Sunday, June 8, 2008

Thump

I had no idea this was the other shoe. According to the Boston Globe, the owner of New Ventures wants to haul his trash in Everett all the way to Newburyport so he can build a hotel or biotechnology center on his site in Everett.

Did I miss this somewhere?

I've got some other questions too.


(Update: Just to be clear, the shocking part is the development, not the hauling of the stuff. See comments.)

9 comments:

Ari Herzog said...

Thanks for the tip. I am answering you here.

Anonymous said...

My favorite quote from the Globe story -- The mayor of Evertett speaking about the owner of New Ventures: "Hopefully," DeMaria said, "he is a man of his word."
The most disturbing quote: "The mayors of Newburyport and Everett said in separate interviews last week that they back the proposal."

Tom Salemi said...

This is my favorite part...

The request to increase the amount of waste trucked from Everett to Newburyport, he said, would alleviate neighborhood odor issues at both sites by removing debris that wasn't meant to be stored long-term in Everett, but could be disposed of properly in Newburyport. That portion of the deal depends on state and local authorities lifting stop-work orders in Newburyport because of repeated environmental violations.


Um...."disposed of properly" and "repeated environmental violations" don't seem to jibe.

Tom Salemi said...

And the quote about the mayor seems to run counter to what was reported in the DN on Saturday.

Gillian Swart said...

I guess you guys don't read my blog, or follow my links to the Everett Average Citizen (insert smiley face here)... I think a couple of people said in the special meeting that NV planned to bring the waste from Everett up here ... and on the forum cited above, citizens of Everett write about the development.

Hate to say "I told you so," but ...

Tom Salemi said...

Hi Gillian,

Well I obviously knew about the Everett waste coming up here. I just didn't know the real why.

The opinions presented at the meeting suggested the additional waste was necessary to make the site economic viable.

But it's clear that there are much larger issues at stake, i.e. the development.

That's a completely different story. It tells me two things. One, New Ventures' owner is going to push harder than I thought to get the junk out of Everett if he wants to realize this big score.

Two, we've got more leverage than I initially thought since the City Council must cooperate to help him achieve his goal.

No, I didn't go over to the links. I've got enough on my plate tracking local blogs.

I'm not sure exactly what you told me so, but....well..I'm dense so you might have to repeat yourself.

-Tom

Ari Herzog said...

Gillian is saying she told you about the Wood Waste debris coming to Crow Lane. Clearly, she knew nothing about the hotel development proposal, or did she?

I must stress that Newburyport officials are pressured to sign an agreement with NV as a prerequisite to NV signing an agreement with the DEP to cap the landfill. Once both occur, Thibeault will allegedly go forward with his hotel development ideas.

Stated differently, whether or not Newburyport signs this agreement and whether or not the landfill is capped, nobody knows if Everett will approve the hotel development and/or if the state will provide any permitting incentives.

So, why sign an agreement based on a potential future action that has nothing to do with the subject of the agreement? Am I missing something?

Gillian Swart said...

Ari & Tom & Whoever else,

I did know something was going on in Everett that necessitated the owner getting the debris out of there, for his own benefit. I did not realize the scope of the development, however.

Bullies will never back down until someone stands up to them. Whether Newburyport is a big enough 'someone' is the question.

I don't know why our mayor would be backing something that's going on in Everett and has nothing to do with here. But you can bet it's not just an idle gesture, if he did in fact do so.

Tom, you're right - it can be used as leverage, as long as someone hasn't promised something already. Which I fear might be the case.

Tom Salemi said...

I suspect the mayor and council simply want to escape this whole experience with a capped landfill and no legal threats hanging over their heads.

That would seem to be enough motivation. I doubt they're all that concerned about what goes on in Everett.

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