Rick Stevenson, the self-proclaimed altruistic savior of Wayne Township penned an article in Frost Illustrated today. His complaint is with Summit Recycling & Transfer on Pontiac Street, which as you all (should) know is a Jerry Henry enterprise.
I’m not here to defend Earth First’s and Summit Recycling’s failed attempt at gaining Fort Wayne’s garbage contract. We were pretty clear where we stood on that issue back when it happened. What we think it happening now with Mr. Stevenson is a case of grandstanding.
His complaint is simple. He doesn’t want a “dump” as he calls it, in the neighborhood.
Here’s a video from WANE I took the liberty of editing for effect, (WANE, if you mind, either let me know or sue me, then we can talk about your reporter stealing my story last month).
Not in my backyard from Dan Turkette on Vimeo.
From his article at Frost:
At the Town Hall meeting, I told the group about a study I have read, the Cerrell Report. This report advises garbage companies that the best place to locate landfills or dumps is in low-income areas. There the garbage companies generally will encounter the least resistance to the facility. That is exactly what Earth First is doing.
It’s not Earth First, it’s Summit Recycling and Transfer. That aside, had Stevenson actually read the report, he would have found it covered Waste-to-Energy projects in California, and was written in 1984, 25 years ago. Doesn’t matter. It’s since turned into a propaganda piece.
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund cites the Cerrell Report in their publication, “Our Earth Matters, Environmental Justice: A Research Guide .”
One group, Energy Justice, has the following in their forward of the Cerrell Report.
Though we haven’t found a “Master Plan” specifically targeting poor, Black, Hispanic, Appalachian or Native American communities for LULUs (Locally Undesirable Land Use), we’ve come close in this and some other cases. In this case, of 43 trash incinerators planned for California, the 3 that ended up getting built were in communities of color.
Counter-measures
To deflate a Cerrell strategy, get it out before your community. Show how it’s polluters’ way to identify “toxic chumps.” TELL your friends, neighbors and local media about Cerrell so word gets out that the real reason why you’re getting a LULU is because a Los Angeles consulting firm study says you’re too stupid to resist. They ought to be really thrilled to hear that! Most groups that unveiled the Cerrell Formula stirred massive community outrage and stiffened resistance to the LULU.
These groups take the approach that it’s all about skin color. Stevenson wasn’t bitching and moaning when Jerry Henry took the former derelict building and turned it into jobs. Stevenson wasn’t bitching when he put a new facade on a building that was in serious disrepair and looked like the rest of the neighborhood. How about we put a foundry back in there? They have trucks, and smoke, and silt. The fact is, the area on Pontiac Street that Summit chose for their location has been industrial for over 50 years.
Take a drive down Pontiac Street sometime, (if you dare). People keep their Christmas lights up year-round. Trash is strewn all over some yards, and junk cars sit in driveways. There’s a serious lacking in community pride in our little chunk of Detroit.
So the question remains, is this about the neighborhood? Did they get bamboozled? Or is this simply Mr. Stevenson getting up on his soapbox?
Two other items to consider.
Who approved the facility? The Fort Wayne Board of Zoning Appeals.
The board consists of the following members.
Barney Niezer, Chairman
Mike Bynum, Vice Chairman
Carl Harz
Mary McManus
Chris Stewart
Also, the Earth First contract would have meant garbage was coming into the facility, then on to a dump outside the county. Now Henry states according to the WANE report, “the site will never bring in garbage.” Sorry Jerry, but it seems that was your intent all along. Now it’s all about being green, which I suppose means recycling.
What’s your opinion?
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Did anyone else notice the first female speaker after Stevenson, Alicia Cobb? “I did not buy a $4,000 home to have a recycling center…” Sorry, but what did you expect for a $4,000 home? Maybe she meant $40,000 – or $400,000? Not exactly sure but as my mother used to tell me, you get what you pay for!
The fact that this was approved means that the standards for economic development on the south side of Fort Wayne consist only of the notion that ‘anything is better than nothing.’
And Jerry is certainly being disingenuous here when he clearly stated his intention to bring essentially all the trash in the city there… “I thought I was doing the right thing… ” hilarious.
The payment must be somewhere around $30 a month.
Stephen,
I only paid $2,600 for my house, and you know what I got for it.
Pez,
So you think the south side should just refuse this and hold their breathe waiting for something better to come along?
Something is better than nothing, and what this part of town has currently is very close to nothing. This recycling center is a good deal if it actually employs people from the area where it is to be located.
Hi Phil, I hope you didn’t take my comment the wrong way. I think you’re to be commended for the work you’ve done and continue to do in your neighborhood.
I greatly admire Jerry Henry for his compassion and his toughness. If I were to have an industrial neighbor I would want him to be the guy I would have to complain to. He is fair. Given the site is the old Fruehauf campus, that is backed by a railroad, that it is separated from what is left of that neighborhood by Pontiac Street, a park and a wide strip of businesses, a fire station and a roundabout I think it is a great benefit for the neighborhood, a great asset. It means jobs for a lot of people who badly need them and look hard for whatever they can get.
I just rode past Stevenson Meadows, that charming east side neighborhood of spacious lots and graceful homes. I also noted that Blue Eagle Towing has quite a spacious and graceful lot over there, next to the Elco Tap, which displays scores of vintage autos. It is truly a neighborhood to be preserved and cherished, or was until 1982. Rick Stevenson must have a better set of glasses than I for, my friends, what I saw over there looked pretty sad. I don’t think lines of garbage trucks will distract us from admiring the stunning vistas, the decorative landscaping and the attrctive store fronts. I think Jerry Henry is doing the neighborhood a service, and Rick Stevenson is not.
Was Tony Henry, the Wayne Township president and brother of Jerry Henry at that meeting?
Just wondering
Stepen,
Certainly no offense taken there. I just added that comment for laughs and to show that it is very likely that the lady actually did mean to say $4,000. Houses in my neighborhood seem to sell for $5,000 – $20,000 range and I think my area is very similar to Pontiac / Anthony area.
The Elco Tap closed last year. Too many robberies and a drunk driving through the side of the building was too much for them. That should tell you a bit about this neighborhood. Also, driving through the area (as Jim Sack apparantly has done) will show you that the proposed recycling center/dump will not degrade the ambiance there.
Rick Stephens obviously has the ear of many people. I think the responsible thing for him to do would be to use his position of influence to make sure people from his Wayne township (who are taking taxpayer money because they can’t find jobs) get a substantial share of the jobs from this. Instead, he is just refusing the jobs.
What Stepens did is comparable to Rusty York refusing an offer of free kevlar vests for his officers because he doesn’t like the color of them.
I drive down that street daily. I would welcome any new development.
If she paid 4K for the house, then it can only go up in value.
@Phil – In my opinion, the time to refuse it, pun unintentional, is already past. The ‘Something is better than nothing’ approach will work in the short term, but the long term results are very likely to be less than expected. Sure, Pontiac is never going to be the next west central, but nor will it be more than Pontiac street, where the city allowed a dump because someone could say, ‘when was the last time someone spent x million on Pontiac Street?’
In my mind, spending a million dollars on Pontiac street would be a more worthwhile social experement than spending a million dollars on lawyers in the I&M/City Light fiasco.
Pez, I drove the street again Sunday and noted that Blue Eagle Towing, a Fire Station, a small bar and three empty buildings are the highlight along Pontiac on the south side. The Fruehauf complex, including the garbage station, is to the north. It is not scenic, doubt it will be.