An environmental celebration will take place on Saturday at 11 a.m. with Borough President James Molinaro, City Councilman James Oddo (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn), and officials from the city Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) gathering alongside neighborhood residents to erect a Bluebelt sign in Whitney Woods, at the end of Whitney Avenue, off Clove Road.

The city acquired the 1.5-acre wooded parcel on May 2, in the successful culmination of a campaign to save the environmentally sensitive land from construction of up to 70 residential units. The move preserves the property as forever-wild open space, part of the Richmond Creek watershed that includes Grasmere, Old Town, Arrochar, and South Beach.

“We have seen too many of our green spaces on Staten Island pillaged by inappropriate development,” said Oddo. “That is why this victory is so sweet.

“We are literally preventing the potential development of 70 housing units in a pristine green space and protecting the local community by ensuring that Whitney Woods acts as a stormwater drainage and management area,” he added.

“The preservation of Whitney Woods is good news for the Bluebelt and good news for Staten Island,” said Molinaro, noting that Staten Island has many locations where development has increased flooding. “We acquired Whitney Woods, preserved the wetlands, and helped make the neighborhood much more secure from flooding,” he said.

The land was purchased for $2.735 million. Oddo contributed $1.45 million from his City Council budget, Molinaro another $985,000 from his borough president budget, and DEP kicked in $300,000.

The property is generally bounded by the bed of unbuilt Whitney Avenue from Parkinson to Woodlawn avenues, and the bed of unbuilt Woodlawn Avenue from Whitney to Leslies avenues, as well as privately owned lots bounded by Marie Street and Woodlawn and Leslie Avenues.

Visitors can easily access Whitney Woods from dead-end Whitney Avenue, off Clove Road , and from the dead-end of Whitney Avenue at the corner of Parkinson Avenue.

Also from the Staten Island Advance:

Island and Department of Environmental Protection officials gathered Saturday morning to announce the addition of Whitney Woods in Grasmere to the borough’s Bluebelt.

The city acquired the 1.5-acre wooded parcel on May 2, in the successful culmination of a campaign to save the environmentally sensitive land from construction of up to 70 residential units. The move preserves the property as forever-wild open space, part of the Richmond Creek watershed that includes Grasmere, Old Town, Arrochar, and South Beach.

The land, located at the end of Whitney Avenue, off of Clove Road, was purchased for $2.735 million. Oddo contributed $1.45 million from his City Council budget, Molinaro another $985,000 from his borough president budget, and DEP kicked in $300,000.

In the wake of Hurricane Irene, people expected the low-lying blocks around Staten Island’s beaches to be the hardest hit. But it was a handful of Bulls Head streets — not in any of the mandatory or voluntary evacuation zones — that wound up underwater as Willowbrook Pond overflowed its banks.

But this morning, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe stood alongside a culvert that caused the problem — where he would have been wading through high water that day in August — and formally announced a fix.

“It’s designed, we hope, to permanently address flooding issues associated with Willowbrook Pond Park,” Benepe said.

The city has allocated $1 million in funding to mitigate flooding at the park, in a tight budget year. The announcement comes less than two months after a nasty confrontation in which City Councilman James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn), derided Benepe as an “insular, arrogant bureaucrat” during a City Council hearing in March over a lack of funding for the project.

Yesterday, however, both Oddo and Benepe thanked each other for their efforts on the project — and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, for finding money to fund it.

“We’re very grateful for that,” Benepe said.

They also thanked the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Design and Construction, which will also be involved in the repairs

The first phase of the project will involve a new stainless steel sluice gate that will allow the city to lower the level of water in the pond before a storm hits, increasing the pond’s capacity to hold rainwater. A new rack will be installed to keep debris from piling up at a culvert that drains under Victory Boulevard — during the storm, it had been stopped up with garbage and debris.

The first phase will go out to bid in June, Benepe said.

“We’ll definitely start construction by the end of the year,” said Borough Parks Commissioner Adena Long.

A relatively small job, the entire first phase should be done by spring, Benepe said. Then the second phase, being designed and built by the Department of Design and Construction, will go out to bid. The DDC will build a twin concrete-encased culvert to improve the flow of water out of the pond, Benepe said, and it will have clean-out spots for regular maintenance and cleaning to prevent blockages.

Oddo said the process of developing the solution might not have been “so pretty,” but the solution was a good one, and something everyone should be happy about. He also thanked Assemblyman Michael Cusick, D-Mid-Island, who represents the same area of Staten Island in Albany, for his work after the floods getting the state Department of Insurance on scene to help homeowners. Cusick said the two may be from different parties, but share constituents and work together on issues often.

