YORKVILLE — Opponents of the East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station are ramping up support for political allies just in time for Tuesday's primaries — sending out 80,000 direct mailings that blast the project's proponents.
Pledge 2 Protect, the coalition of anti-MTS groups leading the charge against the much-maligned sanitation project, is specifically targeting mayoral hopefuls Bill de Blasio and Christine Quinn, who have expressed support for the station.
Part of the mailing features an aerial photo of Asphalt Green, the recreation complex that stands to be bisected by the MTS, with arrows indicating the proximity between a "kid's playground" and "where all the trucks will go" in a childlike typeface.
"The city wants a major garbage dump next to Asphalt Green, a playground and public housing," the mailing reads. "How is this environmental justice when tugboats and 500 garbage trucks a day will spew carcinogenic diesel fumes, raising asthma and lung cancer rates for children and New Yorkers?"
Text on a graphic featuring photos of Bill Thompson, Christine Quinn, Bill de Blasio and Anthony Weiner — with all the candidates' email addresses — reads: "Who do you agree with?"
Quinn and de Blasio, outlined in read, are labeled with the words: "WON'T stop the dump."
The other candidates, outlined in green, feature the description: "WILL stop the dump."
The new fliers also target the hotly contested city comptroller's race.
Eliot Spitzer and Scott Stringer are pictured in the ad, with text indicating that the former "WILL fight the dump" and that the latter "Has Not Taken a Public Position."
Though the MTS has long been a flashpoint in the 2013 elections, it has largely remained outside of the fight for the comptroller's office.
The other side of the mailing features a photo of children playing soccer, and the two sides of their game are divided by a garbage truck.
That text, also typed in a script similar to a child's handwriting, reads: "Our kids will have to play right next to this at Asphalt Green."
Asphalt Green also completed its own, separate direct-mailing campaign as part of a recent ad blitz.
Pledge 2 Protect said its mailings will go to East Harlem, Yorkville and parts of the Upper East Side, as well as residents citywide who are registered Asphalt Green users.
The goals are "to educate New Yorkers on the dangers of this unnecessary garbage dump, to inform New Yorkers as to where NYC’s next leaders stand on the issue and to urge them to make their voices heard," a Pledge spokesman said.
The city has maintained support of the East 91st Street project amid continued controversy, claiming that it is part of a fair environmental waste-management plan.
Neither Quinn, de Blasio nor Stringer could immediately be reached for comment.
