Williamsburg, NY Walesa Kanarek Urbs/Geog 515: Race Poverty

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Williamsburg, NYWalesa KanarekUrbs/Geog 515
Race Poverty the EnvironmentProfessor Raquel
Pinderhughes Urban Studies Environmental
Studies Program San Francisco State
UniversitySpring 2004PUBLIC HAS PERMISSION TO
USE THE MATERIAL HEREIN, BUT ONLY IF AUTHOR(S),
COURSE, UNIVERSITY, PROFESSOR ARE CREDITED
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This presentation focuses on

• The concentration of waste transfer stations in
  Williamsburg NY and other polluting facilities
• It is designed to bring an understanding to how
  the low income and minority residents are
  targeted to live in this polluted, damaging
  environment.
• It analyzes and describes the methodology of
  discrimination and disregard for the people
  living there, paying particular attention to the
  social, environmental, and public health impacts
  of the processes associated with waste management
  implementing power facilities within the
  residential community of Willliamsburg, NY.
• We start by looking at the community of
  Williamsburg. We then will see how the
  facilities effect the people of that community.
  This is followed by true accounts and statements
  of people that live in Williamsburg, NY.

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A bit of history

• Williamsburg was once a popular affluent area,
  but when the Willliamsburg Bridge in 1903 was
  built--immigrant families fled from overcrowded
  Manhattan to settle there.
• Theres an artistic renaissance in the air, and
  Williamsburg has become New York Citys new
  bohemia. Williamsburg is a community of
  interesting architecture, a booming art scene,
  and ethnically mixed communities.

New Yorkers Celebrated the Opening of the
Williamsburg Bridge December 19, 1903

125th Street Branch Library, Celebrates Its
Centennial
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Williamsburg Not just a district!
Williamsburg, NY IS A HOME. To some politicians
and industrial developers, this may just be
District 33 or area 11211. However this is a
home where children grow and a diverse community
thrives
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WilliamsburgThe People!
Williamsburg, NY in Kings CoThe people behind
the Numbers (2000) White persons 41.2 Black
or African American persons 36.4 Persons of
Hispanic or Latino origin 19.8 Asian persons
7.5 American Indian and Alaska Native persons
0.4 Foreign born persons 37.8 Language other
than English spoken at home of age 5
46.7 www.quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36/3604
7.html)
Schools in the area Elementary Schools P.S. 8,
P.S. 16, P.S. 17, P.S. 31, P.S. 34, P.S. 38,
P.S. 84, P.S. 110, P.S. 132, P.S. 261. Middle
Schools I.S. 71.
High Schools Automotive H.S., George
Westinghouse H.S, John Jay H.S, Alternative H.S
Metropolitan Corp. Academy, Alternative Pacific
H.S
Because of the numerous photos, notation will be
at end of presentation marked WilliamsburgThe
People Photo Sources
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WilliamsburgA Community !

• An eclectic mix of schools, community groups,
  numerous churches, play grounds, art galleries
• The neighborhood is decorated with street artists
  and street performers

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Art In Residence
" The Pierogi 2000 Art Gallery A more
convincing representation of New York art than a
dozen issues of Artforum." Time Out London
Magazine
Reed Andersons joy saylor, collage and acrylic
on cut paperat Pierogi Art Gallery
www.pierogi2000.com
Nana Ono At The Williamsburg Art Historical
Center www.wahcenter.org
Williamsburg Salon member Wayne Meiggs At The
Williamsburg Art Historical Center
www.wahcenter.org
Shelley Ward Cube Video Still at Pierogi Art
Gallery www.pierogi2000.com
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Beneath this beautiful community
The Radiac Research Corporation

• In the heart of Williamsburg, is the Radiac
  Corporation. Theres a park and an elementary
  school, P.S. 84, that houses more than 900
  students. An estimated 12,000 people live within
  a half-mile radius of of Radiac.

http//www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2004/Radiac-Research
-Corp29feb04.htm
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What does Radiac do?

• This neighborhood corporation transports
  containerized and lab pack hazardous waste from
  off-site generators to this facility for short
  term storage prior to shipment to authorized
  recycling, treatment and disposal facilities.
• Radiac also provides transportation and waste
  management services to generators, including
  schools, laboratories, medical facilities and
  industrial companies.
• THIS IS A PERMITTED HAZARDOUS WASTE STORAGE
  FACILITY since 1977, granted a permit under
  6NYCRR Part 360 (Solid Waste Management
  Facilities) on May 23, 1981. A second Department
  permit was issued on March 30, 1989 under 6NYCRR
  Part 373 , the regulations that govern the
  operation of Hazardous Waste Storage Facilities.
• Radiac Research Corporation also operates a Class
  A low-level radioactive waste storage facility
  adjacent to the South First Street facility at
  261 Kent Avenue. The low-level radioactive
  storage facility operates under a license from
  New York State Department of Labor, not under the
  jurisdiction of the DEC, and is not a part of
  this request for renewal.