“These are tough times and to find the money to do this and do it quickly is something that is very appreciated by not only the elected officials, but I’m sure all the people live around the block,” Cusick said.

He said when he and Oddo visited the area after the flooding, they saw furniture put out on the streets and high-water marks in basements.

“We looked at each other and said, ‘What can we do?’” he said.

The solution was thanks to a team effort led by Oddo, Cusick said.

“This is something that people of Bulls Head deserve. This is something that the people of Bulls Head need,” he said.

Neighbors were happy to hear about the solution. Angela Martone, 19, of Goller Place, said she had 23 inches of water in the basement of her house.

“It was like something you only saw on the news,” she said. “It was heart-wrenching.”

Like many others, her family lost plenty of possessions in their basements, and had to completely remodel it.

“I wish they fixed it before it all happened,” she said.

Howie Joyce, who also lives on Goller Place, said he was one of the few residents there not to be flooded — though he helped pump out the basements of neighbors.

“I’ve lived here 35 years, never had a problem with the water,” he said. “This was totally out of the ordinary.”

He wasn’t sure the solution would prevent the problem from ever happening again, saying he believed a nearby pumping station was the real problem, and that the flood waters weren’t just rain overflowing the pond, but also sewage.

“I’m thankful to Oddo for keeping the situation alive over here,” he said. “He does a lot for the borough.”

Benepe also said the fix might not have stopped the flooding during Irene, considering the incredible torrent of water it produced.

“It remains to be seen whether this would’ve prevented the flooding — we had one of the most damaging hurricanes in the history of the northeast,” he said.

The floods didn’t just cause trouble at Willowbrook Pond Park. Storm waters damaged an earthen dam that kept freshwater Wolfe’s Pond separate from the nearby ocean, devastating the body of water. Ms. Long said that the Parks Department had requested funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and said FEMA had made a project worksheet and recently visited the park with its state agency counterpart — good signs of progress.

“We’re hopeful a decision will be made, and a positive one, soon,” she said.

The city will allocate $1 million to fix Willowbrook Park Pond, thanks to the advocacy of SI Council member James Oddo who said the mitigation work will allow the level of the pond to be controlled so it can be lowered during heavy rains.

When Hurricane Irene hit six months ago, Willowbrook Park pond overflowed, flooding nearby streets, cars and dozens of basements in homes. During a heated City Council budget hearing in March Mr. Oddo publicly aired his frustration. He tried to get Adrian Benepe to accept responsibility for the clogged drains due to what he said was a lack of basic maintenance which lead to the flooding. Benepe said it was instead an “Act Of God.” (Photo: Bill Lyons/Staten island Advance)

Help is on the way for Willowbrook residents ravaged by floods during Hurricane Irene last year.

The city will allocate $1 million to fully fund a fix for Willowbrook Park Pond, which overflowed its banks and caused massive damage to the surrounding neighborhood during Hurricane Irene last year. The money will be included in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget, which will be unveiled at City Hall tomorrow, according to the Staten Island Advance.

City Councilman James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn) said that he hoped the announcement would give Willowbrook residents “some mental relief immediately.

Help is on the way.”

Inaction on Willowbrook caused Oddo to publicly light into Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe during a City Council hearing in March. But Oddo today said he was “grateful” to Benepe, Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson and the city Department of Environmental Protection for getting the funding in place.

Oddo said that Benepe called him this afternoon with the news. It was the only “new needs” allocation from Parks approved by the city Office of Management and Budget, Oddo said.

“We brought a lot of passion to the fight,” said Oddo. “It might be an understatement, but it wasn’t a pretty process at times. Sometimes that’s what it takes to break the status quo.”

Oddo said that the mitigation work will allow the level of the pond to be controlled so it can be lowered during heavy rains. The rain water will run through a cement-encased culvert, which will keep it from getting blocked with debris, as happened during Irene.

A Parks spokesperson said that bids on phase 1 of the mitigation plan are due on June 1, with work possibly to begin later this year. Oddo said there was no timetable on when the work would be completed. In the interim, Parks will use a siphon which will allow the agency to drain some of the water in the pond.

The $1 million in funding, which will be added to $200,000 already in the pot, will allow the mitigation work to be done all at once. The spokesperson thanked Oddo “for advocating for funding on our behalf, and look forward to getting started on the project.”

During Irene, Saybrook Street, Croft Place, Goller Place and Eton Place were flooded, with some residents evacuated in rowboats by the FDNY and hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage resulting. Some homes had eight feet of water in them. Oddo blamed insufficient infrastructure and a grate that literally became partially blocked by empty plastic soda bottles and wayward softballs from nearby fields for the flooding, saying that the pond culvert should never have been left in such poor condition.

