INDUSTRIAL WATERFRONT SITES

Adjacent to the ferry bridges site are two General Electric methane gas power plants and an oil tank facility. Local advocates fear that these operations might seek to expand into the ferry bridges site and close up river access points. These include Park Avenue, which has a sizable green space, and Lincoln Avenue, which locals use for fishing and boat launches. For over two decades the South Bronx community has been fighting for environmental justice in the area and has been successful in shutting down the last medical waste incinerator in the city. The fight continues to shut down four polluting power plants on the waterfront. The latest effort is to prevent the food trucking company Fresh Direct from receiving $130 million in public subsidies to occupy the last available stretch of public waterfront within the NYS Department of Transportation–owned Harlem River Rail Yards, located west of the Bruckner Expressway. Numerous actions, demonstrations, community input sessions and door-to-door outreach have garnered the support of dozens of organizations and elected officials, and led to a lawsuit filed by the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.

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