NYC-Feature Story

Harlem's Hazards
A 'toxic tour' gave me an up-close look at environmental racism

By Gamal Jones

This summer, eight NYC writers and I went on a "toxic tour"-a walk highlighting some of the environmental hazards clustered in a small area of Harlem. Our tour guide was Yolande Cadore, the organizing director of West Harlem Environmental Action (WE ACT), a non-profit organization that fights environmental racism in northern Manhattan.

Cadore explained that people in power often build sewage treatment plants and bus depots in poor neighborhoods of color, because they assume the community won't protest as much as a rich, white community might. That's because historically, minority communities have been less politically active, less likely to vote, and have had less money to sue, she said.

All Within 10 Blocks

When people in positions of power intentionally build something that's dangerous to the environment and the health of residents in a low-income and minority neighborhood, that's environmental racism, Cadore told us. "We all have prejudices," she said. "But once you attach power to your prejudice, it becomes racism."

One place you can see the effects of environmental racism is in Harlem, a predominantly black and Latino neighborhood in Manhattan.

Now, there are beauties in Harlem that mustn't be overlooked-the Apollo Theater, historic homes and countless other landmarks. Even on the tour, Cadore pointed out treasures like the Madame Alexander Doll Factory and the abandoned piers on the Hudson River that are being turned into Harlem's first waterfront park.

But there are also several hazardous sites in Harlem within 10 blocks of each other. WE ACT's full "Toxics and Treasures Tour" shows participants 15 sites above 96th Street.

The Right to Clean Air

Cadore said that there's a myth that people of color don't care about the environment. But they just live in a different environment, she said-not one with lots of trees and bald eagles, but an urban one where they live, work and breathe.

She encouraged us to pay attention to what's put in our environment, and to fight against environmental racism. "It's a right, not a privilege, to breathe clean air," she said.

We took an abbreviated tour of the West Harlem sites to see for ourselves how environmental racism affected the community. Check out the map on this page to see some of the sites.

1. The Sewage Plant

We rendezvoused with Cadore at Riverbank State Park, between 137th and 145th Streets along the Hudson River. There was a playground, basketball court, plenty of trees and endless grass. Only the smoke stacks rising high into the air gave away the fact that there's more to this park than meets the eye.

The park was built on top of the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant, which processes 170 million gallons of sewage-anything you flush down your toilet-each day. Even though it's located in West Harlem, it handles the sewage of the entire western half of Manhattan and Riverdale in the northwest Bronx.

At one point, the plant was going to be built on 72nd Street. But developers saw the spot as a potential high-income area (it's where the Trump condos are now, so someone figured right), so the plant was built in Harlem.

It Didn't Just Smell Bad

The location was a bad choice for a sewage plant. Since it was up on a hill, the city had to spend additional money to install pumps to carry the sewage up from underground, said Cadore.

When it opened in 1986, the putrid smell was overpowering. "The first summer it opened no one could open their windows or stand to breathe the air for extended periods of time," said Cadore.

On top of that, the plant's smoke stacks spewed diesel exhaust, which can trigger asthma attacks. Since West Harlem already suffered from high asthma rates, the plant was most likely harming those residents, according to Cadore.

Maybe city officials thought no one in Harlem would complain. But community activist Peggy Shepard, who would eventually become the executive director of WE ACT, organized community residents to speak out.

When they blocked rush-hour traffic along the highway next to the plant, the city finally spent money to install proper odor and air pollution controls and to build the park. Now locals can enjoy the park without the horrid smell that once came from the sewage plant beneath.

2. The Waste Transfer Station

From the sewage plant, we walked down some stone stairways to street level around 135th Street and 12th Avenue. At the edge of the river was the New York City Department of Sanitation's 135th Street Marine Transfer Station. It's been closed since 2001, but it used to be where much of Manhattan's household trash was delivered.

Nearby was an abandoned building that Cadore said used to be a motel where garbage truck drivers spent quality time with prostitutes.

We photographed the station until a nearby security guard barked that we weren't allowed to take pictures. Then she told us the area where we were standing was contaminated. She didn't know with what-just that there had been some type of spill.

When we were out of harm's way (we hoped), Cadore told us that 93 garbage trucks a day used to deliver tons of trash to this transfer station, where it was put on barges and floated to the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island.

Since it was the only transfer station open 24 hours, it became a neighborhood nuisance. The idling trucks not only released diesel exhaust into the air (an air quality hazard for those with asthma), they also attracted garbage-loving rats, roaches and flies.

Neighborhood Nuisance

Garbage trucks would line up for as many as 10 blocks, waiting to drop off their load-or in some cases, not waiting. Cadore said that residents recall seeing that some truck operators had dumped the garbage on the street.

When Fresh Kills Landfill closed in 2001, the marine transfer station closed along with it, to the community's relief. But in 2002, the city wanted to reopen and expand the station. WE ACT and the community protested, arguing that the neighborhood was already overburdened with environmental hazards. Their work paid off. In 2004, Mayor Michael Bloomberg promised not to reopen the station.

Now the city's garbage is driven to Newark, New Jersey to be incinerated. Unfortunately, the wind blows the smoke of the burnt trash across the Hudson River-right back to New York.

3. The Bus Depot

After braving the garbage transfer station, we made our way along 12th Avenue with cars rushing by and a metal bridge overhead. It looked like the scene of a car chase in an old 1970s movie.

At 132nd Street, we walked east to the MTA Manhattanville Bus Depot on Broadway, which stores 240 city buses. It's one of six bus depots located above 96th Street.

The depot is right near a huge housing complex and across the street from a junior high school. The diesel exhaust from so many buses is a serious health concern for the community, Cadore said. And because diesel fuel freezes, bus drivers have to start up their engines hours ahead of schedule in the winter to warm them up, causing a lot of unsavory noise at 3 or 4 a.m.

WE ACT sued the MTA to try to stop them from building this depot in 1988, since five of Manhattan's seven bus depots were already located in northern Manhattan. WE ACT lost, but now the group is trying to convince the MTA to put diesel exhaust emission controls on all bus depots, to reduce yet another source of air pollution in Harlem.