Letter: Keep Waste Management station out of Hillsdale.
As a resident of Hillsdale for 36 years, I remember well the ugly sights, noxious smells, and traffic dangers of Carmine Franco’s garbage trucks lumbering through our and neighboring towns like Washington Township on their way to the Patterson Street depot.
Then in February 2014, the roof collapsed (literally) on WM’s building and the company moved its refuse hauling and transfer business to another station in northern New Jersey.
Now, WM wants the NJ Department of Environmental Protection to renew their transfer station permit in Hillsdale, despite the fact that the station has been closed for over three years and garbage is being adequately processed at one of their other stations.
For Hillsdale, the garbage zombie won’t die!
The streets that would be traversed in Hillsdale are primary walkways for George White and St. John the Baptist schoolchildren heading to the library after school.
The intersection of Hillsdale and Patterson, where the trucks going to and from the station will make their wide turns, is already heavily traveled, with two banks, a post office and a restaurant/ice cream parlor on the corners.
Besides posing traffic safety concerns, the return of WM will mean greater amounts of truck exhaust and noxious liquid leaks, and a potential vermin and water pollution run-off problem on Paterson St.
But perhaps the issue that is least understood but equally significant for the Borough if WM returns is the opportunity cost—the sacrifice of what might be!
If redeveloped successfully as a mixed use commercial and residential area, the Borough would increase its tax base, be in a better position to satisfy its court-mandated affordable housing needs, and have options for the possible creation of a community/senior center.