On Saturday, April 26, Amir, Brianna, Nick, and I met up with our contact, Mychal Johnson, for a tour of the waterfront. We met at the intersection of Alexander Ave. and E 138th St., which Mychal described as the center of the neighborhood because the train station, the police precinct, and St. Jerome’s Church are located there. There was also a reporter from DNAinfo named Gwynne Hogan who recorded the tour for a podcast. Mychal talked about the high asthma rates and told us that they are considered an environmental justice community by the EPA because of the high asthma rates, poor air quality, and air pollutants.
Mychal told us a brief history of the South Bronx. The area has always been industrial. The land is cheap so businesses move in, such as Budweiser from Long Island City, Fresh Direct from Long Island City, FedEx from 34th St., Fulton Fish Market, and others. There are waste transfer stations in which 30% of NYC waste pass through. There was supposed to be an intermodal rail yard to reduce traffic but instead there is a garbage train route. Garbage trucks would bring garbage to the waste transfer station and the train would take the garbage to a landfill in Virginia. Most of the trucks are diesel trucks and PM2.5, a carcinogen found in diesel fuel, can directly enter the bloodstream and cause cancer, heart attacks, and asthma.
Mychal told us that they want green space; they want parks that other waterfront areas have. There are plans for luxury apartments to be built where rent can go up to $3000 for those apartments. They want green space for the community, not for the new people who will move in and can afford $3000 apartments. They don’t want to be another Dumbo where the carousel was built after people moved into the neighborhood. They have two options: do nothing and have nothing, or do something. There is only one green park, St. Mary’s Park, and a couple of asphalt playgrounds. The Bronx has a lot of green space in general, but the amount of green space per person in the South Bronx is low. Mychal also told us of a study where cognitive development in children is related to the air we breathe. He spoke of environmental racism. The air they breathe is different and there was a chemical smell. When there are ferry tours around the city, the guides have nothing to say when they reach the South Bronx.
In 1995 and 2007 the South Bronx was rezoned to increase residential space and allow lightweight industry. The area became mix used and the number of residents increased. Mychal showed us more of the waterfront. We saw the Fresh Direct site and saw a partially built building. He told us that the Fresh Direct site is on top of a Native American burial ground and is a flood zone. Other facilities along the waterfront are a FedEx distribution facility, two power plants, New York Post distribution center, New York Journal distribution center, and garbage truck parking lot. He told us that there was no community input and that the community did not find out about the Fresh Direct relocation until after the announcement. He told us that tax payers are paying Fresh Direct for the move: about $80 million from the city and $40 million from the state.
Mychal continued to show us the waterfront and we saw the destruction and mess caused from Hurricane Sandy. The floorboards of the pier are destroyed and haven’t been fixed. The waterfront is a flood zone but there are no ways for water mitigation at all. In 1980 there was an explosion at the Con Edison electricity plant and residents lost power. With the climate changing there will be more storms but there are no water mitigation plans or plans to fix the piers.
At the end of the tour Mychal took us to Brook Park where we saw a garden and a chicken coop.
From this tour we learned a lot. It was informative and Fresh Direct isn’t the only problem the South Bronx has. The land is eroding storm after storm and nothing is being done to prevent or fix damaged areas.
The group is still communicating through emails. We are continuing to research environmental policies and injustices. We will continue to work on the historical narrative and the white paper. We plan on making a survey to gather residential input on Fresh Direct. We are also thinking of how to make a video for the public engagement product.
As of now, the podcast is not yet up on DNAinfo.
Dear Fanny and all,
Wow- sounds like an amazing experience. I’m so glad that you were able to go on the tour and that Mychal was such a gracious and informative guide. Your observations and reflections are extremely interesting and important. Your group has learned so much!
The challenge now is to try to process what you are learning and re-evaluate what urgent data or evidence is missing that you can collect/produce and how you can most effectively share those findings. Your group is unique in the extent to which you have a community contact with well established expertise on the issues and in the community. This is an advantage in many ways for your group, but also means that unless they tell you specifically what would be helpful, you’ll need to look carefully at what they’re already doing (also other groups in the neighborhood) and think strategically about how to make your project is complementary. I have complete confidence that you will!
We can also discuss this more in class on Monday- remember that you will have that class to work on your projects and Aaron and I will both be there to help as needed.
Overall, excellent work. Thanks and see you soon!
Hillary