On one side of Blaine Street, machinery and materials are stockpiled at the site of the new Midland sewage treatment plant. On the other, all the houses are boarded up but one.

The last resident facing eviction because of the Midland project will move out of her home of 5 years today by order of the Syracuse Housing Authority.

‘I love the place, I love it here, and I would love to stay here,’ said Vernell Bentley, of 131 Blaine St. ‘I don’t want to move, but they’re just forcing me out.’

Bentley first received notice in March that she and her neighbors would have to move out. Legal notice was given in September, and since then, the deadline was pushed back three times, to Dec. 15.

‘They keep putting it off and off, and have me just so stressed out,’ Bentley said. ‘I have just been a wreck.’

The plans for the Midland project are currently being reviewed by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to determine whether Onondaga County and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation violated the rights of city residents.

If the EPA finds in favor of the residents, the plans will have to be adjusted, and federal funding could potentially be cut off from the county, according to Alma Lowry, director of Syracuse University Public Interest Law Firm, which filed the claim with the EPA.

Despite the review, excavation and construction at the site have not halted.

‘They’re not required to stop for the investigation, but it may not be the wisest thing for them to do,’ Lowry said. ‘They’ll likely have to scramble to fix the violation.’

Bentley also faces problems affording the move. Originally, she said the county said it would offer her enough money to move, but has since settled on $1,000 in compensation for the eviction.

‘They promised they were going to accommodate us, then they didn’t,’ Bentley said. ‘All of a sudden, it’s a different story. Then they say it’s moving expenses.’

Bentley said the money might not even be enough to put a down payment on a new apartment.

‘It is so sad that besides being forced to move, and being in a system like the housing authority, that they can’t broker a really decent place for her to live,’ said Aggie Lane, an engineer and member of the Partnership for Onondaga Creek. ‘It’s very, very sad that somehow the people on Blaine Street, their lives were not part of the engineering equation.’

Lane said that the evictions wouldn’t have been necessary if other designs had been considered from negotiations that occurred in 2002, that broke down when the county withdrew from the talks.

Since then, the designs settled on an above-ground treatment center, which residents say will unnecessarily harm their quality of life.

‘For the pain that they are experiencing and the disruption in their lives, there should be at least a project that doesn’t stigmatize the neighborhood,’ Lane said. ‘If it was Fayetteville, where I used to live, no one would put up with this.’

Lane and Bentley agreed some kind of treatment center is necessary, but said there are other alternatives.

The residents will continue arguing their case, Lane said, and are eagerly awaiting the decision from the EPA, which is due March 20.

‘It’s fair, because they need to do something about the lake, because it smells so terrible,’ Bentley said. ‘But it’s not fair they’re forcing us out of our neighborhood.’

Bentley’s supporters will gather tomorrow at 5 p.m. at her house to sign Christmas cards for County Executive Nicolas Pirro and Gov. George Pataki, urging them to resolve the dispute through negotiation.

‘We hope we have a lot of people signing those cards tomorrow,’ Lane said. ‘We’re hoping that the gathering will also help Vernell feel there are a lot of people behind her.’

The Department of Environmental Conservation declined to comment on the story, and Pirro did not return phone calls.

Published on December 28, 2004 at 12:00 pm