Ed García Conde in News On July 30, 2014, 5:11 pm

Mayor de Blasio Has Not Yet Responded to Over 200 Calls / Emails Asking Him To Stop FreshDirect From Moving To South Bronx

Hundreds of FreshDirect trucks destroyed by Superstorm Sandy were dumped on our waterfront by the company without even having a lease on the land.

UPDATE:

Mayor de Blasio has not yet responded to over 200 calls/emails asking him to stop the proposed $137M subsidy of 1,000+ daily diesel trucks trips through South Bronx Asthma Alley.

Instead, his office announced the monumental redesign of downtown Brooklyn – to include a 21 acre greenway connecting downtown to the Brooklyn waterfront.

The Tale of Two Cities will not change until we insist it changes. If you have not yet contacted the Mayor, please do so today. If you have not yet received a response, please call and email again (and ask 5 friends to do so as well.)

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ACTION ALERT –

TELL MAYOR DE BLASIO

TO STOP THE FRESHDIRECT DEAL

For two and a half years, together we prevented (then) Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Cuomo from giving FreshDirect a single dollar of a (then) promised $127 million subsidy to move its trucking operation to a South Bronx waterfront flood zone, bringing 1,000 daily diesel truck trips through an overburdened community already plagued with asthma rates 8 times the national average. In 2013, we voted a progressive administration into office to change the tale of two cities and reverse course on decades of double standards and hazardous dumping on the South Bronx. We have patiently waited more than six months for our newly elected leaders to deliver on their campaign promises, but our community’s health can no longer afford to be a back burner issue. So today, we are asking all of you and everyone you know to call, email, tweet and facebook the Mayor and tell him to stop the FreshDirect deal. Ask him to back his campaign for change with action!

EMAIL Mayor de Blasio & Team (gmail, hotmail, yahoo users)

EMAIL Mayor de Blasio & Team (outlook users)

CALL Mayor de Blasio via his Dir. of Intergovernmental Affairs Emma Wolfe at 212.788.2162 and/or via his Director of City Legislative Affairs Jon Paul Lupo at 212.788.2971

“Fresh Direct would never have gotten more than $100 million in government subsidies to stay in New York City if he ran City Hall, Bill de Blasio said.” –NYP

“The FreshDirect deal – giving away $130 million in taxpayer money to support low-wage jobs, all in response to the company’s empty threats — was a mistake. And it’s a symbol of how upside down our economic policies have been. By reforming New York’s incentive programs, we will free up resources to support entire industries and small businesses in all five boroughs – and begin to reinvest in real pathways to economic opportunity…” -Speech as Public Advocate

Also remind Mayor de Blasio that the FreshDirect project has changed in size and scope as well as in amount and type of subsidies. Allowing FreshDirect to receive an undemocratic gift of (now) nearly $140 million in subsidies to move its trucking operation to a waterfront flood zone in the South Bronx would mean:

1,000+ additional truck trips every day through South Bronx “asthma alley” where the community already suffers asthma hospitalization rates 21 times higher than other NYC neighborhoods
Allowing a company to rely on a 21 year old environmental impact statement to build in a community globally known for environmental injustice and despite a well-documented asthma epidemic linked to the diesel truck-intensive industries and highways saturating and surrounding the South Bronx
No living wage requirements attached to one of the largest corporate subsidies to be given in NYC history.
Rewarding an anti-union, anti-immigrant employer that is not right for the South Bronx, with a record of discriminatory and unfair labor practices and a lawsuit by workers against the company for $50+ million in unpaid tips and overtime.
Perpetuating back room deals with no community input.
Subsidizing a business model that parks diesel truck refrigerated warehouses on city streets for 14 hours a day that act as grocery depots across the city, especially in UES, UWS and Tribeca (instead of paying taxes like all other brick and mortar grocers.)