The Persistent Racial Disparities of Motor Vehicle Pollution
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While tailpipe emissions have been lowered across the board, racial disparities persist in exposure to fine particles from motor vehicles.
Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Environmental Justice
Private Trash Haulers Pollute Low-Income NYC Neighborhoods of Color
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With the city preparing reforms for the commercial waste carting industry, the Transform Don’t Trash NYC Coalition of labor and environmental justice groups released a report today calling attention to how private trash trucks disproportionately harm air quality in a few specific low-income communities of color [PDF]. The report, “Clearing the Air,” shows the high concentration of asthma-inducing pollutants at truck-heavy areas in the South Bronx […]
WE ACT Climate Plan Calls for Better Upper Manhattan Bicycling, Walking
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While most of Northern Manhattan escaped the harshest ravages of Hurricane Sandy, there was some flooding along the waterfront, including inside the 148th Street subway station. Next time around, a severe storm could take a different turn and things could be worse for waterfront areas in Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood. WE ACT for Environmental Justice has developed a […]
Study: Low-Income Neighborhoods Much More Likely to Have Dangerous Roads
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Who suffers most from bad road design? Not surprisingly, the answer is poor people, according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health. Researchers examined injury rates for pedestrians, drivers and cyclists over a five-year period in Montreal. They found pedestrians living in low-income neighborhoods were more than six times more likely […]
Note to NYC Press: Public Health Experts Don’t Sell Cheeseburgers
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For the second time in the past few weeks, a New York City media outlet has allowed Milk Burger owner Erik Mayor to claim that protected bike lanes in East Harlem will increase asthma rates. Earlier this month it was the Daily News, and over the weekend NY1 gave some airtime to Mayor too. East […]
Hunter Planners: Expand the Bike Program, Beat the Bikelash
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DOT needs to accelerate the build-out of the city’s bike network in working-class neighborhoods outside the center city, say graduate students in the Hunter College urban planning department. They argue that expanding the geographic focus of the bike program would not only improve access to safe cycling for underserved neighborhoods, it might just help overcome […]