Another Cuomo is standing in the way of a major policy initiative supported by New York mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio.
Former Gov. Mario Cuomo said Tuesday that he had joined forces with a group that opposes the construction of a waste transfer station on the upper East Side — a project that de Blasio supports.
Cuomo’s son, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, last week threw cold water on de Blasio’s signature proposal to raise taxes on the rich to fund prekindergarten classes and after-school programs.
In an interview with the Daily News on Tuesday, Mario Cuomo, 81, pointed out that the E. 91 St. site of the proposed waste transfer station is in a densely populated residential neighborhood and next to Asphalt Green, a popular athletic field.
“The challenge is to find a way to get rid of the garbage without getting rid of a beautiful neighborhood, or giving it damage that it needn’t have,” Mario Cuomo said.
“I believe there must be a more intelligent way than simply saying, ‘Too bad, you’re going to have a dump.'”
The waste transfer station was proposed by the Bloomberg administration as part of a plan to change how the city handles its garbage.
Most of the city’s garbage is transported by truck to transfer points in the South Bronx, Jamaica, Queens and northern Brooklyn. The trash is shipped from those sites out of state.
De Blasio says the location of the transfer station on E. 91 St. would end a “history of unfairness” — the location of all transfer stations in poorer neighborhoods in the outer boroughs.
Mario Cuomo said he and one of his daughters, Madeline, planned to join forces with Pledge 2 Protect, a group of nonprofit groups and local businesses that has collected 28,000 signatures opposing the project and offering alternative sites.
He said, “It’s important that you deal with the garbage somehow and you have to meet that need in a way that does not damage unnecessarily the community around the facility.”
De Blasio’s position has not changed, a spokesman said Tuesday.