9/11 remains fill potholes, worker claims

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NY Daily News

The pulverized remains of bodies from the World Trade Center disaster site were used by city workers to fill ruts and potholes, a city contractor says in a sworn affidavit filed yesterday in Manhattan Federal Court.

Eric Beck says debris powders - known as fines - were put in a pothole-fill mixture by crews at the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island, where more than 1.65 million tons of World Trade Center debris were deposited after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"I observed the New York City Department of Sanitation taking these fines from the conveyor belts of our machines, loading it onto tractors and using it to pave roads and fill in potholes, dips and ruts," Eric Beck said.

<snip>

"From my experience at Fresh Kills, I am absolutely convinced that if the City of New York unearthed, resifted and washed the debris at Fresh Kills ... it would find hundreds of human body parts and human remains," said Feaser, a 20-year veteran who supervised the recovery effort at Fresh Kills for the Sanitation Department.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/03/24/2007-03-24_911_remains_fill_potholes_worker_claims.html

[youngdem]

1. Sad but inevitable

No matter how long they sift, they are still gone, and they will never find everyone.


I still wish that Ground Zero were a memorial park only, and perhaps Fresh Kills (so horridly named) Landfill should be as well.

We need this scab to heal.

[Berry Cool]

2. But does that make it OK to fill potholes with human remains?

Sheesh.

[youngdem]

3. I didn't say it was ok. I said it was inevitable and that we should have

created memorials at Ground Zero and Fishkills instead of reusing the site or the waste. Sheesh.

[Berry Cool]

16. OK...but it doesn't seem that we can even get that small thing decided on.

There is way too much dithering and political power-gaming going on about the whole thing.

[mcscajun]

5. Nothing horrid about "Fresh Kills" as a name.

As a landfill, certainly. As an unnatural burial ground, absolutely.

Fresh Kills, Peekskill, Fishkill all share a common Dutch root word, kille, meaning a creek or other small waterchannel. NYC and NYS still have some holdovers from their Dutch days way back when.

[WePurrsevere]

12. Exactly. This story on it's own it horrible, the name of the place is merely a sad coincidence.

You obviously know about the "kills" thing :) but here is some more info on Fresh Kills both as an estuary and a landfill if you, or anyone else, is interested:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresh_Kills:
Fresh Kills (from the Middle Dutch word kille, meaning "riverbed" or "water channel") is a stream and freshwater estuary in the western portion of the New York City borough of Staten Island. It is the site of the Fresh Kills Landfill, formerly New York City's principal landfill.

<snip>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresh_Kills_Landfill:
The Fresh Kills Landfill on the New York City borough of Staten Island, was formerly the largest landfill in the world, at 2200 acres (890 hectares),<1> and was New York City's principal landfill in the second half of the 20th century. The name "Fresh Kills" refers to its location along the banks of the Fresh Kills estuary in western Staten Island.

Opened in 1948, it became one of the largest refuse heaps in human history. It also achieved the status as the highest man-made hill directly on the East Coast of the United States. Under local pressure and with support of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the landfill site was slated to close on March 22, 2001. However, after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, the landfill was temporarily reopened in order to receive and process most of the debris from the destruction. Most of the debris was later removed and sold for scrap.

Starting in 2003, the site was to be transformed into reclaimed wetlands, recreational facilities and landscaped public parkland, the largest expansion of the New York City parks since the development of the chain of parks in the Bronx during the 1890s. In January, 2005, Staten Island Borough president James Molinaro announced plans to open three roads leading out of the former landfill to regular traffic, as part of an effort to ease the road congestion for which Staten Island has become notorious in recent years.

(aside - WTH were they thinking putting a DUMP next to a waterway/watershed?! ::sigh:: NM... in 1948 they weren't obviously.)

[Henny Penny]

15. Inevitable???

You've got to be kidding me.

[gulfcoastliberal]

4. Check out this video

An interview with a cleanup worker. Quite an eye opener.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=159_1174634215

[1620rock]

6. Kill is the dutch (first settlers in NY) word for stream or brook. n/t

[Heidi]

7. Kick.

:kick:

[durtee librul]

8. 9/11 vicitims' remains found in landfil and used in potholes?`

Source: Local 11:00 news

'kind of hard to sleep knowing your loved one is in a landfill being used for road repair.'

No link yet.

---

Just heard this on the news they are finding human remains in the landfills and the operators were ordered to use the fill for potholes??????? WTF??????

[peacetalksforall]

9. How much more can the friends and families take? nt

[Make7]

10. Contractor: City Filled Potholes With 9/11 Remains

Source: WCBS

(CBS) NEW YORK A former contractor for the city who worked at the Fresh Kills landfill has accused the city of filling potholes with human remains from the World Trade Center.

Norman Siegel is representing some of the families of 9/11 victims suing to re-open the search for human remains. He's produced a deposition from a contractor who sifted through the remains at the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island.

"They were putting the remains of people who died on 9/11 in the potholes on the roadway of Fresh Kills," Siegel said. "This was another example not only of inadequacy but the deliberate indifference of the people running the city."

The city stopped sifting through almost a half million tons of debris after about a year of work. But some family members maintain they stopped work prematurely.


Read more: http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_083223400.html

[Miss Chybil]

11. "Fresh Kills" landfill? Could anyone make this stuff up? What is wrong with these people? nt

[CJCRANE]

13. ...and "Controlled Demolition Inc" cleared the rubble from the WTC site! n/t

[Miss Chybil]

18. Amazing. nt

[MrSlayer]

14. I dump all my bodies at Fresh Kills.

They're every serial killer's best friend. He says hundreds, I say thousands.

[Berry Cool]

17. I do agree that the coincidence of the name "Fresh Kills" is highly unfortunate

and if the place WAS going to be used as a memorial, I'd be in favor of changing the name. Despite its origins having nothing to do with killing. It's just so unfortunate a name.