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The Effects???

• The connection between environmental
  contamination and the chronic inflamed lungs of
  asthma is an easy connection.
• 25 of every 1000 children end up in the hospital!
• ? wheezing and gasping for breath.
• The Bronx, with the distinction of being number
  one in both asthma-related hospitalizations and
  deaths, also bears a disproportionately large
  burden of waste processing plants, incinerators,
  bus depots, and traffic corridorsall sources of
  fine particles that are difficult to clear from
  the lungs.
• Several studies have shown that, throughout the
  country, on days when the levels of this type of
  air pollution are highest, more people end up in
  the hospital with asthma attacks.
• The Supreme Court, the final word of law in
  America, gave the tiniest of these particles
  health-hazard status. All decided unanimously
  they were dangerous enough to regulate. (It's
  unclear when this decision will be enforced by
  the Bush administration.) www.villagevoice.com/is
  sues/0112/lerner.php
• photo www.billburg.com/community/content.cfm?id
  146

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Looming Dangers

• WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?

• Potassium cyanide is turning up in the bushes
  along Pugsley Ave., dumped from a truck stolen
  from Magic Transport, Inc., a trucking company in
  Linden, NJ. 70 homes were evacuated before Radiac
  rolled in and picked up the cargo. News reports
  at the time made references to terrorists use of
  potassium cyanide but this was discounted by
  local cops and city officials.

• HOW WAS IT ACCESSED?

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CIVIL RIGHTS ARE BEING VIOLATED!

• A civil rights complaint filed by Congresswoman
  Nydia M. Velazquez with the U.S. Environmental
  Protection Agency based on Title VI of the 1964
  Civil Rights Act. It asserts that the Red Hook
  and Greenpoint/Williamsburg communities are the
  dumping sites for waste transfer stations and
  other hazards that damage the environment and
  residents' health.
• It is estimated there are over 80 waste transfer
  stations total in New York City, 30 of which are
  in Greenpoint/Williamsburg and Redhook.
  Greenpoint/Williamsburg has 137 sites that use
  hazardous substances, called right-to-know sites
  15 toxic-release inventory sites, 24 waste
  transfer stations and one low-level radioactive
  waste site, all within a 5½-mile radius. Radiac
  has a permit from the state's Department of Labor
  to store radioactive medical waste, including
  uranium and plutonium. This all lies with in
  several close communities.

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Can you see the unfair dispersement upon one
community?
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A Deadly Unfair Share

• Williamsburg carries an unfair Share of this
  City's Garbage Problemand the facilities are
  killing and damaging children and adults!
• Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum toured private
  waste transfer stations in Williamsburg. She saw
  first hand how Williamsburg, as a low income and
  minority residence, lacks the voice to combat
  this compiling of the citys garbage.

• In the Williamsburg area alone, waste transfer
  stations process 41 of the citys trash, and
  generate 4,000 truck trips through the
  neighborhood on a daily basis.
• It is unjust and unfair for one neighborhood to
  have to shoulder such an undue share of the
  citys trash problem. The asthma statistics for
  children who grow up in Williamsburg/Greenpoint
  are outrageously high. Part of the solution is
  borough self-sufficiency and fair share, Betsy
  Gotbaum www.pubadvocate.nyc.gov

www.pubadvocate.nyc.gov
The Public Advocate's Office 1 Centre Street,
15th Floor New York, NY 10007General
inquiries [phone]
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The Effects on Peoples Lives continues

• Estimates of property values near any power or
  waste facilities fall as much as 40 after
  construction. Businesses are expected to suffer
  as well--The overall net loss in community
  revenue is likely to overshadow any promised
  gain, such as in in tax revenue.
• There is a pattern, low income neighborhoods,
  minority populations, waste facilities, dangerous
  power and waste facilities, are always located
  together. All the data points to discriminating
  decisions against these kinds of communities.

www.thinkpage.net/zkorb/photo/blight/pages/bl11.ht
m
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Where are Williamsburgs Gardens?
This communitys land is being rationed off for
corporate use! Where do the children
play? Ask yourself these important questions
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PEOPLE live here

• The following are people moms, dads,
  childrens, activists, stories of what has
  happened to them simply by trying to live their
  lives.

