There is a steel bridge suspended over a canal in the small town of Seneca Falls, New York, which looks a lot like the one which It’s a Wonderful Life’s George Bailey, played by James Stewart, considers jumping from.
It is not just the bridge: Seneca Falls’ main street is almost identical to the one in the fictional city of Bedford Falls, where the film’s protagonist grows up—and is somewhat stuck—in, as one of the actors in the film, Karolyn Grimes, once remarked.
Legend has it that Seneca Falls actually inspired director Frank Capra, who visited it in 1945, to create the ultimate, idealized all-American small town which every Christmas feeds the country’s nostalgia for a simpler time and a tighter community life—Bedford Falls.
Standing on the bridge, Stewart’s Bailey wishes he was never born. But a wingless angel sent from above comes to show him what his generous, selfless actions have meant for dozens of people, and how rich his life actually is—because he has friends.
But Seneca Falls, which inspired the film with its small town charm, has had a very different journey from the redemptive, heart-warming one experienced by Bedford Falls and George Bailey.
An Uncertain Future
The upstate New York town is now at the center of a bitter dispute over the state’s largest landfill. Seneca Meadows Landfill (SMI), which covers hundreds of acres and hosts a mound of trash nearly 300 feet high—nearly as tall as the Statue of Liberty with its pedestal—, has been operating since 1983, bringing jobs and financial benefits to the community.
Through the decades, however, concerns have been growing over the landfill’s environmental and health impact over the landscape around it and its residents, which include bad odor, methane release, toxic PFAS chemicals, and wind-borne particulate matters, among others.
The facility was destined to shut down this year, but the Texas-based corporation that owns and operates SMI applied for a permit to extend its operation until 2040 and grow the dump’s footprint by 47 acres and 80 feet in height.
The expansion would allow the company to continue accepting up to 6,000 tons of trash per day through 2040, Realtor.com reported.
But everything is far from certain. Now, a crucial deadline looms forward—on December 31, the landfill’s state operating permit will officially expire. Local Law 3, a town ordinance passed in 2016 forcing the landfill’s closure by year’s end, will also come into force—though a New York State Court of Appeals is still to rule on the validity of that law.
By the same day, the Host Community Agreement, a financial pact that has until now seen the landfill’s parent company contributing $3 million every year to the town’s budget, will also end.
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is still reviewing Seneca Meadows Inc.’s application.
A Battle Over (a Mountain of) Trash
For residents tired of the smell of the landfill and concerned over its impact on their health and the environment around Seneca Falls, there is no great solution to the current impasse.
According to a 164-page Draft Environmental Impact Statement from the SMI Valley Infill Project, the landfill employs 110 people during peak season, with total payroll exceeding $7 million.
These jobs will disappear if the landfill shuts down by the end of the year, something that Kyle Black, district manager of the landfill, is confident will not happen.
“For more than 40 years, Seneca Meadows has met or exceeded the DEC requirements to protect our air and water resources,” she told the Finger Lakes Times, adding that the facility provides “millions of dollars in tax relief to Seneca Falls, Waterloo, and towns and villages in Seneca County.”
In a statement to News10NBC, a spokesperson for the landfill’s owner said that “the health and safety of our employees, our neighbors, and the community has always been our number one value and focus.”
Under a new proposed agreement, the company has offered Seneca Falls to raise its payments to the city, starting from $4 million in 2026 to $12 million a year between 2031 and 2038—depending on waste volume.
But many residents are fed up with the landfill, and would rather see it closed.
“It should be very simple. Seneca Meadows must close by December 31,” Joseph Campbell, president of the environmental advocacy group Seneca Lake Guardian, told the Finger Lake Times.
“Waste Connections [SMI’s parent company] and Seneca Meadows have known about this for nine years, and a state-approved closure plan is already in place,” he added. “For these reasons, it would be completely unacceptable for anything other than full closure by December 31.”
In a letter to New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Holly Rockwell, who leads the Justice & Care for Creation Office of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester, said that “the time has come for New York to honor its commitments to environmental justice and climate leadership.”
Closing the Seneca Meadows landfill, she said, would signal “a firm commitment” to these values. “Let us not be remembered for the mountains of trash we leave behind but for the legacy of stewardship and sustainability we create for future generations,” she wrote.
In an ideal world, Campbell said, the people of Seneca Falls would come together to “defend Local Law 3” if the landfill was to remain open beyond its set closure date—a little like the people of Bedford Falls do for George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life’s unforgettable ending.
“It remains to be seen if they have the stomach for that,” Campbell said.
