A few weeks ago, the New York City Council held a hearing over the two waste–transfer stations being proposed for the east side of Manhattan. The proposals call for building a station around 59th Street, and another around 91st Street. It’s all part of an eventual long-term move to shift transfer stations from land to marine. Expectedly, the overwhelmingly white “upper-eastsiders”, took a latte-break from Starbucks, to show up in force at the hearing.
As I write this article, my observation is that there are forty-six waste-transfer stations in the five boroughs of NYC. As far as I know, there are nineteen in Brooklyn, fifteen in the Bronx, eight in Queens, four in Staten Island, and zero in Manhattan. My research also suggests that areas near these sites have higher comparative rates of asthma, common colds, flu, bronchitis and other bronchial and respiratory ailments. So why is Manhattan so lucky? Why are Manhattanites so insulated? Why are they so isolated in terms of sharing part of the burden that other New Yorkers share, relative to the city’s trash?
As I write this article, my research suggests that NYC hauls about 10,000 tons of commercial garbage a day; Manhattan is responsible for about 40% (4,000 tons) of this bulk. It is also ostensible that areas around these sites suffer from higher rates of pollution, congestion, stench, rat infestation (and likewise that from other small rodents) and other such maladies. So why is Manhattan so lucky?
Is it because Manhattan has slowly become an enclave for the rich and famous, and the well-off and not-so-famous too? Could it be that the political representatives do such a good job protecting their borough? Or is it because of good old–fashioned “racism”?
You tell me.
If we look at the way certain burdens are distributed across the city, you will find that Manhattan seems to be always given preferential treatment. Look at half-way houses, drug-rehab centers, transition programs, homeless shelters, prisons/jails, food-programs and the like, and you will find that these burdens are usually shifted to the outer boroughs, or to the areas in Manhattan where minorities predominate.
Yet, at this hearing the “upper-eastsiders” were carrying-on as though the reverse was true. You would swear that they had been picking-up the burdens of the city, all on their slender trust-fund shoulders. When will they ever learn?
You see, to many white-folks on the upper eastside, there is this sense of “entitlement” as it relates to those in the other boroughs; especially when the “those” are non-white. Plus, there is another set of eastsiders (Mayor Bloomberg included) who are totally insensitive to the plight and concerns of most minorities in this city. Sometimes white-folks just don’t get it; usually it’s because they don’t want to get it.