WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MARCH 17, 2022 11
Queens leaders visit Queensbridge Houses
to shed light on environmental injustice
BY JULIA MORO
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney
visited the Queensbridge
Houses Friday, March 11, to discuss
New York’s implementation of
President Joe Biden’s climate justice
executive order and assess the impacts
of pollution from surrounding
fossil fuel plants.
As part of a two-day series of environmental
programming, elected
offi cials and leaders visited Queens
to receive community input and
speak about legislation related to
environmental justice. Maloney
called for environmental justice in
her district outside the largest housing
development in the country: the
Queensbridge Houses.
“We are only a few blocks away from
the most polluting fossil fuel plant in
New York state,” Maloney said. “It’s
no accident that Queensbridge and
Big Allis, the polluting power plant,
are so close together. It’s no accident
that there are 10 peaker plants within
one mile of Queensbridge residents.
And it’s no accident that so many of
our children have asthma.”
Maloney argued that the overwhelming
amount of peaker plants
in the area had been strategically
placed near Queensbridge Houses,
Ravenswood Houses and other public
housing, perpetuating systemic
racism and the disenfranchisement
of communities of color.
Members of Congress and activists
mentioned that a big step in
As part of a two-day series of environmental programming, elected offi cials and leaders visited Queens to
receive community input and speak about legislation related to environmental justice.
Photos courtesy of Richards’ offi ce
environmental justice was reached
with the Biden-Harris Justice40
Initiative, which will deliver at least
40% of the benefi ts of climate and
clean energy spending to communities
most impacted by pollution and
disinvestments.
Queens Borough President Donovan
Richards came out as well to
voice his support for environmental
justice in Queens County.
“Here in the ‘World’s Borough,’ we
know the impacts of climate change
and how catastrophic it can be,” Richards
said. “Think back to just the last
10 years where our people have lived
through two of the deadliest and damaging
storms our city has ever seen.”
Richards mentioned his experience
witnessing firsthand the
devastation caused by Superstorm
Sandy when he was a council member
representing southern Queens.
“I still carry that pain with me today,”
Richards said. “That same pain that
northeast families in Queens felt last
summer when Hurricane Ida fl ooded
communities that had never experienced
fl ooding before. That same
pain so many of us felt as we heard the
stories of how our neighbors drowned
right in their basement apartments.”
Richards said he is deeply proud of
the eff orts to ramp up infrastructure
but recognized more needs to be done
in communities like Asthma Alley in
Astoria.
“There is so much more work that
needs to be done, and it starts right
here in our public housing,” Richards
said. “Where the needs of countless
families have been ignored and
overlooked. Too many of our public
housing families are suff ering from
disinvestment and if you don’t think
climate change plays a whole role in
this issue, you are simply mistaken.
We don’t have more time to waste.
The time to act is now.’
The borough president applauded
the Biden-Harris Justice40 Initiative
but said we need to think even bigger,
noting that Queens communities
have suffered losses worth more
than 40%.
Aft er the press conference outside
the Queensbridge Houses, leaders
visited the Ravenswood Generating
Station to examine ongoing eff orts
to convert the plant to renewable
energy.
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