in the Bronx," said Hershkowitz, "we'll change the last chapter of this book."
Padilla counters that the recycling plant's supporters have been duped by the developer in a scheme to draw community interest away from the more harmful aspects of the yards project.
"They are so dazzled by the excellence of their plant that they aren't worrying about the harm that could be caused," he said. "They cannot destroy what is the last opportunity for a devastated community to get up off up its knees."