“When something as foundational as your home is in chaos, everything else becomes bedlam,” Oddo said today. The agency is in the early stages of the design for phase 2 of the project, involving the enclosed culverts.

As for the rest of the budget, a $495 million hole in the city’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget will mostly be plugged with restitution money from the CityTime scandal, Bloomberg will announce.

Administration sources said that in giving his budget address at City Hall, Bloomberg will say that the budget hole comes from a $352 million decrease in tax revenue projections wrought by a slump on Wall Street, and $143 million in increased agency costs.

The numbers are updates from the mayor’s preliminary budget numbers announced in February.

The hole will primarily be filled with $466 million recovered in the CityTime settlement with Science Applications International Corp. The company paid full restitution after a scandal involving a fraud-ridden city payroll system.

While the city’s economy continues to grow along with tax revenues compared to the prior year, Bloomberg will say that the city’s financial services firms continue to suffer, slicing profits and reducing the forecast for tax revenues from Wall Street.

On the bright side, revenue projections are up in the tech, film/TV, tourism and higher education sectors, areas that Bloomberg has looked to bolster.

“The mayor has spent the last decade diversifying the city’s economy because the financial markets will always have ups and downs,” said Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser. “Our efforts have paid off, with growth and job creation in non-finance sectors like tourism, tech and TV production, which softens the blow from the drastic drop in Wall Street profits.”

While city agencies saved $124 million from FY 2012 and 2013, increased social service and other needs totaled $267 million, making for a net overall cost increase of $143 million.

Help is on the way for Willowbrook residents ravaged by floods during Hurricane Irene last year.

The city will allocate $1 million to fully fund a fix for Willowbrook Park Pond, which overflowed its banks and caused massive damage to the surrounding neighborhood during Hurricane Irene last year.

The money will be included in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget, which will be unveiled at City Hall tomorrow.

City Councilman James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn) said that he hoped the announcement would give Willowbrook residents “some mental relief immediately. Help is on the way.”

Inaction on Willowbrook caused Oddo to publicly light into Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe during a City Council hearing in March.

But Oddo today said he was “grateful” to Benepe, Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson and the city Department of Environmental Protection for getting the funding in place.

Oddo said that Benepe called him this afternoon with the news. It was the only “new needs” allocation from Parks approved by the city Office of Management and Budget, Oddo said.

“We brought a lot of passion to the fight,” said Oddo. “It might be an understatement, but it wasn’t a pretty process at times. Sometimes that’s what it takes to break the status quo.”

Oddo said that the mitigation work will allow the level of the pond to be controlled so it can be lowered during heavy rains. The rain water will run through a cement-encased culvert, which will keep it from getting blocked with debris, as happened during Irene.

A Parks spokesperson said that bids on phase 1 of the mitigation plan are due on June 1, with work possibly to begin later this year. Oddo said there was no timetable on when the work would be completed.

In the interim, Parks will use a siphon which will allow the agency to drain some of the water in the pond.

The $1 million in funding, which will be added to $200,000 already in the pot, will allow the mitigation work to be done all at once.

The spokesperson thanked Oddo “for advocating for funding on our behalf, and look forward to getting started on the project.”

During Irene, Saybrook Street, Croft Place, Goller Place and Eton Place were flooded, with some residents evacuated in rowboats by the FDNY and hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage resulting.

Some homes had eight feet of water in them.

Oddo blamed insufficient infrastructure and a grate that literally became partially blocked by empty plastic soda bottles and wayward softballs from nearby fields for the flooding, saying that the pond culvert should never have been left in such poor condition.

“When something as foundational as your home is in chaos, everything else becomes bedlam,” Oddo said today.

The agency is in the early stages of the design for phase 2 of the project, involving the enclosed culverts.
As for the rest of the budget, a $495 million hole in the city’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget will mostly be plugged with restitution money from the CityTime scandal, Bloomberg will announce.

Administration sources said that in giving his budget address at City Hall, Bloomberg will say that the budget hole comes from a $352 million decrease in tax revenue projections wrought by a slump on Wall Street, and $143 million in increased agency costs.

The numbers are updates from the mayor’s preliminary budget numbers announced in February.

The hole will primarily be filled with $466 million recovered in the CityTime settlement with Science Applications International Corp. The company paid full restitution after a scandal involving a fraud-ridden city payroll system.

While the city’s economy continues to grow along with tax revenues compared to the prior year, Bloomberg will say that the city’s financial services firms continue to suffer, slicing profits and reducing the forecast for tax revenues from Wall Street.

