A known carcinogen, Tetrachloroethylene is a chemical often used as a solvent for dry cleaning, and now fugitive traces of PERC can be found in many places around the city, including brownfields in The Bronx.
During the Fall 2022 semester, Lehman College journalism students conducted an investigation on the prevalence of toxic brownfield sites in The Bronx. Using public information, research into federal lobbying records and interviews with experts and residents, the student journalists set out to understand how this contamination happened and why progress towards remediation was so slow.
The lot where the project is being planned, just feet away from two elementary schools, once was the site of a thermometer factory.
Nine years ago the Bloomberg administration launched a program targeting contaminated city sites for remediation. More than 500 sites have entered its pipeline since.
But key parts of the rezoning, which was shelved in 2016 over concerns about infrastructure and flight paths, remain off the table.
The current brownfield cleanup program does not allocate enough units for low-income housing.
City Limits uses investigative journalism through the prism of New York City to identify urban problems, examine their causes, explore solutions, and equip communities to take action.
Founded in 1976 in the midst of New York’s fiscal crisis, City Limits exists to inform democracy and equip citizens to create a more just city. The organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit funded by foundation support, ad sponsorship and donations from readers.
Support local, investigative journalism that has informed and empowered New Yorkers for 45 years.
Support local, investigative journalism that has informed and empowered New Yorkers for 45 years.
