For close to a decade, residents say that the abandoned railroad tracks that run through their neighborhood has been sending foul smells and pests their way.
Using a pump that can extract 15,000 gallons of sludge per minute, the Department of Environmental Protection began working on emptying the swamp on Monday. Residents were delighted at the news.
“It's about time,” exclaimed Kenny Thomas, 20, whose first floor bedroom faces the odorous creek. “I've lived here for 17 years and the water's been there just as long.” He says that when it rains, and also when it gets hot, it stinks. “Oh, and there are raccoons,” he said.
The swamp is about a one and-a-half mile strip from Bruckner Expressway to St. Mary's Park. During this especially rainy summer, the water at times reached four to five feet in the deepest parts. Bright green duck weed covers the waters exposed to sunlight, and all sorts of litter—shoes, crates, bottles large and small—float in the water and cover the walls that run along side the abandoned railroad tracks.
Thomas said he remembers others on his block petitioning the city about the stench, but didn't get the sense that the city was listening. To its credit, the city could not take action on the property, as records showed that it was under the jurisdiction of a private company.
When they investigated, they found that a variety of companies had title of the tracks at one point or another, according to Deputy Mayor for Operations Edward Skyler. Those companies include the MTA, Amtrak, and CSX, none of which took ownership of the plot. Records show that freight transporter CSX officially abandoned the railway in 2004, but residents say trains stopped running there in 1999 or 2000.
Because of the complexity of the situation, it took multiple city agencies to get the cleanup to happen at all.
“This is a real force being done,” said Prince Tucker, who works in the neighborhood. “This is a collaboration among city agencies.” The city legal team was responsible for obtaining the right for the city to take action; the Department of Environmental Protection handles cleanup of sludge and litter; and, if the area is to be turned into a park, plans will fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Parks and Recreation.
When asked whether he would support seeing the area turned into a park after remediation, Tucker answered, “Are you kidding me? That's the best place to hang out!” But he said after the cleanup is complete, a net must be put up to to prevent more garbage from being tossed in.
It will take approximately two days for all the water to be drained, and another three weeks for crews to haul trash out, depending on the sturdiness of the underlying soil. Then, the area will be regraded and fitted with a drainage system. Though the city has taken the lead in cleaning up, it still intends to track down the owner to pay for costs.
“It takes hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said deputy mayor Skyler. “We plan to collect from the deadbeats who left us with the problem in the first place.”
