Mayor Brandon Scott’s Jones Falls Task Force will have 13 members – five representing different divisions of city government and eight representing community groups.
The mayor announced on Sept. 3 that he was forming the task force to recommend the best way for the city to handle bulk trash and hazardous waste disposal if the city closes the Sisson Street Sanitation Yard and Citizen Drop-Off Center at 2840 and 2842 Sisson St., a city-owned transfer station known by many as “The Dump.”
City officials announced in August that they have been working on a plan to move the transfer station to 2801 Falls Road, where the Potts and Callahan construction company has a storage yard that it would lease to the city. The public officials said the city has received a proposal to redevelop the Sisson Street property for commercial use if the transfer station can be relocated.
The Falls Road relocation plan drew strong opposition from community groups who note that the Potts and Callahan property is in a floodplain and less than 150 feet from the Jones Falls waterway. Opponents say it would be wrong to use the land as a bulk trash transfer station because trash could end up washing into the Jones Falls and Baltimore harbor. They also say creating a transfer station there would negate other efforts to improve a picturesque stretch of the Jones Falls Valley and would potentially hurt businesses there.
Following up on his announcement last month, Scott on Wednesday said the task force will include three City Council members – Odette Ramos, James Torrence and Jermaine Jones – and one representative each from the Mayor’s Office and the Department of Public Works. The council members represent districts that either contain or are close to the current and proposed sites of the transfer station.
The rest of the task force will consist of one representative from each of these eight community groups: The Greater Remington Improvement Association; the Midtown Community Benefits District; Friends of the Jones Falls; the Stonehill Community Association; the Hampden Community Association; the Charles Village Civic Association; the Reservoir Hill Community Association and Bikemore.
Scott said in September and again on Wednesday that he wants the task force to consider all options for the future of the Sisson Street transfer station, including keeping it where it is, moving it or simply closing it. “All of those options are on the table,” he said Wednesday.
The mayor said that the eight community groups can decide who will represent them on the task force. He didn’t say when or where the first meeting will be. He said in September that he would like to receive the task force’s recommendations by December.
Could you please clarify which Hampden group is being referenced as there is no “Hampden Community Association”. There is the Hampden Community Council and the Hampden Village Merchants Association. These are two different groups. I hope the two have not been conflated by the Mayor’s office.
He wants results “by December”? It’s already October! And how about mentioning that the proposal no taxpayer likes is to close a transfer station on property OWNED by the city so it can be moved to a property the city would LEASE. Does that sound smart to you? Do you see any “graft and corruption “?
Has anyone considered moving the transfer station to the Ft. Small area? Couldn’t the two services exist side by side?