A proposal to expand the tonnage at a County Waste trash transfer station in South Troy has been withdrawn, according to an e-mail sent by Nancy Baker of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. In the e-mail, Baker said County Waste has also made facility adjustments in conjunction with the City of Troy to alleviate existing traffic concerns raised by residents in South Troy.

The email in its entirety:

To the Residents of Troy - This correspondence is directed to those residents or officials who provided comments to the NYS DEC regarding the proposal by County Waste to 1) increase the throughput at the transfer facility, and also 2) to receive waste deliveries during the hours of 10 p.m. - 3 a.m.

The comments we received were extremely valuable to evaluating the potential impacts of this proposal. Most of the comments related to the existing traffic congestion at the Burden Ave/Route 378/Route 4 intersection. Comments also made the Department aware of a situation wherein trucks were passing the facility and turning around to enter the facility. This resulted in more passes through that intersection than were necessary, and contributing to overall congestion in that area.

As a result, the Department has worked diligently with the City of Troy and County Waste Transfer Corporation to alleviate those issues. The request to increase the throughput (tonnage) at that facility has been WITHDRAWN, and the facility will continue to operate at the level previously approved. In addition, during our review of the requested overnight hours, County Waste has made facility modifications (specifically, the removal of the old rail road trestle) which hampered access to the facility from the back. Packer trucks will now pass the facility and enter from the back, negating the need to queue up at the intersection, or make a second pass to enter the facility. This change should significant reduce congestion in that area.

The overnight ours were requested in order to comply with OGS contract pickups. A maximum of three trucks per hour are permitted to make deliveries during the 10:00 p.m. - 3:00 a.m. hours, and no processing is permitted. Since throughput will not change, this will remove deliveries that previously occurred during the day, during peak traffic hours, as those will occur overnight.

I have enclosed the Department's complete response to comments, which outlines all comments received and the Department's response. I want to thank each of you for your participation in this process, and for the valuable and thoughtful comments that were submitted. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Baker also enclosed responses to comments submitted to the DEC during the public hearing portion, available below.

DEC responses to proposed County Waste expansion comments

Organizers of Saturday's We Play For Food Stickball Tournament in Little Italy nearly doubled last year's donations to raise over $8,000 worth of food for the Roarke Center food pantry.

Organizer Rocco DeFazio said that he was very excited that they were able to collect so much non-perishable food.

"This will keep them going for four months," DeFazio said. He already has set a goal for next year of $10,000 worth of food raised. He said that the 12 teams and the community all came together to help out the food pantry, some of which know firsthand the good that the Roarke Center does.

DeFazio said that one man came to the event with two big Price Chopper bags of groceries. "You could tell he had been walking for a while," De Fazio said. The man came back again later that day, and the food collector asked him what organization he was with.

"The man said that a while back he lost his job, and that the Roarke Center had helped him out and his family," said DeFazio. "He had walked all the way to the Watervliet Price Chopper to buy food and bring it back twice."

DeFazio said the great thing about the tournament is that it doesn't require a lot of upfront cost.

"The beauty of this event is we don't leave a big footprint," he said. "We do it with just a rubber ball and a broom handle baseball bat."

DeFazio said that the winning team, Deep Six, was made up of "ringers" that play in the Little Italy Stickball League. DeFazio said that he hopes when people hear about the success of the tournament, it will encourage them to get involved next year.

The Roarke Center, located on 4th St., feeds over 500 people every month.

It's time to break out the bicycles. The Troy Bike Rescue has organized the Bike! Bike! Northeast event this weekend, April 24-25, complete with workshops, a bike rodeo, food, a film screening and even a dance party for good measure.

From the TBR website:

We are inviting bicycle organizers and volunteers of all kinds from not-so-far-off lands to converge on our post-industrial town for a meeting of the minds on all things bicycle culture in the Northeast US. Through discussions, skillsharing sessions, and bicycle fun, we will come together to learn, share, and build something awesome.

Workshops include Welding for Dummies, tips and rules for urban riding, "upcycling" (turning non-recyclable bike parts into fun & useful things), a presentation of the Albany Bike Master Plan and more. A complete listing of all the workshops is available here.

