By Sydney Céspedes
sydney29@gmail.com
Six months ago, the federal government told the city that it would spend $354 million on New York, if the city came up with a system of congestion pricing, charging cars that drive into Manhattan’s business district in an effort to cut down on traffic.
To four teens from Hunts Point, congestion pricing is not about money. It’s about justice.
And Tatianna Echevarria, Kyeesha Fountain, Amanda Septimo and Misra Walker let their state legislators know it.
The four traveled to Albany in mid-February to lobby during Latino, Black and Asian Caucus weekend. It was the first time they had traveled to the state capitol as advocates, but Tatianna insisted, “It definitely wasn’t intimidating.” She added, however, “I don’t think they were listening as well as they could of.”
The teens are participants in A.C.T.I.O.N., an after school program at the community center The Point. The program engages young people to work on social and environmental justice issues and in the process builds public speaking and leadership skills.
The foursome made the trip with Adam Liebowitz, the program director of A.C.T.I.O.N., and Elena Conte, who left Sustainable South Bronx last summer to become the first staff organizer for the Pratt Center for Community Development, and who helped organize Communities United for Transportation Equity (COMMUTE), a coalition working in favor of congestion pricing that includes The Point, Sustainable South Bronx and Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice.
“Making transportation better is something we hope would be a result” of congestion pricing, Amanda explained.
On March 24, she called on the City Council to endorse congestion pricing in formal testimony during a day-long hearing at City Hall.
Public transportation is better for the environment” said Tatianna.
Noting the high asthma rate in the South Bronx and pointing to the number of highways that cut through its neighborhoods, Misra said the hope is twofold: that fewer cars would travel through Hunts Point and Longwood and that money collected from those that do would be spent on improving mass transit.
Money should “go first to underserved communities in desperate need of transit improvements,” Liebowitz said.
According to COMMUTE, “Three-quarters of a million New Yorkers travel more than an hour each way to work, and two-thirds of them earn less than $35,000 a year. The average black commuter rides 47 minutes to work–25 percent longer than the typical white commuter.”
“Spending that kind of time traveling each day to work or school means that people have little time to spend with their families, participating in school and other community affairs, or pursuing their own education, commented Joan Byron, Director of Sustainability and Environmental Justice Initiative at the Pratt Center, who also traveled to Albany on the lobbying trip.
The issue hits home for the young women.
Misra pointed out that in many Manhattan stations riders can transfer to any of a number of subway lines while, “Here in the Bronx, there is no connection to the Westside.”
“If you’re in Queens, good luck getting to the Bronx,” Amanda added with a laugh.
The teens also expressed dissatisfaction about bus service in their own neighborhood. “We just got two new parks and one is completely inaccessible,” said Misra, referring to Barretto Point Park. “What’s the point?” she asked.
While congestion pricing plans are still in the works, the members of A.C.T.I.O.N. have expressed enthusiasm for the plan recommended by a 17-member commission appointed by state and city officials.
The commission has proposed an alternative to Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan, calling for drivers to pay $8 to go south of 60th Street between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. and for improvements to buses and subway service.
A highlight of the plan is the creation of Bus Rapid Transit–new, faster bus lines that would serve each borough (see accompanying story).
The federal government has set a March 31 deadline for a plan to be approved by the State Legislature and the City Council, but previous deadlines have been extended. A.C.T.I.O.N. intends to continue to lobby for congestion pricing.
Transit equity is a social justice issue,” Amanda explained. “It contributes to quality of life.”
“If we don’t fix these things now it’s going to get worse,”Tatianna warned.
“It’s either your car or your health,”said Misra.