(The following story by Roger Alvarado appeared on the Manville News website on July 22.)
PRINCETON, N.J. — Lee Place resident Chris Gosk says the borough should be more concerned about doing something about the putrid smell that continues to emanate from the trash train than worrying about whether people’s eyesore properties are being properly maintained.
Last week, Mayor Angelo Corradino announced that the borough would be coming down hard on absentee landlords and residents who don’t do a thing to improve or maintain their properties.
Mr. Gosk, who doesn’t have a problem with that, says there’s a more pressing issue that needs to be addressed — the trash train.
“Here we are getting lip service from the esteemed mayor and they’re still parked here,” Mr. Gosk said. “The odor is horrendous.”
The trash train sometimes stationed in the stockyard between the south side of town on East Camplain Road toward the end of Lost Valley is so close to area houses that its odor sickens neighbors, including himself, Mr. Gosk said.
In May, CSX spokesman John Casellini said that some long delayed track work that was causing the trash train to remain in the area for lengthy stretches had been completed.
Mr. Casellini and borough officials then assured the public that the trash train wouldn’t be in the area for too long anymore.
However, Mr. Gosk says the problem still hasn’t been addressed to his satisfaction.
Mr. Gosk says that the borough’s decision to crack down on absentee landlords and negligent property owners motivated him to speak out.
“They’re talking about the beautification of Manville and issuing fines to residents not maintaining their lawns or throwing out their trash,” Mr. Gosk said. “That infuriated me because here I am, I could have the most beautiful well-kept lawn in the county and I go outside and the smell is so horrendous, it’s sickening.”
Mr. Gosk, who first brought the issue up in April, says very little has been done to keep the train from sticking around stinking up his neighborhood despite public statements by officials that suggest otherwise.
“Nothing has changed,” he said. “It’s frustrating … at certain times there are two or three rows of trains.”
According to Mr. Gosk, at times there’s a quarter mile strip of trains in the area.
“It’s a sporadic thing,” he said. “There’s no schedule.”
Mayor Corradino who sympathizes with Mr. Gosk, disputed his claim, but did say the borough is continuing to work out a solution to the problem to ensure the trash train no longer stops in Manville.
“It’s not as often as he says, but it’s still happening and one instance is enough to aggravate you,” Mayor Corradino said.
The mayor says that he is in discussions with CSX and Norfolk Southern officials to make it so the trash trains no longer stop in Manville to changeover before being sent off to their respective transfer stations.
However, the mayor says ,it’s not something that’s going to happen quickly.
“We’re working on it,” Mayor Corradino said. “But it won’t be fixed overnight.”
Mr. Gosk, a lifelong borough resident, who has lived at his current residence since May 1999, says conditions in his neighborhood continue to be intolerable.
“During the Fourth of July my neighbors were concerned that they’d have to cancel their holiday plans,” he said. “It’s such an offensive odor … some days it’s terrible.”
Mr. Gosk, who in addition to a 2-month old baby, has two children ages 14 and 10, says the smell is so bad that his kids can’t enjoy themselves outdoors the way they should.
“They can’t go out to use the swimming pool on a summer day,” he said. “I wish there was some other way I could explain this, because words on a paper can’t explain how bad it can get.”
Mr. Gosk says that on some days he and his wife want to go out after being indoors all day, but can’t.
“We have to retreat back into our home and turn the (air conditioning) on when it’s a cool 75-degree day,” he said. “If we open our windows the house will start to smell just like it does outside.”
Mr. Gosk says he hopes something is done to address the problem shortly.
CSX officials were unavailable for comment.