Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Removes A. Mychal Johnson from Community Board 1

Removal Follows Rigorous Opposition to FreshDirect’s Relocation to the South Bronx and Competing Visions for the Future of the Waterfront
 
One of the most outspoken opponents to Ruben Diaz’ plan to bring truck-laden FreshDirect to the South Bronx, A. Mychal Johnson, was notified by the Bronx Borough President today that he is no longer a member of Community Board 1. Mychal had served on the board for seven years, but it was his vocal opposition to the $127 million-subsidized FreshDirect deal that drew fire from the Borough President, who announced the deal as final before the sole public hearing on the matter. The news of Mychal's removal came as Public Advocate Bill de Blasio released a report citing subsidies to FreshDirect as wasteful and unwise economic development policy.  
 

Over the last year and a half, Mychal and a broad-based coalition of residents under the banner South Bronx Unite have successfully stopped the project by bringing visibility to the company’s intent to add upwards of 1,000 diesel truck trips every day through the community already facing asthma rates eight times the national average and its reliance on a 20-year-old environmental impact assessment.Early on, the Bronx Borough President tried to meet privately with Mychal to discuss the deal, but Mychal rejected the offer.
 

“For too long, the South Bronx has been run by backroom deals that have been perpetuating poverty and environmental degradation in this district,” said Mychal.“The seeds of change grow from the ground up, not from the top down. We need to work together, and we need to ensure broad public participation in decisions about the future of the community.”
 

Most recently, as an appointee to the Open Space Conservation Plan Regional Advisory Committee (administered by the State of New York Department of Environmental Conservation and State of New York Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation), Mychal helped usher in a landslide vote in favor of recommending priority status for the Mott Haven-Port Morris Waterfront Plan. The plan is a dynamic blueprint of seven interconnected sites on state-owned land that would permit and preserve public access to the waterfront and encourage diversified economic development in an area currently occupied by waste transfer stations and fossil fuel power plants in the direct line of climate change coastal impact.The sole objection to the Mott Haven-Port Morris Waterfront Plan was lodged by the Bronx Borough President’s office.

Upcoming Event | Will Sing for Food: An Acoustic Music Celebration in Support of the BLK ProjeK Veggie Mobile Market

Join South Bronx Unite on Saturday, May 11 for a SBX garden party in support of the BLK ProjeK Veggie Mobile Market.

When | Saturday, May 11, 5-8 pm

Where | 305 East 140th Street, Bronx (6 train to 138th St/3rd Ave)
Donation | $10

We will be firing up the grill and serving drinks as we host a special line-up of musicians (including the secretly-honed singing abilities of Tanya Fields) to support this unique and creative SBX-born project. The veggie-mobile will run on used veggie oil and support local growers while providing high quality food at affordable prices. It will also be used as a platform for civic engagement and education, with music, cooking demos, curbside financial literacy and community building initiatives.

(a taste of what's to come...)

Research the reasons for opposition to Fresh Direct.

The recent article in the NY Times has driven up the traffic to our site in the thousands today.  The issue for us is about Environmental Justice in the South Bronx and not about individuals. We encourage you to review in depth the extensive information on this website, much of it was not shared with the community and only obtained through Freedom of Information requests. Start with our blog posts below this.
We welcome everyone to join our campaign platform. Thank you.

Opposition to FreshDirect Project Grows to OVER 36 Organizations

Sustainable South Bronx, Bronx Council for Environmental Quality and Green Worker Cooperatives Release Independent Policy Statements Against the Company’s Move to the South Bronx

See the growing list of Supporters here.
You can join this Environmental Justice effort!

Citing the neighborhood’s “long history of being overburdened with unfavorable land uses that have resulted in challenging health and quality of life issues for community residents,” Sustainable South Bronx released a policy statement on Monday applauding the efforts of the South Bronx Unite coalition in its year long campaign to raise awareness about the effects of the truck-intensive online grocer’s proposed move to public waterfront land in the Mott Haven/Port Morris neighborhood.

“As advocates for the South Bronx, we at Sustainable South Bronx find it unacceptable that FreshDirect’s move to the South Bronx has not been subject to an environmental impact study and that the company has refused to conduct such a study” read the statement released by the organization. “The review that FreshDirect has cited in support of its argument that environmental impact will be minimal dates from 1993 and pertains to a completely different project.”

Bronx-based economic/environmental organization Green Worker Cooperatives issued its own statement last week, entitled “The Bronx Can Do Better Than Fresh Direct.”  In it, the organization criticized the FreshDirect deal as “another example of the kind of ‘economic development’ strategy that has turned the South Bronx into a home for low-wage employers and dirty industries.”

“All over the world, old fashioned industrial uses on the water’s edge have been overwhelmingly dismissed in favor of a community’s waterfront that provides access, recreation, nature and maritime resources,” read the statement released today by the Bronx Council forEnvironmental Quality, another deeply-rooted Bronx-based environmental organization adding their support to the South Bronx Unite coalition.  The statement went on to question the undemocratic manner in which the FreshDirect deal was struck, ignoring health and safety concerns as well as decades of policies and comprehensive plans concerning the Bronx waterfront.