Registration for the weekend is on a sliding scale from $10-$30, and those interested in attending should register online here. There will also be a show Saturday night at 7 p.m. featuring Blisterpack and BEWARE! The Other Head of Science.

For more information on the event click here. Here is the complete press release.

Mayor Harry Tutunjian announced today his recommendations for the distribution of Community Development Block Grant funding, including $1.2 million towards reinvestment in South Troy and $165,942 towards the expansion of recreational facilities like Knickerbacker Pool and Frear Park.

The recommendations are part of the 2010 One Year Action Plan, up for vote before the City Council.

According to the Mayor's recommendations, it appears that this year's CDBG funding has increased by over $800,000 when compared to last year's CDBG recommendations. According to Deputy Director of Public Information Jeff Pirro, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development discovered internally last year that it was under-allocating funds to certain cities, like Troy, and as a result has given Troy more money this year to correct that.

Additionally, $250,000 of the extra money is a result of the city no longer having to make loan repayments to Vulcan Properties as part of the River Triangle Building Rehabilitation.

Councilman Mark McGrath, R-District 2, released a statement in support of the investment in Knickerbacker Pool, saying "I support this plan with the understanding that our kids are our most important asset."

Below is the full list of recommendations released by Tutunjian. What do you think? Are there areas that could use more CDBG funding? How do you feel about the reinvestment in South Troy?

Project	Applicant	Amount
Planning and Administration		$410,000
CDBG Program Administration	City of Troy (Housing)	$400,000
Homelessness Management Information Systems	Corporation for AIDS Research, Education, and Services, Inc.	$10,000
Neighborhood Livibility		$750,000
Street Improvements (Street Paving)	City of Troy (DPW/Engineering)	$300,000
Code Enforcement	City of Troy (Code Enforcement)	$300,000
Elevator for Wheelchair access to 15-17 3rd Street	Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley	$50,000
Vacant Building Demolitions	City of Troy (Code Enforcement/Public Works)	$100,000
Recreation		$165,942
Refurbish Kncikerbacker Pool Locker Room & Bathrooms	Recreation Dept.	$20,000
Frear Park Pavilion Restroom	Recreation Dept.	$40,000
Frear Park Tennis Court Resurfacing	Recreation Dept.	$40,000
Frear Park Fountain Repair	Recreation Dept.	$30,000
City-wide Park Fencing	Recreation Dept.	$35,942
South Troy Area Reinvestment		$1,200,000
South Troy Reinvestment Target Area	City of Troy Enginnering/ Housing	$1,200,000
Decent Housing		$100,000
Homeowner Housing & Energy Improvement Program	City of Troy (Housing)	$100,000
Public Service		$180,000
After School Child Care and Summer Camp Scholarships	Troy Youth Association, Inc.	$25,000
School Age Child Care Program Scholarship Fund	Lansingburgh Boys & Girls Club	$25,000
After School Program & Teen Program	Troy Boys & Girls Club	$25,000
Roarke Connections	Roarke Center (Catholic Charities)	$20,000
Daycare for Working Poor Families	Catholic Charities: Sunnyside Child Dev.	$20,000
Ready for Work Program	YWCA	$15,000
Joseph's House & Shelter	Joseph's House	$30,000
Unity House Domestic Violence Career Development	Unity House of Troy	$20,000
Homelessness		$90,498
Domestic Violence Shelter Operating Expenses	Unity House of Troy	$24,998
TAUM Furniture Program	Troy Area United Ministries	$13,000
Joseph's House & Shelter	Joseph's House	$32,500
Women In Transition Program	YWCA	$20,000
HOME		$755,942
HOME Administration	City of Troy (Housing)	$70,915
HOME Homebuyer Incentive Program	City of Troy (Housing)	$100,000
HOME Homebuyer Incentive Program (South Troy)		$200,000
Making Homeownership A Reality	THDC-THA	$350,027
THDC CHDO Operating Expenses	THDC-THA	$35,000