On the bright side, revenue projections are up in the tech, film/TV, tourism and higher education sectors, areas that Bloomberg has looked to bolster.

“The mayor has spent the last decade diversifying the city’s economy because the financial markets will always have ups and downs,” said Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser. “Our efforts have paid off, with growth and job creation in non-finance sectors like tourism, tech and TV production, which softens the blow from the drastic drop in Wall Street profits.”

While city agencies saved $124 million from FY 2012 and 2013, increased social service and other needs totaled $267 million, making for a net overall cost increase of $143 million.

The first baby step of a process that can ultimately turn the West Shore into a prime spot for businesses and job-seekers was taken last month when the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) gave the Staten Island Economic Development Corp. (SIEDC) the nod to create an Industrial Business Improvement District (BID).
The BID is comprised of 52 privately owned and 22 publicly owned industrial parcels across 230 acres that lie to the west of the West Shore Expressway. They sit on, and along, Bloomfield, Gulf and Edward Curry avenues, and Industry Road and Spencer Street in the Travis and Bloomfield neighborhoods.

The SIEDC will gain funding to coordinate existing owners, canvas them, discuss their needs, and then focus on providing them with whatever services they need, be it infrastructure improvements, roads, sewers and more, said Councilman James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn).

“The West Shore is our opportunity to really hone in on jobs, job creation and economic development,” said the city council member.

A BID is an organization made up of property owners who pay an annual fee to provide extra services to an area and to attract new business. Existing BIDS have helped transform places like Times Square, Bryant Park and Union Square in Manhattan.

The SIEDC was among four organizations — the three others were in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx — selected by the city Economic Development Corp. to create BIDs.

Staten Island’s new BID will receive $60,000 from a pot of $300,000 split among the four. The amount is based on size and the number of businesses within the proposed boundaries.

The initial funding is to be directed toward the planning phase. Ultimately, the BID’s creation will need the approval of at least 50 percent of the property owners in the proposed location.

A consultant is expected to be hired to press for services that property owners have long clamored for — things like paved roads, increased Sanitation services, additional entrances and exits on the West Shore Expressway and more signage and lighting.

Cesar Claro, SIEDC’s executive director, said he chose to focus his proposal on the West Shore because it sits within the proposed Green Zone and because a state grant to clean up brownfields may be on its way.

“You’re talking about an area with horrible roads and no sewers. They don’t even have cable service,” he said to the Advance last month. “The BID will allow property owners to reinvest and hopefully the city and state will finally invest here.”

In April, a day after the announcement about the Industrial BIDs was made by the NYCEDC, the SIEDC and other officials gathered for a groundbreaking on Gulf Avenue of New York Fragrance’s upcoming $3 million, 15,000-square-foot warehouse and outlet shop.

Oddo looks at other boroughs with envy when he sees start-up companies planting seeds in Brooklyn or other areas.

“And then I look here in my own back yard and say it’s a challenge,” he said. “But the potential is vast.”

The councilman compared the possibility to that of Richard Nicotra, owner of the Nicotra Group, which is responsible for the Hilton Garden Inn and numerous buildings within the Corporate Park of Staten Island.

South Avenue was once a dumping ground, but Nicotra came in with a vision and took the risk and ultimately succeeded, said Oddo.

Oddo emphasized that this is the first step of a long-term process that will spill into the next administration. He hopes to see an “innovation district” that involves real creative measures to draw businesses to the area. Oddo said many challenges exist for people who own businesses on Staten Island.

“For us to overcome them, it needs a real focus on it. I’m preaching to the next generation of would-be mayors,” explained Oddo.

The elected official said that an “all-out” effort needs to be made to find businesses looking to be in an urban setting that’s somewhat different than that found in other boroughs.

“My hope is that the next administration will make it a priority to develop that economic hub and put in the time and find the people willing to work with people who can overcome those challenges,” he said.

New York City Water Board Public Hearing

Proposed Rate Increase

New Dorp High School

April 23, 2012

My name is Council Member James Oddo.  I proudly represent the 50^th Council District, which covers the Mid-Island portions of Staten Island and part of Brooklyn.  Thank you for the opportunity to testify regarding the proposed 7% water rate increase.

I suppose we’re expected to be grateful that our increase for fiscal year 2013 is in the single digits once again, but that would be like asking a drowning man to be thankful that he is no longer 7 1/2 feet under water, instead he is now only 7 feet under water. Yes. He is moving in the right direction, but he may well expire before he ever gets his head above the surface – where he can breathe again.

