A passage from Psalm 133 was among the most civil exchanges to pass between County Executive Nick Pirro and Syracuse community members at a meeting discussing the construction of a regional waste treatment facility on the city’s south side.

The 7 p.m. meeting, held Monday at New Testament Missionary Baptist Church, was the first public meeting between Pirro and groups opposed to the facility’s construction since activists began protesting the plan more than four years ago. Both recognized potential for progress, but many community members felt that the meeting accomplished nothing.

“[Pirro] was repetitive, and he reflected an unwillingness to be adequately respectful to very serious questions regarding health and the community,” said Annette Pfannenstiela, a Syracuse United Neighbors and Partnership for Onondaga Creek member. “I’ve been to five different presentations, and all he’s ever given me is short answers with very little insight.”

The two-hour meeting consisted of two SUN presentations followed by community members’ questions.

The potency of chlorine was one of several issues discussed that remained unresolved at the end of the meeting.

“Pirro wants to put this chlorine in our neighborhood, and some of the 41 biproducts cause cancer,” said Louise Poindexter, a SUN activist. “Chlorine isn’t good for anything that lives and breathes.”

Pirro remained positive about the contents that would make up the facility.

“If this plan wasn’t safe, we wouldn’t have approved it,” Pirro said, referring to himself and the Department of Environmental Conservation. “This plan is about stopping raw sewage from flowing through people’s back yards.”

Another issue intensely debated and not resolved concerned “environmental racism.” Community members accused the county of building more technologically advanced sewage treatment centers at other Syracuse locations.

“Everyone else uses a different way to deal with this,” Poindexter said. “Why can’t we get that?”

Representatives for the county directly disagreed.

“There are seven other treatment plants in Syracuse just like this,” said Richard Elander, the county’s Water Environmental Protection commissioner. “This is the way you treat raw sewage.”

The two groups also disagreed about specific costs of each of the two proposed facilities. The constant disagreement of the two sides discouraged Poindexter.

“There’s nothing wrong with having an opinion, just have facts to back it up,” Poindexter said. “Tonight, Pirro proved to all of us that he has nothing.”

About 25 of the 80 attendees were concerned students from the university’s Student Environmental Action Coalition, an organization that has been protesting this issue for two years.

Though most people left the meeting frustrated, SEAC member Nick Cavanaugh felt that it was good for the community.

“It’s awesome that it happened,” said Cavanaugh, an undecided sophomore. “[Even though Pirro is] so stubborn, hopefully what happened here is we’ll reach a larger audience.”

Published on March 31, 2003 at 12:00 pm