Majora Carter Speaks: Greening The Ghetto

SSBx Founder Discusses Urban Greening at U of T's Hart House

Mar 14, 2009 Naomi Szeben

Part two about urban sustainability, featuring honoured speaker Majora Carter. She discusses the start of the Waterfront Greening Project and her work with SSBx.

Majora Carter explains how “green jobs” are not only environmentally worthy projects to support, but that they do present profitable investments in cities and businesses, in this second of a two-part series based on her speech at University of Toronto's urban renewal panel at Hart House.

Carter describes how she worked in the past with Sustainable South Bronx (SSBx) to fight apathy towards a greening and rejuvenation of the area: “Get people involved, get people to work with you, not just for the red tape, but for the little things, the botanical society…anyone who would answer the phone.”

“Originally, people living there didn’t like seeing their home on the news in such a bad light,” she continues. “We were used to it, but we didn’t like it, but someone has to do something and say something to get it done. People won’t like hearing it, but like seeing the results.”

On Getting Volunteers and Donors for Sustainable South Bronx

“We had donors who contributed seedlings, saplings and their time to train people,” she smiles, showing a Powerpoint presentation featuring a photo of a volunteer clipping a low-hanging branch from an urban tree. “While he was demonstrating cutting a tree branch, he was also letting light from a street lamp through…the area under the tree would otherwise provide enough cover to hide criminal activity.”

She smiles ruefully as she adds that while the volunteer was making the tree healthier, the overall act was a form of “crime prevention and circumvention.” Carter adds that Greening The Ghetto motto is more than just a slogan. SSBx advocates to re-distribute NYC's garbage equitably throughout all parts of NYC, and to make garbage export less noxious.

The Beginnings of The Sustainable South Bronx Project

A photograph of the area of waterfront that was once an illegal dumping ground. Its muddy, polluted grounds are strewn with pallets, garbage bags and broken, discarded furniture and electronics.

“I was walking my dog and she dragged me over to this area,” she recounts of that fateful morning jog. “And I didn’t realize that behind this illegal dumping ground there was a waterfront. I saw the sun glint like gold on the river…and I realized that this had potential.”

Today, the waterfront features bike paths and walkways; more environmentally friendly roadways towards the city. Trees and fountains add allure to the naturally appealing flow of the river.

Creating Work with Found Materials

Carter proudly shows the photographs that feature items with recycled goods. A rough pine skid, a common site in many dumps across North America is transformed into a chair that would be at home in any Danish-modern furniture show room by one of SSBx’s local talent.

“We found that the wood slats in these pallets were pretty strong, and when lashed together made some pretty sturdy furniture,” she adds, that among the other projects involves turning the industrial shipping crates into NASCAR trailers.

Healthier Living Through Community Partnerships

Carter wrote a $1.25 M federal transportation planning grant to conduct a feasibility study for the Greenway to include the NYC Economic Development Corporation as the government sponsor, and having The Point, CDC and SSBx as community partners.

The success of the Waterfront project in greening, reducing emissions as well as generating jobs has caught the eye of Toronto Deputy Major Joe Pantalone, who has discussed a similar urban rejuvenation for Toronto’s troubled Parkdale community.

Carter discussed what her trip to Toronto meant aside from her speech at University of Toronto, “This is my first trip to Toronto to clarify what its policy needs are, and to determine where the high priority areas are…so, we’ll see.”

Read Part 1 of this two-part article, which explained Majora Carter’s environmental hurdles and accomplishments in her speech at University of Toronto's urban renewal panel at Hart House.

The copyright of the article Majora Carter Speaks: Greening The Ghetto in Green/Simple Living is owned by Naomi Szeben. Permission to republish Majora Carter Speaks: Greening The Ghetto in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Majora Carter visits University of Toronto 2008

Comments

Mar 15, 2009 9:32 AM

Guest :

Thanks for the kind words Naomi!

However, Majora Carter (no longer with SSBx btw) stresses at all times that very little volunteer efforts go into the development and maintenance of horticultural infrastructure.

This work is done by well paid (heath insurance - very important south of your border) graduates of the Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training program.

The cross-sector cost savings that this type of workforce creates, justifies good wages for people who need these JOBS. This is not a hobby, it's an economic loop that benefits everyone if we make the decision to pay for work well done.

We are looking forward to returning to Toronto to help develop these ideas with business leaders, potential entrepreneurs, educators, and the incredible (mostly young) people Ken Jeffers and Rosa Jones connected us with at city hall.

These Toronto youth from 'priority' neighborhoods' (aka ghettos) who are looking seriously at green-careers were just one of the highlights of visiting a city on the verge of leaping into an era of a much more integrated local economy and tax base.

Your mayor was the first ever in our travels to shoot a phone pic with him and Majora, and twitter it before she left the building. please look for Majora's appearance on The Hour this week.

Thanks so much for listening to Majora at Hart House. I'm looking forward to meeting on our next trip there!

James Burling Chase

VP Marketing & Communications
Majora Carter Group, LLC
majoracartergroup.com

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