Landfill-named ice cream irks politician

NEW YORK -- The "South Bronx Cha Cha Chocolate" might be a hit on hot days, but a New York ice cream named for Staten Island's most notorious landmark isn't getting much love.

Sure, it's packed with brownie chunks, cherries, heart-shaped chocolate crunchies and fudge, but "Staten Island Landfill" just spoils the appetite of borough president James Molinaro.

That is "insulting and derogatory," Molinaro wrote on the borough's Web site, calling for a boycott of the flavor introduced by 5 Boroughs Ice Cream.

Staten Island's Fresh Kills Landfill was closed in 2001, but for decades, the city carted millions of tons of all kinds of trash and odious refuse to the borough and dumped it in towering heaps there.

"The stereotyping of our community is as ignorant as it is hurtful," Molinaro wrote. "Even the most basic research effort would easily reveal the positive qualities that truly define our community."

Others say the ice cream name isn't a big deal.

"It's not like we'll be expecting to see a syringe or a rubber boot in there," said Joe Melendez, an ironworker from Brooklyn.

The company's founders, Kim and Scott Myles, said they intended no harm. It's a "flavor with heart," Kim Myles, 33, told the Daily News.

The company's other city-based flavors include "Jackson Heights Mangodesh," "Soho Cappuccino," and "Upper East Side Rich White Vanilla."

On the Net

• 5 Boroughs Ice Cream:www.5boroughsicecream.com/
• Staten Island: www.statenisland usa.com/