Brooklyn's Progress
May 2002

By Josh Lapidus Public-private partnerships are the order of the day, and they are becoming more sophisticated all the time. In Sunset Park, Brooklyn a new alliance of businesses, residential groups and a community-based organization is busy identifying solutions to challenging pollution problems in that industrially impacted Brooklyn neighborhood. The United Puerto Ricans of Sunset Park (UPROSE) in collaboration with the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation (SWBIDC) has been awarded a Clean Air Communities (CAC) grant from Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM). These competitive grants are awarded to programs with a clear plan to quantifiably reduce airborne pollutants within communities that bear a disproportionate environmental burden. According to SWBIDC’s web site, “the business-residential group partnership is unique to industrial and residential communities in New York City.” The funded project is centered around a plan to install pollution control devices on a fleet of trucks making deliveries in Sunset Park and other areas of Brooklyn. UPROSE received planning grant in January 2001 and received word of a full implementation grant this month. The Clean Air Communities program was established in 1999 out a collaboration between Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), Consolidated Edison (Con Ed), Northeast States Clean Air Foundation (NESCAF) and NESCAUM. Con Ed provided initial funding for the granting program. The CAC “seeks to help build coalitions and improve communication among air quality regulators, community groups, environmental and public health advocates, and the private sector with regard to forwarding environmental justice through market-based mechanisms.” The granting process is particularly rigorous in that it requires a replicable strategy to bring about quantifiable results in a cost-effective manner. CAC favors plans that include accurate monitoring of the pollution reduction and advance community education of public health and air quality challenges. Seeing the disproportionate impact that air pollution has on residents of Sunset Park and other Brooklyn neighborhoods, civil rights attorney Elizabeth C. Yeampierre, Executive Director of UPROSE, has brought her community to the forefront of the local fight against air pollution. In addition to receiving the CAC award, UPROSE successfully led opposition to a plan to place two new power plants in Sunset Park. In consultation with the Borough President, Ms. Yeampierre has come to an agreement with the New York Power Authority to distribute $1 million in Sunset Park to pollution reduction programs. According to Ms. Yeampierre, the money will be distributed as a community effort in collaboration with community groups and local businesses. Yeampierre believes air pollution reduction work to be crucial to the future of Sunset Park. She asserts that out of the roughly 35,000 kids in Sunset Park, 1 in 3 have some form of asthma and amongst youngsters living in the Gowanus corridor she believes the number is much higher. Any attempts to reduce airborne pollutants from truck traffic can only help! To measure the success of the project, the UPROSE Youth Justice Corps will monitor air pollution along the corridor as the project is implemented. UPROSE also recently received a Department of Energy grant to hold an alternative fuel summit for the Sunset Park Community. The summit is a chance for local businesses to hear from government officials, environmental professionals and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority about the options that exist for them in using alternative energy sources. “Thinking out of the box” is native to Yeampierre. If she has her way, we may see Sunset Park’s roofs planted with grass and trees and turned into parks. And she’s not alone in that sort thinking: The Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development (PICCED) recently held a green roofing conference to look into that very possibility. For more details, keep an eye out for an UPROSE press conference and release in the weeks to come. Josh Lapidus is Assistant Coordinator for Neighborhood Environments Programs at Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment. Lapidus is an extensively trained geographer and educator with an interest in mapping as it relates to socio-political and environmental issues.