Man with a plan for Marine Transfer Station

Resident Evan Zebooker hopes to repurpose the controversial site to “benefit New York City as a whole”

By Madeleine Thompson

The City Council approved plans to open a marine transfer station (MTS) on the Upper East Side more than a decade ago, but the community’s vehement opposition to the garbage dump has never wavered. As recently as 2015 neighbors were angered by the addition of a second ramp to the site, which sits in the East River between 91st and 92nd Streets near the Isaacs-Holmes houses and the Asphalt Green sports facility. No amount of outcry has yet had an effect, but Evan Zebooker, who has lived in Yorkville since 1980, hopes to change that.

Zebooker recently launched a website — letsrepurposethemts.wordpress.com — that houses three ideas he has had for alternate uses of the station: a terminal for the new Citywide Ferry, a marine operations center for the fire department or an NYPD harbor unit. “What I’m trying to do is take a progressive, forward-looking approach to, now that [the MTS] is here, what do we do moving forward?” said Zebooker, who is a proponent of the city’s waterways and was inspired by a recent community board meeting he attended. “I’ve been in the city a long time and I’ve always felt that the waterways have been underutilized.” He emphasized that his proposal is of a different mindset from previous community opposition and stressed that he wants to find a way for the inevitable new building to “benefit New York City as a whole.”

Though he proposes three ideas, Zebooker thinks using the MTS site as a ferry terminal has the most promise. The New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) has already slated Pier 90 for a stop as part of the Soundview Route that will launch in 2018, but Zebooker says that “the site that they have chosen is probably not the best site.” He cites a lack of accessible access and the fact that Pier 90 is open to the elements.

“There’s a lot of congestion there,” Zebooker went on. “There’s no place to park.” Instead, he suggests, use the transfer station, which is enclosed year-round, and the city might be able to make some revenue off of a newsstand or coffee shop.

Community opposition to the MTS has focused on its potentially harmful environmental effects as well as the danger that hundreds of garbage trucks coming and going present to the many local pedestrians and cyclists. Their fears are well founded. Just a year ago, 55-year-old Jodi McGrath was fatally struck by a private sanitation vehicle not even a block from her apartment at the Holmes Towers.

Council Member Ben Kallos inherited the problem of the MTS and has supported residents in fighting it since he took office. “I’m really excited by Evan’s ideas,” Kallos said. “I hope the city will consider all of them. I believe that the long walk to the 90th Street pier is a particularly compelling argument.”

Zebooker said he would be turning to Kallos to help figure out the best way to explore his plan, though he has reached out to a few groups already, including the EDC that will oversee ferry service. “Once you actually say ‘does this really make sense’ I think people kind of like the idea,” Zebooker said.

In response to an interview request from Our Town, a spokesperson for the corporation gave the following statement: “We’ve already selected the location for the ferry landing at East 90th Street, and we will be making upgrades to the existing slip. EDC is very excited to bring NYC Ferry to the Upper East Side in 2018.”

Madeleine Thompson can be reached at newsreporter@strausnews.com