Thomas-Henry questions Anderson on Rikers Island composting EIS and traffic concerns

And I will turn it over to Councilmember Shanel-Thomas-Henry.

Thank you, Chair.

I want to go right back to the composting or just all organic waste processing anticipated for Rikers Island.

Was there an EIS done for that, or will there be?

And that is all from Kaltz.

So at this point, we don't have a formal capital project or really any specific plans for doing so.

It's something that we are exploring.

And I know that the city, particularly under this administration, has been moving more and more

decommissioned jail properties from DOC to DCAS to begin the process of planning for the post-jail future of Rikers Island.

And there would certainly be an environmental review done as part of that.

Okay, I just want to flag because although the island itself is isolated, there is currently only one roadway in, and it goes through a residential neighborhood.

And in addition to the residents, there is a baseball field at that corner.

And I'm not sure if you're aware, but the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey with LaGuardia Airport uses what they call Ingram's Mountain adjacent to that for higher vehicle parking currently.

So just to be cognizant of, and I would recommend kind of collaborating with them on any movement.

out of there from a traffic perspective and then looking at any other ways of getting the waste over there like the waterways or what have you.

Yeah, absolutely.

And, you know, one of the things that I think the Department of Sanitation has been a longtime leader in is using our city's waterways to move material around.

Most of our recyclables and much of our trash moves on the water today.

And I think we would certainly look for opportunities to move compostable material by water as well to any potential future Rikers compost facility.