I’m sorry to say that despite your best efforts to economize, you are contributing to the financial death of New York City’s middle class.

The 7% increase, which you describe as “lower than expected,” comes on the heels of increases of 7.5%, 12.9%, 12.9%, 14.5%, and 11.5%. And that’s just in the last five years. In truth, since the Administration took the reins at City Hall, your rates have skyrocketed while our checking account balances have plummeted and our salaries have stagnated. When the Administration took over from the previous Administration our combined water and sewer rate was $3.39 per hundred cubic feet (hcf). After this latest increase, they will have ballooned to $8.78 per hcf – a “modest” increase of 160%. Please answer this question if you can: How many middle-class homeowners on Staten Island have seen their incomes increase by 160% in that time period?

Please allow me a few moments to enlighten you as to what has befallen Staten Islanders financially in the last decade:

1. Our Class 1 property taxes have risen by 62% - from 11.25% to 18.2%

2. The toll on the Verrazano Bridge has increased by 86% - from $7.00 to $13.00

3. The tolls on the Goethals, Outerbridge and Bayonne Bridges have increased by 100% - from $6.00 to $12.00

4. MTA bus and subway fares have gone from $1.50 to $2.25 – an increase of 50%

5. The cost of gasoline has risen 166% - from $1.50 to almost $4.00 a gallon.

6. Home heating oil has jumped 220% - what cost $1.25 in 2001 now costs $4.00

I could go on and on, but you get the point. Who could survive such an onslaught?

And then there is the sad case of those homeowners who dutifully conserve water, who want to be responsible stewards of both their community’s natural resources as well as their own financial resources. How are they rewarded? They are not. Instead, they are “punished” with a minimum usage charge that often far exceeds their actual usage.

One of my constituents had an actual usage that should have cost her, at the going rate, $65.00. Instead, her diligence was rewarded with a minimum charge of more than $100.00. SAVE WATER it says on every bill – and save water we do. But it seems as if the more we conserve the weaker your income stream, and the weaker your income stream, the greater our rates become. It is a Catch 22 that would make Joseph Heller proud.

Seniors living alone – widows and widowers trying desperately to hang on to the homes where they lived for decades and raised their families – are being forced to move out of the borough, out of the city, and even out of the state. How can we condone this sad state of affairs?

And to add insult to injury, those who suffer are those who pay their bills conscientiously and on time. How is it fair when the responsible must bear the burden of the delinquents and irresponsible?

With all of that being said, I am keenly aware that the DEP debt service payments have increased to $1.37 billion as a result of approximately $15 billion in unfunded federal mandates. The long and heavy arm of the federal government continues to squeeze us all, and I applaud your efforts to eliminate or reduce these mandates – many of which would be considered ridiculous and wasteful even in flush economic times. Indeed, debt has become an ever-increasing burden on our society, and government at every level should be ashamed that they have not followed the common-sense budgetary restraints that we homeowners must deal with when we sit at the kitchen table and pay our bills.

I applaud your cost-cutting initiatives and continued attempts to achieve savings through greater efficiency – I wish we could apply that same diligence to ALL city agencies. I applaud your direct-debit discount, and urge all my constituents to take advantage of it. And I applaud your issuance of an RFP to find insurers who will provide low-cost policies to homeowners in case their water mains spring a leak – an unforeseen plumbing problem that could cost up to $3,000 to repair.

But none of this changes the fact that our middle-class is drowning in a tidal wave of a thousand different taxes, fees, fines, and penalties; weighed down by never-ending increases in the cost of energy, food, healthcare and transportation.

In closing, I would like to say that I know you work hard, but I am asking you, on behalf of all my constituents, to work harder – work harder to find new and innovative ways to offer discounts and savings, work harder to relieve this portion of the crushing economic burdens put upon property owners, and finally, work harder and perhaps together with other government agencies we can toss a life preserver to the middle class of our great city, so that they can once again breathe the fresh air of financial freedom.

At first glance, it might seem to some a tad presumptuous of Councilman James Oddo and Vincent Ignizio to declare that all roads to the mayoralty in 2013 lead through them.

The pair are insisting the candidates will have to pass a “litmus test” on Staten Island issues and are even drafting a sort of “Contract with Staten Island” to present to mayoral hopefuls.

At one time, such a bold manifesto would have been dismissed as mere posturing. But the political dynamic in the city has shifted radically in the last several decades. Staten Island, once the borough all but ignored by citywide politicians, is now “in play,” as the pundits like to say on Election Night.

And this borough now boasts a considerable pool of high-value voters, a high percentage of whom can be counted on to go to the polls.

