A six-foot long metal section blew off the roof of the proposed Southwest Garbage Station, landing on the adjacent property, this past Monday night, nearly hitting two persons and two parked cars.

On Monday evening, after a normal storm that lasted under two hours, the huge metal piece of the roof from the garbage station under construction on the site flew off and nearly hit two people on the adjacent property. As strange as this may seem, it is even more unbelievable that the heavy piece of metal mysteriously disappeared from where it crashed down on the Marina property, after the neighboring property owner notified the Garbage Station construction site supervisor of what happened.

This is the latest accident in a series of dangerous incidents, evidencing another reason to shut down the Waste Transfer Station once and for all.

Once again rather than immediately launching an investigation into how this accident occurred, the City continues to rush the completion of the harmful garbage station, which has once again proved itself to be a danger for the community.

This latest incident and its cover-up of the falling metal further strengthens the position of the Anti-Waste Task Force to close down this hazardous garbage station. Not only does this incident reflect the City’s recklessness as it pushes ahead, but also it shows the lack of concern the City and its contractors have for the neighborhood.

Previous dangerous violations included contaminated dredged materials being spilled in the waters when the dredging equipment failed to have the promised sensors to prevent it from being raised without the bucket being sealed shut; continual ponding of storm water leaching onto the neighboring property from the site; permitting uncovered dirt piles, during an excavation of a contaminated soil, among others.

And once again as in the prior incidents, it was only through the Neighborhood Watch volunteers organized by The Anti-Waste Task Force and its co-chairs Charles Ragusa and Nancy Tong that these dangers were discovered.

Anti-Waste Task Force Co-Chair Charles Ragusa said, “We are now demanding the City to investigate this case of disappearing metal, while work continues as if nothing happened. With private construction job, the Buildings Department would immediately dispatch an emergency response unit to respond to such an incident such as a piece of a roof under construction flying off onto a neighboring property. Work would be stopped until an investigation ensured there was no danger to the public. Why should this construction project be treated differently? We believe that the disappearance of the metal shows a cover up that also must be thoroughly investigated. We demand the City Inspector General, as well as the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation also look into this matter.”

Ragusa’s partner Nancy Tong said, “Here again the public was only able to discover this latest dangerous incidents from the efforts of neighborhood volunteers doing the oversight which the City has refused to do.” Without question, this fallen piece of the roof further proves the continuing danger of the garbage station. We are lucky no one was seriously hurt in this incident but government needs to act to prevent future accidents.”

Assemblyman William Colton, who has been leading a public battle against the proposed garbage station since 2005, stated, “The City’s concealing of necessary facts and information, is the very argument I made to the Appellate Division as to why the permit should be vacated. Now, here once again, the City continues to cover any information that might stop or slow down its construction. We need to stop this dangerous garbage station once and for all before we have another Flint Michigan like disaster.”

The Anti-Waste Task Force obtained a video showing the dangerous metal piece, which almost hit two residents and several cars on the adjacent Marina property.