NYC councilmembers, advocates challenge Parks over Big Reuse eviction
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Queens councilmembers grilled Parks Department officials over the pending eviction of the organization Big Reuse from land in Long Island City. The city suspended curbside compost pickup in April.
By Rachel Vick
City councilmembers and advocates grilled officials from the Parks Department Friday over the pending eviction of a popular Long Island City composting organization, an action they say violates New York City’s sustainability goals.
The nonprofit group Big Reuse faced imminent eviction from its site under the Queensboro Bridge after its three-year lease expires Dec. 31, but reached a deal to remain for six more months while they look for a new site.
That postponement did not satisfy several local lawmakers and environmental activists who said the city was kicking the issue down the road. The Parks Department has said it is commandeering the land to park vehicles and trailers currently stored on the lot next door.
“it is incomprehensible that Big Reuse would be evicted and particularly reprehensible if in fact that site, which now is a site of community compost and a source of education, would be turned into a parking lot for vehicles,” said Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer, who represents the Big Reuse site.. “A simple extension … is not good enough.”
Three years ago, Big Reuse transformed what had been a vacant lot used to store city equipment into a viable composting site that processes nearly 1 million pounds of food waste each year, Van Bramer said.
The Big Reuse lot is adjacent to land still used by parks to store equipment. The two parcels once formed Queensbridge Baby Park. The Parks Department plans to redevelop the park and needs to move its equipment to the Big Reuse site, officials said.
Van Bramer said Baby Park and Big Reuse could coexist and called the zero-sum notion a “false narrative.
“It is outrageous that you're pitting one community against another. I'm just so outraged by what you’re coming to us with,” he added. “Big Reuse was the first actual reuse of the land for the community.”
Assistant Parks Commissioner Sam Biederman said Big Reuse’s compost operations were “not providing an intrinsic value to the space,” fueling the decision not to renew the organization’s lease.
Parks officials dodged questions from councilmembers about why Big Reuse was excluded from the plans for a new park, why equipment could not be relocated to another nearby parks site, or why Big Reuse could not have an extension longer than six months while the new park was still in its planning stages.
“Our agreement with Big Reuse was that during the period of their licensure they would seek more stable space that was not on park land,” Biederman said
“This is stable space, if you just allowed them to stay,” Van Bramer replied.
Councilmember Antonio Reynoso said the Parks Department has other space available for storing equipment and does not have to evict Big Reuse on “a technicality.”
“It seems like someone woke up someday and decided that they wanted to use legalese and legal language to figure out a way to get these folks out,” Reynoso said. “You've committed to something your stubbornness won't allow you to move and it's really unfortunate ... to move out an environmental justice function of composting and the economic benefits it has to the city. It doesn't seem to speak to what should be the true mission statement of the New York City Parks Department, which is environmental justice.”
The organic waste operation is particularly important because the city cut curbside composting to save money earlier this year.
Big Reuse Executive Director Justin Green said he was “naive” when the organization signed the initial agreement because he assumed that the project would lead to a long lasting relationship.
A long-term lease agreement is not enough to ensure stable park space, he added, pointing to the possible displacement of the Lower East Side Ecology Center. The organization may have to vacate its site along the East River in Lower Manhattan despite its years-long agreement with the city.
Community members showed up in force to voice their support for Big Reuse. High school student Fariha Haider kicked off nearly three hours of testimony by describing her experience as a Big Reuse volunteer.
She said Big Reuse worked with her school's ecology club to help students learn about organic waste and sustainability.
“Big Reuse is especially dear to us,” Haider said. “They continue to reach out to us for our thoughts on how to make curbside compost a success, and we learned how our personal actions also help our communities.”
