Edgewood Prepares Opposition To Incinerator In Community

Edgewood residents and activists have started a petition drive and will hold a special meeting Tuesday to discuss the implications of a Harford County Council bill which would place a waste incinerator next to a community recreation field.

Community activist Omar Simpson has created an online petition for the public to tell their elected officials they do not want a waste incinerator next to Cunion field.

As of Sunday morning, the petition appeared to have been signed by only 8 people.

Here is the full text from his online petition:

There is a very important matter before the Harford County Council…a matter that will effect where our children play and where you live. The County Council has put in a Bill (Bill 09-36) that would put an enormous trash and waste incinerator right next to Cunion Field! The location for the facility would be directly across the street from Cunion field!

This area is right across from where all of our kids play football, soccer and basketball. Kids from Edgewood, Joppa, Aberdeen, APG, Bel Air and other County teams routinely use Cunion Field. Edgewood High School uses these fields for practice. Bringing such a large source of potential contamination to an area right next to where our kids play and we live is a huge concern. Not to mention the risk of a fire or other onsite accident right next to Cunion Field.

Homeowners near this site will suffer a dramatic drop in their property value. After all, who wants to live next to a massive trash incinerator? Especially one that is incinerating who knows what from the military base at Aberdeen Proving Ground?! Residents that currently live near the smaller Waste To Energy plant constantly complain of trash, noise, ash, dust and respiratory illnesses. The proposed facility will quadruple the amount of waste that is burned…right next to Cunion Field.

If you want to preserve our community, preserve your property value, preserve your health and prevent dangerous materials from being burned near your children, help defeat Bill 09-36 by signing this petition.

Also, The public hearing on this bill is Dec 1 at 6pm in the Council chambers at 212 South Bond Street in Bel Air, Maryland 21014, we will need a full house to defeat this bill. We need to get all of the Council members focus on this bill because, with the exception of Dion Guthrie, this is not in their district so some of them could care less. Lets go to work.

In advance of the Dec. 1 Harford County Council public hearing on the bill, the Edgewood Community Council has scheduled a special meeting for Tuesday evening.

Here is the complete agenda for Tuesday’s Edgewood Community Council meeting:

EDGEWOOD COMMUNITY COUNCIL
SPECIAL MEETING
EDGEWOOD SENIOR CENTER
1000 GATEWAY ROAD, EDGEWOOD, MD 21040

Date: TUESDAY NOVEMBER 24, 2009

Time: 7:30 PM

CALL TO ORDER (Jansen Robinson) 02 Minute

MOMENT OF SILENCE (Mizella White)

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE (Mizella White)

PURPOSE FOR MEETING (Jansen Robinson) 02 Minute
Discussion of Proposed Bill NO 09-36; Proposed Purchase of the Prologis Park Complex area of Edgewood for the purpose of building a New Incinerator Plant.

Introduction/Acknowledgement (Jansen Robinson) 05 Minutes
Elected Officials

Local Government Officials

COUNCIL MEMBER ROLL CALL (Mildred Samy) 01 Minute

Bill NO 09-36 UPDATES (Councilman Guthrie) 25 Minutes
Will give us a brief overview explaining how we arrived at this point.

EDGEWOOD RESIDENT CONCERNS (Councilman Guthrie) 30 Minutes
(2 Minutes each)

CURRENTLY ELECTED OFFICIALS (Councilman Guthrie) 20 Minutes
(2 Minutes each)

STRATEGIC PLAN (Councilman Guthrie) 30 Minutes
Detail Actions/Steps that Edgewood Residents can take to reach a Solution that result in What We-“The Citizens of Edgewood” Want.

ANNOUNCEMENTS (Jansen Robinson) 05 Minutes
CANDIDATES FORUM

OTHER

M. ADJOURN (Closing Prayer)