[email protected]

@southbronxunite

www.southbronxunite.com

An Open Letter to Bronx Politicians Regarding Their Letter to FreshDirect Thank you for recognizing that FreshDirect has a responsibility to provide good jobs and fair wages, particularly when (now) $137 million in government subsidies were offered under the Bloomberg administration. Indeed, that is the law in NYC. Companies that receive more than $1 million of financial assistance for economic development are required to pay a living wage to employees. FreshDirect, however, was unfairly exempted from this law as a result of its extensive and well-funded lobbying efforts1. Thank you also for recognizing the deeply concerning anti-union actions of the company. In addition to its recent engagement of union-avoidance consultants, FreshDirect has a long history of anti-union activity, dating back to 1997, when the company was accused of having instigated a raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the eve of another union vote2. Just as you advocate for FreshDirect to engage in fair labor practices, we ask that you equally consider the negative impact of FreshDirect's proposed move to Mott Haven on the health of South Bronx residents, who have been forced to fight against bad policy (for decades) causing severe environmental degradation and an alarming health crisis. Dubbed “Asthma Alley,” one in five children in our community has asthma, and asthma hospitalization rates in the South Bronx are a staggering 21 times higher than those of more affluent parts of New York City. These staggering facts are well-documented. The “South Bronx Environmental Health and Policy Study3,” commissioned over a decade ago by Congressman Serrano and conducted by the New York University School of Medicine, identified the cause as diesel truck emissions from the area’s over-saturation of highways and industrial facilities as well as the solution: reduce truck traffic and provide more open space. Yet, city and borough policy makers ignored the findings and continued to subsidize more and more diesel truck intensive businesses to relocate to the South Bronx. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released a report this year that detailed a 26% spike in asthma-related Medicaid expenditures over the last five years, with the Bronx leading the way. Highlighting the disproportionately high rates of asthma among Latino and African-American communities, New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito called for “proactive steps to prevent the problem from growing in the future." FreshDirect would add upwards of 1,000 diesel truck trips every day through our neighborhood, yet refuses to perform an environmental impact statement (EIS) to assess the effects on our overburdened and 1

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/politics/2012/04/5773286/controlled-disagreement-between-christine-quinn-andmichael-bloombe 2 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/nyregion/13fresh.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&ref=nyregion&adxnnlx=1408018183xEv5ZO7UGf/t6CP5Q+kayQ& 3 http://www.icisnyu.org/south_bronx/admin/files/SouthBronxBrochure.pdf

1

[email protected]

@southbronxunite

www.southbronxunite.com

vulnerable community. Instead, FreshDirect relies on a 20 year old study conducted at a time when the impact of fine particular matter from diesel trucks (P.M. 2.5) was not understood nor examined, but is now known to be a leading cause of asthma and a host of other pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, FreshDirect completely ignores two rezonings from industrial to mixed-use residential and failed to conduct traffic, air quality, noise, zoning, greenhouse gas and NYC Waterfront Revitalization Plan Consistency Assessment analyses. FreshDirect claims that it will develop a “green fleet” at some point in the future, but it fails to explain why, when the company lost more than half its fleet in Hurricane Sandy, it chose to replace the damaged trucks with a complete set of new diesel trucks. These issues remain in ongoing litigation by the community’s attorneys at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest and supported by the Natural Resources Defense Council4 and the more than 50 organizations5 reinforcing South Bronx Unite in its efforts to prevent the irreparable harm FreshDirect would cause in the community. FreshDirect can stay and expand in its current location in Long Island City6. According to the company’s own disclosures, this is not only a viable option, but would also represent the least amount of business disruption and the lowest employee attrition. If, however, you believe strongly in bringing FreshDirect to the Bronx, we implore you 18 elected officials from across the Bronx to form a special committee to work with FreshDirect and the office of Mayor de Blasio to identify a different, more appropriate location in the borough to cite the project. In all cases, however, we ask that you develop a community input process to gain meaningful feedback on the best economic and environmental use of all Bronx public land. For documentation supporting any fact set forth in this letter, please do not hesitate to contact us. Please also consider joining us in September for another of our several dozen environmental justice waterfront bike tours of the area, which will be joined by people from all over the world gathering in New York for the historic United Nations Climate Summit.

4

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/jdyer/will_fairness_prevail_in_the_s.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_ campaign=Feed:+switchboard_all+%28Switchboard:+Blogs+from+NRDC%27s+Environmental+Experts%29 5 http://www.southbronxunite.com/p/our-su.html 6 https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8qEdzX5fireeTdTdW9wc2xTSWlRNUNQTDdEYVVaQQ/edit?pli=1

2