NYCEJA CAMPAIGNS
Apollo and Energy Advocacy
Our countries dependency on fossil fuels remains an important issue that has major environmental justice implications. NYCEJA established itself as a founding member of the New York City Apollo Project. NY Apollo is a growing coalition of unions, environmentalists, environmental justice advocates, community based organizations, business associations, professional associations, and educators convened to promote sustainable environmental and economic development. This approach will create good jobs, revitalize underserved communities, and improve our internal and external environments.Ensuring that energy planning and economic development in NYC are conducted equitably, and that low-income communities of color do not continue to bear an overwhelming burden. NYCEJA seeks to ensure that job creation is linked to environmental justice.
Brownfield Redevelopment and Advocacy
There are numerous Brownfields in New York City and the majority of them are located within the low-income people of color communities that NYCEJA serves. Brownfields are clustered in these communities due to a history of industrial use, illegal dumping and/improper storage and handling of commercial products. Brownfields take many forms such as abandoned gas stations, vacant lots, empty manufactoring plants, and illegal auto chp shops. Some sites have strong smells of petroleum or rotton eggs, while others may be covered with a blanket of grass.
NYCEJA has mapped brownfield sites using GIS technology. NYCEJA's members have embarked on projects so the communities are involved in the creation of redevelopment plans for brownfields in their neighborhoods. The communities participating in the campaign perform not only a thorough assessment of brownfields in their areas, but also land use surrounding each site so that ideas for future use of the sites can be assessed that are in line with the community. City-produced land use GIS maps are being updated with real data from field surveys conducted by local youth. Member organizations have developed the capacity to work through the process of redevelopment and be an informed partner in the holistic, environmentally safe and redevelopment of properties in their communities.
Open Space Equity Campaign
New York City has one of the lowest standards of open space access (acres per 1000 residents) in the United States. Our Open Space Equity GIS has shown, 37 of 59 community districts(63%), more than previously thought, are not meeting the standard of 2.5 acres per 1000 residents with regard to access to open space. Of these 37 districts, 24 have the highest number of residents of color (65% or more) and 18 are of the lowest median household income ($16,000-$30,000). These communities are also the one’s carrying the rest of the City’s environmental burdens from waste transfer stations to power plants. Excessive brownfields can also be found in these communities, left from past industrial endeavors, as well as lead-contaminated buildings, bus depots and major highway corridors, all of which plague the community members and landscape and limit the number of healthy green open spaces and access to waterfronts.
Solid Waste Management Advocacy
Several communities in New York City are ringed by heavy manufacturing zones along their waterfronts. These areas have become saturated with privately owned and operated waste transfer stations that handle commercial waste from the city’s hotels, offices and restaurants. The transfer stations, where waste is shifted from collection vehicles to long haul trucks, bring thousands of heavy diesel trucks through these communities each day. Since the closing of its only municipal landfill, nearly double the amount of garbage is processed in EJ communities throughout the city. In 1996 NYCEJA founded the Organization of Waterfront neighborhoods(OWN) another coalition of groups formed to advocate for an environmentally sound, fiscally responsible and equitable solid waste plan for the New York City.