Haley Miranda describes asthma and waste burdens in South Bronx
Haley Miranda, youth organizer at We Say Nos Quedamos, describes growing up in Melrose in the South Bronx with asthma alley conditions. She urges efficient sanitation routes, fewer private transfer stations, and passage of Intro 367 to use marine and rail transfer stations.
Next up, we will have Haley Miranda.
You may begin.
Hi, good afternoon, Chair Sanchez and the Committee on Sanitation.
Thank you for this opportunity to testify.
Hi, my name is Haley Miranda, and I'm a youth organizer for the past five years at We Say Nos Quedamos.
I'd like to testify about my experience and concerns with waste sanitation and its overlap with EJ in our communities.
So my family and I have lived in the Melrose neighborhood of the South Bronx for over 20 years.
And throughout my life, I've experienced the before and after waste, trash, and air pollution.
Growing up, my younger brother spent Christmas in the hospital due to an asthma attack, stemming from growing up in the city's own asthma alley, a reality that could have changed if agreements were put in place to protect our environment.
Trucks in the South Bronx and the city have been an ongoing issue for as long as I can remember.
We must urge sanitation trucks collecting over 24 million pounds of residential and commercial garbage daily to have more efficient routes, have an overall reduction in passing through communities with high asthma rates such as my own, and decrease the number of private transfer stations.
Along the waterfronts of the city, areas that can help mitigate the urban heat island effect.
Sorry, the urban heat island effect, private transportation continue to take over even after the implementation of the waste equity law in 2019.
So I urge the city to pass introduction 367 as soon as possible.
to require the Department of Sanitation to accept and process commercial solid waste at all city-owned and operated marine and rail transfer stations.
Despite sanitation efforts being put in place, the lack of regulations based on investment in underserved communities allows facilities and programs that can help youth and community members enter the green job sector go unnoticed.
And the city needs to seize expanding waste management solutions at the city wastewater resource and recovery facilities at the cost of expanding composting facilities all over the city.
As an organizer who frequently works in green spaces and composting around my neighborhood, an aerobic co-digestion may seem better for the EJ and for the environment, but we must make sure that this gas collected is used to power the
facilities.
Thank you so much.