DEATH WATCH FOR A DUMP\Countdown begins on Lopez Landfill; some are skeptical.

Byline: Rick Orlov Daily News Staff Writer

If everything had gone according to plan, Monday would have been the last day that trash from the city's 720,000 households was dumped in the Lopez Canyon landfill.

Instead, Councilman Richard Alarcon and about two dozen residents from in and around this community began a countdown to the facility's rescheduled July 1 closure.

"There are 146 days to go," Alarcon said as he and one of the community activists opposed to the landfill marked an "X" on a calendar for Monday's date to begin the countdown to closure.

"I'll keep this in my office and mark off every day until we reach the day that trash is no longer being dumped in the back yard of this community," he said.

The closure of Lopez Canyon, the last city-owned landfill, has been a long battle for residents. In 1989, the City Council issued the current operating permit for the dump - with a promise that it would close Feb. 5, 1996.

In December, the City Council voted to close the landfill July 1 to give the Bureau of Sanitation time to put out bids to private disposal companies to take the 3,000 tons of city trash generated every day.

Residents were hopeful, but skeptical, that the city would keep its word.

"Councilman Alarcon has been a good voice for us, but we'll have to see what happens," said Ray Jackson, president of the Northeast Community Improvement Association. "We've been here before."

Nancy Snider, a member of the Lake View Terrace Improvement Association, voiced similar sentiments.

"We've had so many promises over the years, that I'll believe it when I see it," Snider said.

But Alarcon, speaking over the roar of sanitation trucks and earth movers as they made their way to the landfill, and of shouted complaints from workers that they would lose their jobs, said the city cannot renege on the agreement.

"We made a promise to these people," Alarcon said. "We will be watching this closely. If there is the slightest delay in developing a closure plan or in awarding a bid, I'll want to know why."

Alarcon, who campaigned on a promise to close the landfill this year, said the shutdown not only will provide relief for homeowners but represents good public policy.

"Closing Lopez Canyon will encourage people to recycle and reuse their products," Alarcon said. "It also will create a whole new industry of jobs."

Following Alarcon's news conference, sanitation worker James Barnett approached the councilman to complain about the potential loss of jobs as well as the threat to the city in closing its only landfill.

"We will be at the mercy of private operators," Barnett said. "Here, we have a perfectly good landfill. We don't have to wait in line to dump our trash. All we're doing is transferring our trash to somewhere else."

Alarcon asserted that no jobs would be lost, saying some workers would be transferred and others would stay at Lopez for other tasks, including monitoring methane gas emissions.

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Photo City Councilman Richard Alarcon discusses closing Lopez Landfill. Terri Thuente/Daily News