Dear Bill Thompson,
As you can see from this article, you have many friends in Yorkville and East Harlem. I am one of them and wrote Bloomberg's Last Dump, which, along with another article, describes a Bloomberg plan to deposit a two-acre, 10-story high dump in the heart of Yorkville, an entirely residential neighborhood. You opposed this and Yorkville and East Harlem thanked you.
There is no other garbage site in all of New York City that comes even close to being as close to so many people as this one. Nowhere near. There are 2200 people in public housing within a few hundred feet, and 31,000 children use a playing field and recreation center that's even closer. two hundred to 500 garbage trucks a day will pass within feet of the kids. This is a kind of mega-stop-and-frisk, a brutal government intrusion into the lives of ordinary people most of whom either don't have the resources to fight back or are too young. Some victims will be infants.
You saw it. You called it.
The whole basis for putting this thing here (in Flood Zone A, with radiation monitors at the gate) is flawed, based on a myth, is utterly pointless, dangerous, and is going to cost all New Yorkers a lot of money - for no benefit at all.
You saw this. You stood against it from the start. At the moment, Bill de Blasio still supports this Bloomberg's garbage plan. (And truly it is a garbage plan.)
I can't speak for anyone else, but I will support you if you continue. However, if you decide to leave the race and want to reward your most stalwart and effective supporters, here's how.
Either refuse to leave the race unless something is done about this injustice or, if that's too much, please point out to de Blasio (preferably publicly) that the Yorkville dump is symbolic of an old administration; that it's counter to your and his ethics; that it was put here for political and economic reasons not environmental ones; that many things have changed since it was proposed; and that a new, more humane administration with better ideas and fewer ties to big real estate developers should seriously reconsider it.
With thanks for your public service and your courage,
Matthew Chapman