By:VICTORIA A. CARUSO
Merrick residents are questioning Town of Hempstead plans to build a Solid Waste and Recycling Museum at the base of the former Merrick landfill.
The site now is home to an active trash transfer station. Last fall, the town opened the Sen. Norman J. Levy Park and Preserve atop the landfill.
At press time, the town would not confirm plans for the museum. Mike Deery, town spokesman, said, "The Supervisor [Richard Guardino] has not made an announcement, and there aren't any plans available at this time."
The Herald, however, received confirmation of the proposal from a high-ranking town official last month, and local residents say they have been told by town officials that a solid-waste museum is planned.
Barry Fox, co-president of the Merrick Park Home Owners Association, said he saw a preliminary copy of the proposal, which he received from a source at the town. "It was unanimously signed by the entire board in May," said Fox.
One resident, who asked that his name not be used for this article, said that, after more than a half a dozen phone calls, a representative of the town Santitation Department confirmed "a 'recycling and environmental education center' was on their 'wish-list'."
He was also told that the town was "looking into refurbishing a small building at the dump, and that funding would come from state grants and donations."
Another Merrick resident also received a similar answer when she called the sanitation department. "I was told there are preliminary plans for a recycling museum," she said. "They said it is intended to educate our children about recycling."
Jay Pitti of Merrick, a member of the Town Solid Waste Advisory Committee, also confirmed reports that a solid-wate museum is being considered. "We meet with the [Sanitation] Commissioner [Richard] Ronan once a month to discuss the solid-waste condition in the town," he said. "The commissioner has considered that a [museum] might be feasible at the location."
Pitti, who originally proposed an overlook park at the former landfill, also said the museum would focus on educating people about the garbage cycle.
"Most laypeople have no idea what happens to their garbage after they put it outside their house," he said. "They don't realize the equipment that's involved or that their garbage goes from the trash cans to a local pickup truck, to a recycling center, to an incinerator in Garden City."
Former Merrick resident Alice Daley said construction of such a museum, no matter the purpose, is absurd. "The town thinks that by building a park and a museum they can take away from what went on over the years," said Daley. "What they really should put there is a memorial for the people who died from whatever was dumped and burnt there and what we were breathing in over the years. Is the museum going to include skeletons and grave sites of all the people that died as a result of the town's use of an incinerator?"
The Merrick landfill opened in 1950 and closed in 1984. The town shut down the site's incerinator during the 1970s.
Daley said incinerator ash used to rain down on Merrick. "I remember as a child playing 'catch the ashes,'" she said. "Nobody had a clue of the dangers back then."
In 1979, her 30-year-old brother, Daniel, died of a rare form of cancer, and her sister now suffers from multiple sclerosis. "Looking back on it, a lot of people from my brother and sister's generations have died too," she said. "There was so much of it in the neighborhood. Everyone seems to have something."
Michele Walsh, president of the Central Merrick Homeowners Association, said she would need more information before deciding whether she favors the recycling museum or not.
"We need to know how much it would cost and how it would affect taxpayers," she said. "Supporting the museum through a bond issue is not an option. The Merrick School District just approved a bond issue, and there has already been a county-tax increase. Another bond issue would be a burden on taxpayers and a hardship to some families."
Fox agreed, saying that spending money on a museum commemorating the history of garbage would be a waste, especially when the community has more important needs. "Merrick is in need of a new library, a youth center and senior citizen housing," he said, "I can see an educational benefit [to the museum], but it is low on the priority list of the Merrick community. I don't see how the people of Merrick are going to benefit from a museum of garbage."
Joseph Kralovich, president of the Old Lindenmere Civic Association, said, "To continue spending money on things like this is ludicrous. The whole area [around the former landfill] is turning into a monument for the town's poor planning."