“We are grateful for the overwhelming support received from local and city-wide organizations with continuing, principled work that shows the widespread momentum for this classic environmental justice campaign that we will win,” said Harry Bubbins, member of South Bronx Unite and Executive Director of Friends of Brook Park.  “Our community continues to come together in response to projects that pose significant environmental concerns,” added Mychal Johnson, member of South Bronx Unite and member of Community Board.  “South Bronx residents must be part of an open democratic process before hundreds of millions of dollars are allocated to subsidize truck-intensive businesses to move to our community.”

Thirty-four organizations have joined in supporting the South Bronx Unite opposition to the FreshDirect project.  This groundswell of local resistance includes, in addition to Sustainable South Bronx, Bronx Council for Environmental Quality and Green Worker Cooperatives, several other Bronx-based organizations such as BLK ProjeK, La Finca Del Sur/South Bronx Farmers, The Point Community Development Corporation and Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, among others.  The growing list is available here.

FreshDirect cites six organizations supporting its move, five of which are geographically distant from the affected community.

Upcoming | South Bronx Bike Tour

When | April 20th, 12:00 pm
Where | Meet at Brook Park, E. 141st St & Brook Ave (ride returns to the park)

Now in its 17th successful year, this innovative event is an example of a sustained partnership between local and city-wide organizations, including Friends of Brook Park and South Bronx Unite. Again this year, we will visit the site they had proposed to put Fresh Direct to show the vast possibilities for this space from which the community would benefit.. We will also show where the South Bronx Greenway Randall’s Island Conector IS STILL NOT COMPLETED and provide actions to make this several year long promise a reality.

This is a leisurely tour that includes beautiful natural wonders of the waterfront, community gardens and art, and historic places. See the fresh cherry blossoms!

On this trip, participants of all ages are made aware through actual site visits of polluting fossil fuel power plants and gargantuan waste transfer facilities that litter our rivers’ shores. Alternatives to the existing government policies are brought to everyone’s attention, with post-ride action steps including promoting demonstrations, letter writing, and email campaigns.

Time’s Up! provided critical outreach and promotion for this ride and early support has led to significant growth in attendance as well as continued support and involvement with the important efforts of Friends of Brook Park by ride participants. FoBP offers a video for further information about local organizing campaigns against pollution and unjust land-use siting issues.

Sign Up Here for the Tour!

Upcoming: Our Day in Court | Monday, March 4

A little more than a year from the start of our battle against the relocation of FreshDirect to the South Bronx waterfront, this Monday, March 4th, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest will argue for our rights against an army of attorneys from FreshDirect, the NYC IDA, the NYC EDC, the NYS DOT, ESD and Harlem River Yard Ventures.

 

We need all coalition members, supporters and allies from the environmental, food and social justice movements to stand shoulder to shoulder with us on this important day!

 

When: Monday, March 4, 8:30 am

Where: Bronx County Courthouse, North Steps

What: Press Conference Before Oral Arguments

Over the past year, together we have:
·Achieved a city-wide boycott of FreshDirect (with upwards of 700 people refusing to buy from the company until its plans for the South Bronx are stopped)
·Amassed the support of the local Community Board 1, City Council Members Mark-Viverito, Arroyo, and James, State Senator Serrano and Congressman Serrano
·Mobilized the support of the New York Grocers Association and the Bodega Association as well as individual brick and mortar grocery store owners
·Garnered agreement among 25 South Bronx and other city-wide organizations uniformly calling for an environmental impact statement and a rejection of the subsidies
·Re-envisioned a plan for waterfront development at Harlem River Yards with the assistance of urban planning teams from Columbia, Pratt and Hunter colleges
·Attended more than 100 public events giving presentations, providing testimony, leading tours of the area and handing out fliers with information withheld from the public

 

We are winning!

Why We Boycott FreshDirect

FreshDirect aims to receive $127 million in public subsidies to move its headquarters to public waterfront land in the South Bronx, bringing upwards of 1,000 diesel truck trips every day through a neighborhood with asthma rates eight times the national average.  The company aims to use public money to build a 500,000+ square foot warehouse and underground parking facility in a Zone B flood zone when, by its own analysis, the company is able to stay and expand in its current Long Island City location. The move to the South Bronx would entail building next to a 5,000 ton per day waste transfer station and on land documented with evidence of a Native American settlement and burial ground. New Yorkers are dismayed that city, state and borough leaders would subsidize FreshDirect’s loud, polluting and excessively idling diesel trucks that overburden New York City streets, particularly given the company’s refusal to pay living wages and its history of unfair labor practice claims. 

Read media coverage of the issues here.  
View lawsuit against FreshDirect here.  

Join the boycott here.