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Read the press release here.

Demolition of Marine Transfer Station to Begin, Officials Say

YORKVILLE — Demolition of a defunct marine transfer station, which will make way for a new waste facility, is set to begin soon, city officials said.

The city Law Department, which is handling press inquiries about the polemic project because of pending litigation, confirmed that the marine transfer station contractor is on site, and that "demolition of the existing sculpture is scheduled to being shortly."

The department added that all of the work taking place on the marine transfer station site from March 2013 until April 2014 will be "confined to the area east of the FDR Drive and esplanade, and staged from barges moored in the river."

Further details about the demolition, including a specific timeline, were not immediately available.

However, at least three storage units from Skanska — the main developer — have been set up recently on the ramp leading up to the station.

Opponents of the station said they are not worried by these developments, adding that politicians' recent statements against the station left them optimistic.

"We are making progress," said David Eber, a member Residents for Sane Trash Solutions, a community group that opposes the station. "At the East 92Y Mayoral Forum, all the Republican Mayoral candidates came out against building this dump and all the Democratic candidates have said they want to re-look at building the dump, except Christine Quinn."

Quinn, the City Council speaker, has supported the station, saying all municipal garbage should not be placed in lower-income neighborhood, and that the city should fight "environmental racism."

Work on the facility, which will be located at East 91st Street and the FDR Drive, was originally set to begin by January 2013. But the site has remained dormant, save for the quiet appearance of a construction sign and trailer.

At the time, these developments, which the city had previously declined to comment on, stoked significant fears among neighbors. They worried that the city wasn't doing enough to keep them in the loop about construction.