Raceway plans might make way for cemetery
(October 21st 2006)
Instead of a NASCAR track, we might have a cemetery instead. The land in question is the $110 million piece of land currently owned by International Speedway Corporation for their NASCAR track plan. currently, the plan is under a lot of fire from the Sanitation and Environmental department of Staten Island . In view of the fact that the Staten Island NASCAR track plan is having some trouble getting the green light from government officials for the NASCAR track, others have set their eyes on the piece of land which used to be an oil field.
The candidates for this year's slate discussed some issues regarding senior and veterans in Staten Island in a political forum. One of the issues being discussed there is a veterans' cemetery within the borough. The politicians consider the land currently owned by International Speedway Corporation one of the options. Currently, the closest cemetery is hours drive away. It was Democrat Stephen Harison's idea that the land proposed for the NASCAR track be included as one of their options. Foreseeing some objection to this suggestion, Democrat Matthew Titone agreed to be a part of his team if there was a need for it.
International Speedway Corporation is currently facing problems with the Sanitation and Environmental departments of Staten Island regarding the carting of contaminated soil into the site of the proposed NASCAR track. Officials have not given a full report on what was wrong with the soil that ISC was trying to bring in despite many parties probing for an explanation. In fact, even representative of the raceway giant have failed to give proper explanation as to what was wrong with the soil.
And now, with this new development of, perhaps, putting down the proposed site for the NASCAR track as one of the options for a cemetery, things have gotten just that little bit more tough for the NASCAR track to come through. Unless ISC is able to disentangle itself from this political knot, the prospect of having a NASCAR track in Staten Island seems tiringly dim.