The last two mayors, both Republicans, have leveraged strong support on Staten Island to achieve victory.

So the councilmen have some bargaining chips to bring to the table when it comes to dealing with the candidates. And they’re right to try to use that advantage to force Staten Island’s unique concerns onto the front burner.
”They should all have a chance to respond to Staten Island needs,” Mr. Oddo said. “We want the candidates to talk about these issues. . . We want to try to make them issues in the mayoral race.”

Even Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who is rumored to be the leading - if somewhat reluctant - potential Republican candidate and Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who has a close and cordial working relationship with Mr. Oddo, would have to submit to the lawmakers’ “litmus test.”

Shocking as the acid test concept might be to some, we welcome it. Too many candidates for high office pay token visits here, speak in generalities and think that the same issues that elicit great interest in other parts of the city are vital concerns here.

Staten Island is a different borough with very different needs. Every person who hopes to become mayor of all five boroughs must be made aware of those Island-specific issues.

We commend Mr. Oddo and Mr. Ignizio for throwing down the gauntlet.

The chief opponents of the city’s failed plan to put a controversial waste-to-energy facility at the former Fresh Kills landfill said yesterday that the Bloomberg administration should look off Staten Island as it seeks contractors to build and run the plant — and suggested the mayor beef up his commitment to recycling first as well as re-examine potential health considerations.

But Borough President James Molinaro, who did not join a bipartisan group of local leaders in vehemently opposing the city’s plan to site the plant at Fresh Kills, said “any place that is properly zoned should be looked at” in the future — including Staten Island.

“I don’t know where,” said Molinaro. “I haven’t looked at all of Staten Island. I’m not a developer; I’m not looking to develop it. It could be put anyplace that is zoned M3.”

WEST SHORE PARCELS

Large swaths of the West Shore, including areas along the Arthur Kill, are zoned M3 manufacturing, which are designated as areas with heavy industry that can generate noise, traffic or pollutants, according to the New York City Department of City Planning website. Such uses could include power plants, solid-waste transfer facilities, recycling plants and fuel supply plants.

But the Island’s three-member City Council delegation said Staten Island should be off the table as the city moves forward with its Request for Proposals (RFP) phase of the pilot project.

Also opposed to siting it anywhere on the Island is former Borough President Guy Molinari.

On Friday, the city yanked Fresh Kills as a site option, after weeks of opposition here, with local lawmakers saying such a move would violate the spirit and letter of a 1996 state law that shut the landfill to the disposal of garbage after 2001.

However, a plant could still be sited elsewhere in the borough, elsewhere in the city or anywhere within an 80-mile radius of the Big Apple, according to the RFP.

RFPs are due back Aug. 9.

“I can’t imagine that the city would be complicit in facilitating it here, not after the last couple of weeks,” said City Councilman James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn). “I can’t imagine after all that we have endured, that the Bloomberg administration would look to do it here. Theoretically you might be able to find a site, but you would still be bringing in city garbage. There might be sites outside the five boroughs where it would be acceptable to folks.”

“The political climate makes this a toxic proposal,” agreed Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore). “We ought not be looking at Staten Island for this technology. The administration should be looking to redouble its efforts to increase recycling. It would save the city millions.”

“There are very few places on Staten Island where this technology would not have the potential of having a negative impact,” maintained Councilwoman Debi Rose (D-North Shore). “We have strong westerly winds, and many of our communities are already rife with environmental justice issues. We are in the cancer corridor and we have high asthma rates. Until those health issues are addressed, we should be exempt.”

‘OFF-LIMITS’

Added Molinari: “Staten Island should be off limits. Any place on Staten Island; I don’t care where it is. We suffered for 55 years with the landfill. When you take that into consideration, for us to accept any project anywhere, pilot or otherwise, would be seriously wrong. It should be off limits to us completely. That should be non-negotiable.”

One City Hall insider suggested that with just 18 months left in office, Mayor Michael Bloomberg might look to table the “problematic” project entirely. The insider noted that while the city is looking for a $100 million investment to get the project off the ground and up and running for three years, there is no guarantee that the entity that runs it would get a contract to continue beyond that, especially with Bloomberg out of office by then.

“It would be problematic for anyone to make that kind of huge capital outlay with an emerging technology when they are not guaranteed a return,” said the insider.

A number of citywide environmental groups have gone on record opposing the concept, including the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, whose executive director, Eddie Bautista, said last week that the city should “bulk up” its 15 percent recycling rate first and calling waste-to-energy plants “premature.”

You can fight City Hall — and win.

