Scott's Sisson Trash Plan

In August, the Brandon Scott administration shocked the city with a plan to sell the Sisson Street trash transfer facility to a developer and move the operation to a site down the hill beside the Jones Falls waterway. The Brew broke the story with an account of the meeting in which Scott's chief of staff unveiled the idea with all the trappings of a very done deal: A bevy of department heads and staffers, a pair of agreeable City Council members, a quickie PowerPoint and an aggressive timeline. In the days that followed, we documented the horrified reaction by environmental groups, business owners and residents who said they cherish the lower Jones Falls valley as a green oasis in the heart of the city. Put trash and hazardous waste in a floodplain? Beside a stream that flows into Baltimore Harbor? Along a path and waterway that people have been working hard for years to clean up and nurture into safe and attractive place to bike, stroll or birdwatch? “This is 19th century thinking, putting your waste next to water,” one resident declared. After a month, Scott backed down, announcing that he would convene a task force to ponder the future of the Sisson site - whether to leave it alone, replace it or simply shut it down. Its recommendations, he said, would be due in December. That was a big change: Under the original timeline, 2840 and 2842 would already have been sold by then.