Representatives from Casella Resources Solutions wanted feedback from residents about locating a trash transfer station in their facility behind the old Hood Milk site. Well, they got that feedback, and whether they wanted to hear it or not, they got a clear and emphatic “no way” from Charlestown.
When you have more than 230 residents coming out on a cold winter’s night to voice a ‘no,’ then maybe the proposal should be withdrawn.
Residents are fed up with traffic that clogs our streets and it seems like it will only be getting worse in future years without an additional 60 to 80 trucks daily from this project.
At Monday night’s meeting, people who live in the Navy Yard said that sometimes they have to wait 45 minutes in the morning before they can make it past the traffic light.
This is not an isolated example of traffic.
Rutherford Avenue can turn into a parking lot at any given moment. The North Washington St. Bridge is going to be rebuilt in the next two years. And for years residents have been telling about how emergency vehicles must wait in traffic jams on our streets.
To further compound the traffic issue is additional cars not only from the Assembly Square development, but also traffic from Wynn Resorts.
Traffic is one issue. The other issue deals with quality of life. More heavy trucks with more stinking garbage with refuse water slopping around in these trucks is not what we need today or in the future on our streets. Hearing these trucks rumble down Rutherford Avenue at night is unfair to the residents who live in these sections of our community.
While there are many hurdles for Casella to overcome to get their license, we urge our elected officials to heed the voice of the residents and reject the proposed zoning and variance changes that would need to be approved if the trash transfer station is to be approved.