Several years ago on Mother’s Day, Esther Herkowitz,
tried to plant rose bushes in memory of her mother and grandmother.
Instead of soil, she hit cement, metal bits and rebar.
“That was when I found out that I bought a mobile home on an unkempt toxic dump,” she said.
Herkowitz
lives at Nate’s Floral Estates at 205 Cecil Malone Drive in Ithaca.
Today, the mobile home park residents must plant their fruits and
vegetables in raised beds, planters or pots. This requirement is
stipulated in the operating permit issued by the Tompkins County Health
Department.
Until 1970, the land under the trailer park was the city of Ithaca’s landfill, accepting wastes, for 30-32 years.
“This
site is the only uncapped toxic landfill in New York State with
hundreds of people living directly on top of the dump. It is a scandal
that this dump has never been cleaned up,” said environmental activist
Walter Hang. He is president of Toxics Targeting, a private firm using
government data to track environmental concerns.
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