05/02/2024
Environmental racism is still a concern in the year 2024. In our beautiful city of Buffalo, New York we are at a precipice and we must demand change. We cannot allow what happened back in 1958 to happen in this new way. It was environmental racism back then and as the plans currently stand, it is environmental racism once again.
Background:
Inside and near the neighborhood where the Tops massacre took place in 2022, the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) is planning a major 1 Billion dollar 33 Expressway/ Kensington Expressway renovation Project. That project is billed as a restoration of a parkway system. However, if the project goes on as planned and tunnels are placed in that area, the impact will most likely be devastating to thousands of people, mostly people of color, who called that neighborhood home. Our elected officials both in the City of Buffalo and in the State of New York, are not being held accountable for producing a third-party environmental impact study. That study should guide every aspect of construction. There are no plans in place to mitigate asbestos nor radon nor construction rodents, nor carbon monoxide nor lead emissions. Many concerned citizens have asked about all of these areas, and there is no answer! It is truly alarming, and no one seems to be stopping to answer these basic questions. How can this be happening again in 2024?
A Better Plan
A better plan; a more equitable and people-centric plan, would be to fill in the Kensington Expressway (33), restore the Humboldt Parkway system and create a plan for the aerial roads to absorb the traffic.
The Eastside Parkways Coalition has created a solid plan for the aerial roads to absorb traffic. They have data and they have proof that filling in the 33 Expressway will not cause a problem with traffic like so many are assuming. This “Carmageddon “that people are so worried about is at the expense of the health of the people living in that neighborhood. If we were to ask the commuters, going into an out of downtown during the week if adding 10 minutes to their commute is more important than improving the lives and health of children living in the Eastside - we believe the majority would say that children are more important than their convenience. Truly, we are the City of Good Neighbors and the city of good neighbors would not want their neighbors harmed for their own convenience.
Scare Tactics
Too many scare tactics have been used against the people of Buffalo. They were told to either choose the tunnels or lose the money, and that is an inaccurate scare tactic that has created confusion. The residence living in the neighborhood that will experience the most construction and subsequent tunnel emissions should have the loudest voices at the decision table, and that has not been the case.
“The expected concerns of “carmageddon” have been successfully debunked in other freeway removal projects. Embarcadero Boulevard in San Francisco, McKinley Avenue in Milwaukee, and Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland are neighborhoods that have flourished since the preceding freeways in each city were removed. The dispersal of former freeway traffic into the urban street grid have reportedly been contributing factors to the cities’ success stories” - Restore Our Community Coalition, 2016.
Racist Intimidation
The people living on the Eastside of Buffalo in the neighborhood next to Humboldt Parkway have been intimidated into agreeing to what government officials are saying about installing tunnels in their neighborhood. The truth is, there are many residents living in that area that disagree with this plan and have expressed their concerns, but nothing has changed. It is true that while this neighborhood is majority, Black, the neighborhood nearby next to the Scajaquada Expressway is majority white and that neighborhood was able to fight for their right to have the Scajaquada Expressway built the way they wanted it to be built. The citizens living on the Eastside of Buffalo should have that same right. The department of transportation should be held accountable for not having any environmental impact study and for not adhering to the majorities of residents that are concerned about the environmental hazards of their plan.
Black residents are being silenced. We must speak up for ourselves since our elected officials are not.
If this was your neighborhood:
If this was not your neighborhood. Would you not want what is best for yourself, your family, and your neighbors? Would you not fight back? You can help us. Sign this petition, reach out to your local representative and to the New York State governor’s office and demand that they do what they’re supposed to do to keep citizens safe in this planned construction. If they cannot do a third-party environmental impact study, then they need to make plans to fill in the expressway and organize aerial roads for the additional traffic.
Please help us, we are your neighbors.
A Concerned Eastside Citizen
Governor Kathy Hochul Mayor Byron W. Brown Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz Claudine Ewing WGRZ Investigative Post Kristin Thorne New York State Department of Transportation Marie Therese Dominguez Buffalo, New York The Buffalo NewsThe New York Times Investigative Journalism Investigative Reporters & Editors The E.W. Scripps Company ProPublica Charlie Specht - Buffalo News Political Reporter
Buffalo has a history of environmental racism. The current project to build tunnels in sections of the 33 Expressway is another form of environmental racism. We must force accountability for this construction process and we must promote and demand alternatives that would be equitable and beneficial....
