Tag: Environmental Racism

Emails Reveal FreshDirect Lobbyist May Have Steered Mayor de Blasio to Side With Company; FD Continues To Raise Ethical Concerns

Emails between FreshDirect lobbyist Harry Giannoulis and New York City Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development, Alicia Glen raises a number of questions including whether or not Mayor Bill de Blasio and his administration were pushed into ceasing any attempt to derail FreshDirect’s proposed move to The Bronx — a campaign promise de Blasio was quite vocal about.

Mayor de Blasio was so vocal, in fact, that on March 10th, 2014, Harry Giannoulis sounded the claxon calls of panic on behalf of FreshDirect

Bronx Residents Unite Against Climate Change; Lead Hundreds of Thousands At People’s Climate March

South Bronx Unite Against FreshDirect, buildOn The Bronx, and La Finca del Sur were some of the organizations that led the historic People’s Climate March this past Sunday down Manhattan’s West Side which saw over 400,000 people in attendance (days earlier, People’s Climate March estimated that about 100,000 people would participate). These Bronx groups were part of the first wave called ‘Frontlines of Crisis, Forefront of Change’ which consisted of ‘…the people first and most impacted and are leading the change’ led by Indigenous people, Environmental Justice, and other Frontline communities.

For the first time in history, the issue of environmental justice in The Bronx, particularly hard impacted communities in The South Bronx were pushed to the front of the global consciousness as we meandered our way down the March route through the canyons of Manhattan. Although many diverse groups were representing the Bronx, one common theme was seen among them: Stop FreshDirect from creating an environmental catastrophe in the South Bronx.

Latinos 3x More Likely To Die From Asthma Than Others

The Environmental Defense Fund stated last week that Latinos are 3x more likely to die from asthma than any other racial or ethnic group.

We must ask ourselves why, then, our Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr and other Bronx politicians aren’t demanding an environmental impact statement be done on FreshDirect’s planned move to the South Bronx — and instead are relying on an outdated environmental impact statement.