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PEOPLE live here

• This is Yolanda Garcia. Her son, Ismael, died of
  asthma, gasping in vain for breath even with an
  oxygen mask was applied to his small face. His
  asthma worsened when the layer of black soot
  blanketing her neighborhood was deepest. This
  neighborhood was literally killing her son. But
  such a easily seen connection isn't worth much in
  court.

www.villagevoice.com/issues/0112/lerner.php
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PEOPLE live here

• Omar Freilla, who works for the New York City
  Environmental Justice Alliance and lives in the
  Hunts Point section of the Bronx. " It's an
  intuitive understanding In my neighborhood. I
  hear kids talking about having asthma, parents
  talking about their kids having asthma. I don't
  hear that if I walk into a supermarket on the
  Upper East Side. I don't see kids on the Upper
  West Side with a bulge in their pocket for their
  asthma pump. I see that all the time in my own
  neighborhood."

www.emedicinehealth.com/images/4453/4453-13253-865
5-17870.jpg
www.villagevoice.com/issues/0112/lerner.php
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PEOPLE live here

• "The real danger is if there is a fire," Mary
  Ziegler, cofounder of the environmental group the
  Williamsburg Watch says "It would send a
  radioactive plume throughout the neighborhood."
  She wonders about a 2nd Radiac facility on the
  corner of S. 1st. that stores hazardous
  chemicals. That facility, closer to P.S. 84,
  stores things like the 20 barrels of potassium
  cyanide.

In April of 2000, Briscoe Protective Systems,
Inc. successfully sued Radiac for breach of
contract because security equipment was never
installed Briscoe never began monitoring the
facility as state regulations require. Radiac is
now in compliance.
IN THAT TIME WHO WAS PREVENTING PROTECTING THE
PEOPLE OF WILLIAMSBURG FROM THE RADIACS DEADLY
CONTAMINATION?
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PEOPLE live here

• Lillian Mestre, a 15-year resident of the
  community, her son George has asthma. She
  explained that her respiratory health began to
  decline after moving into an apartment across the
  street from the bus depot. She described how she
  was forced to keep her windows shut many times
  because of the soot emanating from the depot.

"I can't even hang up white curtains because of
the pollution," Lillian said that she had to take
her son to the emergency room twice a month
whenever he suffered an asthma attack. "It's not
fair," she said. "I want clean air for myself and
my children just like everyone else."Environmental
Concerns PitHarlem Against MTA By Leon Tulton
'99
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PEOPLE live here

• You may get sick from living therebut
  Williamsburg bohemia heaven of art and the city
  is creating a real-estate marketall next to a
  sewage treatment plant, multiple waste transfer
  facilities, a power generator and the site of an
  underground oil spil.

Efforts to redefine this neighborhood, including
playing fields for NYU and state park land, face
opposition from companies like TransGas and NISA
JOHNNY DWYER / New York Press v.15,  i.28,
25feb04
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PEOPLE live here

• David Reina, When asked about Radiac, smiles and
  echoes a familiar phrase

We wish it wasnt here, but it was here before
us."
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I hope this presentation leaves you asking
questions

I ask these questions myselfI wonder about those
that shoulder the brunt of the facilities that
run my home. Why must they do it? What are the
deciding factors? And sadlythe very obvious
answer is race, income, and a struggle for
political power.
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Sources Organizations

• Bobo, Benjamin, et al. No Land is an Island.
  California Inst. For Contemporary Studies, 1975
  
• Bullard, Robert D. Confronting Environmental
  Racism Voices from the Grassroots.
  Massachusetts South End Press, 1993
• Brown, Elizabeth. Burden Does Brooklyn to Sell
  Rezoning Plan. New York Observers, Aug 4, 2004..
• Hofrichter, Richard (Editor). Reclaiming the
  Environmental Debate The Politics of Health in
  a Toxic Culture. Massachusetts MIT Press, 2000.
• The House of Representatives
• The Public Advocate OF New York City
• The U.S. Census
• Newspapers Magazines The Gotham Gazette, The
  Village Voice, The New York Press
• The Brooklyn Public Library
• www.nrdc.org
• Organization websites www.billburg.com,
  www.stopthepowerplant.org. www.mindfully.org West
  Harlem Environmental Action http//www.crp.cornel
  l.edu/projects/westharlem/map.html
• WilliamsburgThe People Photo Sources
• Panorama behind title www.brooklynpubliclibrary.o
  rg/progeventclass.do?dispatchsearchfeatured1
• Tan picture of 2 men www.billburg.com/arts, 2
  children with backpacks www.treebranch.com/commun
  ity_gardens.html,
• Red tinted social scene www.peace.starnyc.com/who
  .html, Public Advocate with elderly woman
  www.pubadvocate.nyc.gov/,
• People walking with peace williamsburg sign
  www.peace.starnyc.com/who.html, Bus in front of
  public library www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/abou
  t, 2 children planting trees www.treebranch.com