Exposing the environmental, health and community destruction caused by the
Public Bridge Authority has been written about by Artvoice beginning with
Bruce Jackson more than 10 years ago. Bruce again featured the pollution
issues in October 2007, "Trucking Buffalo" followed by an indepth report on
the asthma epidemic on Buffalo's West Side by Bill Zimmerman shortly after.
Since then, Artvoice (Geoff Kelly and George Sax) has continuously exposed
the power, money and politics connection with the PBA and it's heavy handed
influence on government officials in Fort Erie, Ottowa, Buffalo, Albany and
Washington.
Yet, the worm has turned oh so slowly on both sides of the border. Granted,
some elected officials are now supporting Shared Border Management instead
of the proposed plaza expansion, but for those of us who live in the shadow
of the peace bridge, daily life remains unchanged.
Our health risks have increased while our property values continue to
decrease. The intentionl blight created by the PBA has been a difficult
battle to overcome. The block of homes the PBA purchased on Busti Avenue
more than 13 years ago (but went legally unchallenged) has been "hands off"
to housing inspectors and exempt from building code ordinances. An entire
block of historical homes once filled with families, children and taxpayers
has been quietly rotting right under the noses of those we elect and
appoint to prevent the slumming of our neighborhoods.
Now the stewards of our educational system have chosen the same path. They
have had ample opportunity to do their job by investigating the quality of
air our school children are breathing. Superintendent Williams chose to
once again demonstrate his heavy handed approach by silencing the
messengers, ignoring the board's directive and writing directly to the PBA;
the very source of what is making our children sick. An in-your-face action
that defies logic and questions the moral integrity of a man who is top dog
in our educational system.
The medical facts behind our asthma is indisputable. They are three times
higher than the national average with the highest percentage of asthma
clustering in the neighborhoods surrounding the peace bridge.
Buffalo is the third poorest city in the nation! Many sick children do not
have access to quality health care which means they have little chance of
growing up into healthy adults.
62% of the west side population is under the age of 18. That means 25,000
children have no vote and no voice over who should be protecting their
quality of life. That includes the 606 school kids who wake up everyday
with asthma and are forced to breathe in the same polluted air because of
power, money and politics.
If 606 kids were drowning in the Niagara river, I know this community would
be frantically jumping in after them to pull each one to safety. Why then,
do we tolerate a system who is willing to turn the other cheek?
Breathing That Peace Bridge Air |
by George Sax |
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Buffalo Schools superintendent ducks inquiry on asthma rates among West Side students
Buffalo Superintendent of Schools James Williams’ response to a Board of Education resolution seems likely to extend an ongoing controversy. And, in a related matter, Artvoice has obtained a previously unreleased copy of a tally of respiratory illness among students at four public schools on Buffalo’s West Side.
Last June, a board resolution directed Williams to request that the Environmental Protection Agency study the impact of car and truck emissions on air quality as a result of the Peace Bridge Expansion Project, and the possible consequences on Buffalo students’ health. After about a seven-and-one-half-month delay he has apparently acted, but his formal response doesn’t seem calculated to satisfy at least some board members, including the resolution’s author.
West District board member Ralph Hernandez told Artvoice last week that the superintendent had apologized three weeks ago for not moving on this matter more expeditiously and had promised to act on it promptly. On February 13, Williams sent a letter to Kenneth A. Schoetz, the Peace Bridge Authority chairman. Williams wrote that he wanted to notify Schoetz of the board’s concerns with regard to “environmental and air-quality impacts around district schools” and their “potentially adverse health effects” on children and adults in city schools. A phone inquiry to Williams’ office about the reason he had for communicating with Schoetz instead of public officials elicited a “no comment” from his public relations representative.
In a brief interview this week in the Artvoice office, Hernandez said, “This is unacceptable.” Former Common Councilmember Alfred Coppola had a sharper response to the letter this week: “This is like sending a letter to the fox as he sits outside the hen house.” Coppola has been working for several years with Peace Bridge-area residents, environmentalists, and others to prevent the PBA from expanding its truck inspection plaza according to its current plan, and destroying part of the adjacent neighborhood. Kathleen Mecca, a leader in the neighborhood community organization, said Williams had “contacted the polluter, ignoring the children who go to school every week with asthma.”
District administrators have had the results of a quantitative survey of asthma among students in four Buffalo schools since last summer. They have not made them available to parents or the public, and when Artvoice recently made a request for a copy, Associate Superintendent Mel Alston rejected the request.
These statistics were collected in June of last year from a review of student records and from inquiries conducted by principals and nurses in four schools: No. 3, 18, 30 and 76. (This writer erroneously reported in a previous article two weeks ago that Alston was responsible for the survey. Rather, these four schools sent it to him last summer.)
The data from this effort indicate a high prevalence of students diagnosed with asthma. The total for the four schools was 606 students. The one with the largest number, D’Youville-Porter School No. 3, had 245 cases, more than a third of those enrolled. (It is the school nearest the bridge entrance.) School 30 had a similarly large number, 223. There were 87 in school 76, 51 in 18.
The staff and principals in those schools also calculated the numbers according to ZIP codes and found that three zones had by far the largest incidence of diagnoses: 14201, 14207, and 14213, the three nearest the bridge and Niagara Street.
An administrator in one of the schools, who requested anonymity because of an order from City Hall not to discuss this subject with journalists or the public, said that since these results had been sent to the district’s headquarters last summer, the principals had heard nothing about them from the superintendent’s office.
This survey’s tally seems consistent with a study in 2006 by University at Buffalo Professor Jamson S. Lwebuga-Mukasa of more than 5,400 West Side children which found an asthma prevalence of 22.3 percent, three times the national average.
Mecca expressed disappointment at what she said was the lack of a clear focus on this problem by the superintendent and the board. “They’re stewards of the students’ safety and welfare,” she said. “They have a responsibility to address existing asthma conditions,” as well as the prospect of greater environmental hazards from the PBA’s plans.
—george sax
Reader Comments
Kathy Mecca 26 Feb 2009, 09:40
Responsible New York? 28 Feb 2009, 14:15
Sending a letter to Kenneth Schoetz about sick children and asthma rates at
the public schools near the Peace Bridge is like sending a letter asking
(former FEMA Director) Micheal "Brownie" Brown to do something about the
damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. Mr. Schoetz is a hold-over "political appointee" who has no function other than to raise money for his political appointers (First Spitzer - nuff said - and now Paterson - get it yet?) while he "Chairs" a secret board that hands out millions of $$ tax dollars worth of consulting contracts and answers to absolutely no one. Do you think Mr. Willims will get a response in 8 months or sooner? The PBA is a tremendous LIABILITY to the City of Buffalo -- and its residents on the West Side. The self-procalimed "advocates" for these children - i.e. the politicians who represent us and these residents have been bought off by the tremendous amount of campaign $$$ contributions given to them by the 20-plus year PBA "legal" consultants at Kavinoky Cook. Until this is exposed --NOTHING will get done. Q: Where are state reps Sam Hoyt and Bill Stachowski on this issue? No where!!! -- now check how much money they get from Kavnoky Cook??? And that uhm, GAG order from City Hall? Check who is the "transition chairman" for Mayor Byron Brown -- you guessed it - the principal partner at Kavinoky Cook! Get it yet? Don't take a deep breath yet/ Money talks - Sick people cough.
Kathy
28 Feb 2009, 20:47
There are 25,000 precious reasons why we should all be outraged by the lack
of action taken by our representatives - and each one has the name of a
child.
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