From other pens: Opposition to FreshDirect Project Grows to 34 Organizations
March 27th, 2013 Posted in Blogs, Front Page News, Harlem River Yards Park Greenway, In the News, Low Impact Development
Opposition to FreshDirect Project Grows to 34 Organizations
Sustainable South Bronx, Bronx Council for Environmental Quality and Green Worker Cooperatives Release Independent Policy Statements Against the Company’s Move to the South Bronx
Citing the neighborhood’s “long history of being overburdened with unfavorable land uses that have resulted in challenging health and quality of life issues for community residents,” Sustainable South Bronx released a policy statement on Monday applauding the efforts of the South Bronx Unite coalition in its year long campaign to raise awareness about the effects of the truck-intensive online grocer’s proposed move to public waterfront land in the Mott Haven/Port Morris neighborhood.
“As advocates for the South Bronx, we at Sustainable South Bronx find it unacceptable that FreshDirect’s move to the South Bronx has not been subject to an environmental impact study and that the company has refused to conduct such a study” read the statement released by the organization. “The review that FreshDirect has cited in support of its argument that environmental impact will be minimal dates from 1993 and pertains to a completely different project.”
Bronx-based economic/environmental organization Green Worker Cooperatives issued its own statement last week, entitled “The Bronx Can Do Better Than Fresh Direct.” In it, the organization criticized the FreshDirect deal as “another example of the kind of ‘economic development’ strategy that has turned the South Bronx into a home for low-wage employers and dirty industries.”
“All over the world, old fashioned industrial uses on the water’s edge have been overwhelmingly dismissed in favor of a community’s waterfront that provides access, recreation, nature and maritime resources,” read the statement released today by the Bronx Council forEnvironmental Quality, another deeply-rooted Bronx-based environmental organization adding their support to the South Bronx Unite coalition. The statement went on to question the undemocratic manner in which the FreshDirect deal was struck, ignoring health and safety concerns as well as decades of policies and comprehensive plans concerning the Bronx waterfront.
“We are grateful for the overwhelming support received from local and city-wide organizations with continuing, principled work that shows the widespread momentum for this classic environmental justice campaign that we will win,” said Harry Bubbins, member of South Bronx Unite and Executive Director of Friends of Brook Park. “Our community continues to come together in response to projects that pose significant environmental concerns,” added Mychal Johnson, member of South Bronx Unite and member of Community Board. “South Bronx residents must be part of an open democratic process before hundreds of millions of dollars are allocated to subsidize truck-intensive businesses to move to our community.”
Thirty-four organizations have joined in supporting the South Bronx Unite opposition to the FreshDirect project. This groundswell of local resistance includes, in addition to Sustainable South Bronx, Bronx Council for Environmental Quality and Green Worker Cooperatives, several other Bronx-based organizations such as BLK ProjeK, La Finca Del Sur/South Bronx Farmers, The Point Community Development Corporation and Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, among others. The growing list is available here.
FreshDirect cites six organizations supporting its move, five of which are geographically distant from the affected community.
http://www.southbronxunite.com/
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