STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK March 26, 2004 — For 53 years, Staten Islanders put up with the smells and stigma of the Fresh Kills landfill, one of the world's largest man-made landscapes. This week, they started the process of turning this liability into an asset - a park, almost three times the size of Central Park. WNYC's Amy Eddings has more.

The idea of creating a park out of garbage that has simmered under Staten Island's soil for five decades seems crazy. Or, at the very least, na ve. And that's why one of the first things Jim Corner said to a crowd of about 300 Staten Islanders was, don't underestimate this place.

Corner: You're gonna say, ah, they can't do this. Well, It's been done before. Not on this scale, but pretty close.

Corner is the director of a design firm called Field Operations. City planning officials chose the company to create a master plan after they held an international design competition. Corner's group is now hosting public meetings to find out what Staten Islanders want in their park.

Corner: We want to shoot high. We want you to encourage you to see this as a world class opportunity where New York can boast that it has taken 2,200 acres of the most derelict, arid, land in the world and converted it into something thriving, living, public, and dynamic.

There are a few givens: the landfill won't reopen. Housing is not an option. And the land where World Trade Center material is buried will be honored. Corner told the crowd the rest is up to them to imagine, and, to whet their appetites, his team offered a tasting menu of ideas. How about soccer fields? Or maybe a swimming pool, or a camp ground? Do you want a flowering prairie? Woods? Meadows? World War Two vet Victor Prevosti was first at the microphone. He wants a cemetery for the state's veterans.

Prevosti: The 32,000 war veterans and their families in Richmond County have for the past 12 years tried desperately to identify land on Staten Island for a state veterans' cemetery. This is our last chance, our last opportunity, to make this a reality.

But one man stood up and said he doesn't want to play football near a cemetery. Then Diane Horning took the mic. She lost her son on September 11th. Although she's from New Jersey, she wanted Staten Islanders to know her group doesn't want a victims' memorial.

Horning: You must show that the World Trade Center Families for Proper Burial sees this landfill as only a temporary repository for the remains of those who died that day. We continue to insist that a more suitable and dignified site be offered for this permanent international cemetery.

There are other challenges. The park won't be finished for decades. The soil is poor. There are environmental concerns. Who will pay for this, and how much it will cost is also up in the air. But this meeting was a chance for people to dream.

Woman: Actually, to be honest with you, I think we have enough golf courses?

Using a black magic marker, a facilitator wrote Too Many Golf Courses on a large pad. Then Dick Kohn stood up, sporting a blue tie printed with sailboats.

Kohn: I'd like to see a big boathouse with large doors that open up to ramps and out to the water .

Boathouse got added to the list.

Kohn: with floats for sailboats, rowboats, canoes, kayacks, racing shells, college Olympics! I'd like to see a model sailing pond

And then there's Donald Frazier's wish, inspired by a vacation in Montana.

Frazier: A small, working cattle ranch!

If this first meeting was any indication, future discussions will be spirited even contentious. Amanda Burden, Commissioner of the Department of City Planning, says it shows residents are getting involved.

Burden: And if they don't - if they just laid back - then it's not theirs. And when they come to agreement, then they'll really feel like they've got something. So this is great.

For Staten Islanders, the chance to reclaim and cherish a long-despised part of their island is really something, indeed. For WNYC, I'm Amy Eddings.

Fresh Kills Park website