So proved a bipartisan coalition of Staten Island officials yesterday, with the Bloomberg administration’s stunning decision to yank the former Fresh Kills landfill for consideration as the site of a waste-to-energy facility, amid public outrage over reopening the world’s largest garbage dump to trash disposal despite a state law forbidding it.

“Wow!” said City Councilman James Oddo, the foremost critic of the city plan to peg a pilot project at Fresh Kills, which was closed in 2001. “This is huge for us. The people of Staten Island were adamant about not wanting the seal of Fresh Kills breached in any way. This was very personal to us. That is what seemed to have escaped the administration. But the reaction here was visceral, and because of that the mayor changed course.”

Less than 72 hours after Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited the site — and got an earful from a bipartisan group of lawmakers — the city amended its Request for Proposals to build a waste-to-energy plant there by deleting all references to Fresh Kills as the “city provided site or city provided site option” in the RFP.

Said Bloomberg spokesman Marc LaVorgna yesterday: “The mayor listened to the concerns of Staten Island officials about Fresh Kills and decided to remove it as a possible location.”

While the Bloomberg administration had said such a plant could be built anywhere in the five boroughs or within an 80-mile radius of the city, it specifically mentioned Fresh Kills in the RFP and said it would bus prospective contractors there earlier this week, unleashing a torrent of opposition throughout the borough. A rally in opposition, organized by Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn) and Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore), was planned to coincide with the visit and the two were also organizing a town hall meeting for later this month.

But a massive brush fire erupted 90 minutes before the bus tour, canceling the tour and the rally and prompting Bloomberg to visit the following day to thank the FDNY. It was during his visit that Bloomberg told the Advance at a press conference he did not know if a 1996 state law precluded Fresh Kills for such a purpose, and later seemed “unaware” of the fine points of the proposal, according to Oddo, Ignizio, Assemblyman Michael Cusick and state Sen. Diane Savino, who showed up to spell things out to him.

Cusick (D-Mid-Island) told him it would be a violation of state law, Ignizio reminded the mayor the site is supposed to be used as parkland, and Oddo tried to appeal to the mayor’s sense of his legacy here.

While Bloomberg was noncommittal, he apparently got the message.

Although such a waste plant could still be sited elsewhere in the borough, as well as anywhere in the city and beyond, it won’t be at Fresh Kills, where the fetid odor of the hated dump can still be conjured up by generations of Staten Islanders, who lived with the environmental nightmare in their back yards and became the brunt of jokes because of it.

Said Oddo, savoring the victory: “This is the result of a great bipartisan effort. But the mayor does deserve credit for changing course.”

Bloomberg might have had little choice.

“The response from Staten Island was brutal and effective,” a City Hall insider said. “There was story after story, day after day. Then Eric [federal Judge Eric Vitaliano] weighed in. Then there was the press conference, and then the peppering of questions from lawmakers afterward. It was overwhelming to him. No way were they going to let the April 26 town hall happen.”

One crucial catalyst for change came in the form of comments by one of the state law’s authors, former Assembly member and now-Judge Vitaliano, who in a move rare for a member of the judiciary, issued a statement to the Advance noting the legislation made it “unlawful [to] use … the footprint of the Fresh Kills landfill for the purpose of receiving or processing garbage.”

Yesterday, Vitaliano issued another statement, saying in part: “As a life-long Staten Islander, I am pleased with the city’s decision. … In 1996, John Marchi and I felt strongly that the closure of Fresh Kills to the receipt and processing of garbage required the force of law. We did exactly that then, and the city’s decision keeps faith with our intent now.”

That point, highlighted by Cusick, a former Vitaliano staffer, was reaffirmed by Kate Rooney, former counsel to the late state Sen. Marchi, who co-authored the bill with Vitaliano.

Another lion of landfill closure, former Borough President Guy Molinari, had also weighed in, planning the rally and town hall meeting — now canceled — with Oddo and Ignizio, along with Councilwoman Debi Rose (D-Staten Island).

“It is extraordinary,” said Molinari yesterday. “The lesson learned is that we can win these battles. The other lesson is that you have to be on your guard at all times.”

Indeed, a week ago, Molinari reached out to former Giuliani administration deputy mayor Randy Mastro, who helped oversee closure more than a decade ago. Mastro told the Advance he would look to take the Bloomberg administration to court over the matter, and said that for the city to site a waste plant at Fresh Kills would be to break a “compact” with the people of Staten Island.

While Ignizio and Ms. Rose also expressed relief yesterday, both reiterated that Fresh Kills never should have been on the table.

Still, said Ms. Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn): “When we all stick together, we can do amazing things for Staten Island.”

