PRESS RELEASE: STOPUPS.ORG TAKES THEIR FIGHT TO CITY HALL.
YONKERS, NY - August 18,2020 - Councilmember Anthony Merante Joined Clare Gallagher, Community Leader, Founder Stopups.Org, and Nick Plakas, Vice President Of Winchester Village Along With Other Community Members to demand Yonkers Planning Board stay their vote on UPS expansion plans till community concerns are addressed.
REMARKS AT PRESS CONFERENCE FROM ANTHONY MERANTE:
“Today we are making our final request of the Yonkers Planning Board to not approve the requested revisions by the United Parcel Service to the property known as 555 Tuckahoe Road without significant conditions.
The project that was presented in the fall was to help alleviate overcapacity at four nearby facilities. It has now morphed into their largest retail distribution center in Westchester and the Bronx.
First and foremost, we demand that no fuel tanks be included on this development. This presents an unnecessary additional environmental and safety hazard. We are talking about 24,000 gallons of gasoline.
I have in my hand a one-gallon gas can. Can you imagine these 24,000 times? This one gallon of gasoline can explode with the same force as 14 sticks of dynamite. It can be easily ignited by electrical or static spark In furthermore gasoline spills are environmental hazards. Who would want this next to their home?
What would happen if this gas station exploded like the one in Russia last week?
Second, after our rally last week, A traffic analysis issued by Ferrandine & Associates, to Clare Gallagher, Founder of StopUPS.org and community leader Nick Plakas, who paid for the report personally, and revised after Ms. Gallagher received additional employee information from the union representing the UPS workers as to there understanding of the number of employees expected, indicates the traffic analysis presented by the UPS traffic engineer was incomplete and that a Positive Declaration requiring a Draft Environmental Impact Statement be required. The community is ready to bring this action to court with their attorney, Joel H. Sachs of the firm Keane & Beane, P.C.
Finally, I have researched the issuance of a Special Use Permit issued to Alfred Weissman Real Estate on September 23, 2014 by the Yonkers City Council from a recommendation by the Yonkers Planning Board at a Meeting and Public Hearing on August 14, 2014 whereby The Weissman’s agreed to keep the green space on the property known as 555 Tuckahoe Road green in exchange for converting a 314-space parking lot into a Hampton Inn and since UPS has built a parking structure on the greenspace, I have determined that Alfred Weissman Real Estate has violated that agreement and have begun the process of revoking that Special Use Permit that will ultimately require the demolition and removal of the Hampton Inn.
These items in addition to other controlling mechanisms, truck activity, truck deployment, East Grassy Sprain Road access, and limiting hours of operation are demanded in order to maintain a good neighbor relationship between UPS and the community.
We are hereby asking the Yonkers Planning Board to stay their vote tomorrow on UPS’s expansion plans till community concerns can be satisfied. “
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