Last Mile Delivery Site. Bait and Switch to Amazon Across from Senior Center and Our Park. In an Environmental Justice Zone

The corporate mega -giant AMAZON has entirely taken over the commercial space on Forsyth Street directly across from Sara Roosevelt Park and the MKGarden and the BRC Low-Income Senior Nutrition Center.

 

According to a December 2021 investigation by Consumer Reports, companies like Amazon have opened up the vast majority of last-mile logistics facilities in communities of color that have long suffered disparate environmental harms like increased rates of air pollution, noise, and asthma.

Now this Last-Mile site intends to be a 24 hour loading zone.
Blue Amazon not Orange JOCO
The site was originally proposed to the Community Board 3 by a small start-up company named JOCO.

There are bills before the NYC Council to prevent these from clustering in low-income neighborhoods or NYC Parks:

  • Last-mile zoning text amendment – The special permit would set forth the following condition (among others):
    • Any last-mile warehouse must be at least 1,000 feet from any school, park, nursing home, or public housing development.
We are advocating for The Department of Transportation/DOT to move the (now) 24 hour loading zone to around the corner to Delancey between Forsyth and Eldridge – a large thoroughfare and a designated truck route.
More DATA:
Local resident and MKGardener research:
The loading and unloading signs imply that trucks are allowed to load and unload on a 24 hour basis and this is different from what was told to the community.
It should be 7AM to 7PM as per in other locations. JOCO requested extended hours but not 24/7.
Incomprehensibly,  it appears that Forsyth Street is not a bike lane or greenway.
Still, Trucks should only be on these routes:
We are proposing that all affected residents, gardeners and affected seniors consider voicing concerns with 311 and your elected officials.
 
While “Last MIle” is great in theory – but there are very real concerns that these sites are being placed in predominately low-income communities of Color.
 
And…we are a PARK that this “Environmental Justice Zone” is in desperate need of.
When/if you do send make sure you send your complaint # to Community Board 3 office. 

Actions:

CONTACT:

Local Elected officials:

Senator Kavanagh Phone: 212-298-5565

AM Grace Lee 250 Broadway Suite 2232   212-312-1420

CM Marte (who is already engaged on this matter – thanks Max and team!) 65 East Broadway New York, NY 10002 Phone: 212-587-3159

Community Board 3, Manhattan 
Phone: 212-533-5300
Email: mn03@cb.nyc.gov
File a Complaint Online

 
You can request a new loading zone OR request changes to existing loading zones.
Template Guide: 
– comment type OTHER
– comment VIA FORM
– borough MANHATTAN
– corner or between streets CORNER
– on street DELANCEY ST (then you have to “select street”)
– cross street FORSYTH ST
Conway’s comment Conway has been leading residents/small businesses on the Forsyth Delancey/Rivington block):

The loading zone currently on Forsyth St. at the corner of Delancey (between Delancey and Rivington) should be moved around the corner to Delancey St at the corner of Forsyth (between Eldridge and Forsyth Sts). The large truck traffic and concentration of delivery workers on the sidewalk on Forsyth St. during deliveries creates an excess of noise, emissions (from trucks left idling), and crowding on the sidewalk that are disruptive to residents. The delivery trucks are wide enough to potentially obstruct the movement of ambulances onto Forsyth St, where there is a medical facility with an ambulance bay. Delancey St. is a commercial thoroughfare with a very wide sidewalk where noise, emissions, and sidewalk crowding will be far less disruptive to the community, and add needed commercial activity in a stretch of sidewalk that is poorly-lit, mostly empty, and invites activities such as drug use and sidewalk sleeping. The business that the loading zone on Forsyth St. currently serves has doors that open onto Delancey, so its operations would not be disrupted by shifting the loading zone location from Forsyth to Delancey.”

Add: Companies like Amazon have opened up the vast majority of last-mile logistics facilities in communities of color that have long suffered disparate environmental harms like increased rates of air pollution, noise, and asthma 

CONTACT THESE ADVOCATES:

Advocates Unveil Actions to Rein In Unplanned Clustering Of Last-Mile Logistics Facilities

Three new bills introduced by the Last-Mile Coalition NYC. New York City Council Member Alexa Avilés and co-sponsored by Council Members Gutiérrez, Nurse, Brooks-Powers, Won, Hanif and Restler, as well as Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.

 

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