NYC Council Member Farias emphasizes need to address environmental injustice

New York City Council Member Amanda Farias has emphasized the need to address environmental injustice and the harmful impact of the highway on Black and Latino communities.

In a press release, Council Member Farias highlights the harmful impact of the Cross Bronx highway on Black and Latino communities, which were broken into pieces due to the highway’s construction. She notes that the highway was built and designed during the Robert Moses era to center the needs of cars and trucks, without taking into account the impact on the surrounding communities. This has resulted in decades of environmental injustice, with these communities facing high levels of air pollution caused by the highway.

To address this issue, Council Member Farias advocates for capping the Cross Bronx highway, which would help lower air pollution and potentially create more green space in the area. This is a critical step towards righting the decades of environmental injustice caused by the highway’s construction.

The council member also commends the involvement of various city and state agencies, including NYC DOT, NYC Planning, NYC Health, and NYS DOT, in the ‘Reimagining the Cross Bronx’ public meeting. This meeting provided an opportunity to start a conversation with the community prior to the implementation of congestion pricing, which is set to begin in 2023. Congestion pricing is a policy aimed at reducing traffic congestion in busy urban areas by charging drivers a fee to enter certain areas during peak times.

Council Member Farias expresses her commitment to continuing to work with these agencies and the community to address the environmental injustice caused by the Cross Bronx highway. She specifically mentions the neighborhoods of Soundview, Castle Hill, and Parkchester, which have been among the most affected by the highway’s construction and resulting pollution.

The Council Member’s statement highlights the importance of addressing environmental injustice in urban areas and the need to prioritize the needs of impacted communities. It is a call to action for city and state agencies to work together with these communities to reimagine and redesign infrastructure in a way that benefits everyone.