“I hope this is a blueprint for the future,” agreed Oddo, a candidate for borough president next year. “There are winnable fights out there, and Staten Islanders can win them if they are engaged.”

The only citywide official to oppose the plan, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, a 2013 Democratic mayoral contender, yesterday offered kudos to Oddo and others here, saying, “It’s all too rare when Staten Island speaks and City Hall listens.”

Added de Blasio: “As the administration moves forward on plans to reduce our waste, we need to ensure that sharing the burden of any environmental costs is a chief factor when siting these projects.”

Weirdly, although the Advance had sought the opinion of another leading mayoral hopeful, Democratic City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, her office issued a statement in opposition only yesterday, after Bloomberg had already killed it. In the statement, Ms. Quinn said the mayor had “responded to [a] call from the City Council.” But neither she, nor the Council as a whole, had taken a stand on the hot-button issue here.

Other local lawmakers weighing in during the landfill fight were Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-East Shore/Brooklyn) and Rep. Michael Grimm (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn). Also noting their opposition to the concept was a host of citywide environmental groups.

Since the RFP was amended, the new date for it to be returned by prospective contractors is Aug. 9.

The city does not publicize who the interested contractors are prior to the due date.

Saying the mayor should “back off” plans to put a waste-to-energy facility at Fresh Kills, city Public Advocate Bill de Blasio yesterday became the first citywide official to oppose the controversial proposal.

“No borough should be a dumping ground for the entire city,” said de Blasio, adding that Staten Island has “too much history of injustice.”

The broadside from de Blasio came just one day after Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited the former landfill in Travis to thank firefighters for putting out a major brush fire there earlier this week that derailed a site visit by prospective contractors his office had scheduled.

“Putting a waste-to-energy plant on the site of the world’s largest landfill would set us back to square one,” said de Blasio in a statement. “Fresh Kills and other environmentally burdened sites are not the place to experiment with untested technology.”

De Blasio, a 2013 Democratic mayoral hopeful, also took to Twitter, giving a shout-out to the three-person Staten Island City Council delegation who oppose the move and saying Bloomberg “needs to listen” to them and “back off plans for a Fresh Kills waste-to-energy plant.”

WELCOME SUPPORT

“We welcome his support,” said Councilman James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn), who previously said the issue would be an important one for himself and Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore) in determining whom they will support for mayor. “We welcome off-Island support from everyone. His is the first, and I hope there are many others. The witching hour is coming.”

Oddo and Ignizio, along with Assemblyman Michael Cusick (D-Mid-Island) and state Sen. Diane Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn), showed up at the landfill to talk to Bloomberg in person about the Request for Proposals singling out Fresh Kills as a possible location.

Bloomberg was noncommittal to them — and in response to questions from the Advance — noting the pilot project could be sited anywhere in the five boroughs.

He also told the Advance he didn’t “know whether [it] is true” that 1996 state law bars the former landfill, which was shut in 2001, from disposing of garbage.

The lawmakers who spoke to him said he seemed “unaware” of the fine points of the RFP as well as the state law.

An author of the state legislation, former Assembly member and now Federal Judge Eric Vitaliano, has said the law forbids it, as has Cusick, who was on Vitaliano’s staff at the time and worked on crafting it.

The late state Sen. John Marchi was Vitaliano’s co-author, and his former counsel, Kate Rooney, has affirmed that view.

And Randy Mastro, a Giuliani administration deputy mayor at the time of the Fresh Kills closure, said the city would be “breaking a compact with the people of Staten Island … [to] reopen it to garbage.”

At the behest of former Borough President Guy Molinari, who occupied Borough Hall at the time of closure and was instrumental in the process, Mastro has agreed to litigate the matter, if need be.

Oddo, Ignizio, Molinari and Councilwoman Debi Rose (D-North Shore) are hosting a town hall meeting April 26, in Rocco Laurie Intermediate School, New Springville, at 7 p.m., to galvanize community opposition to the plan.

They have said the Bloomberg administration has shown “insensitivity” by tagging Fresh Kills as a possible site.

In his statement, de Blasio, noting that the city has “spent a decade trying to fairly share the burden of … trash,” added that while “the administration is right to aggressively pursue new ways to reduce our waste … sharing the burden of any environmental costs must be a chief factor when siting this pilot project.”

Elsewhere on the issue yesterday, Oddo said he and his staff are contacting city lobbyists for waste management companies to tell them “why they should look at different locations from Fresh Kills” if their clients are considering responding to the RFP.

The city has declined to name interested parties.

The battle over site location has gotten play in the industry, with Waste Management World.com mentioning the “heated debate” about siting it here in a recent post.