Anna and I (Isaac) have been working with a predominantly african american community living in the Newark Public Housing complex called Terrell Homes for about a year now. The tenant association has been fighting to keep their home from being demolished for 7 to 8 years. Today the Housing Authority is looking to renovate the complex instead of destroy it, however private funding sources, pending the use of HUD’s RAD program could also lead to displacement over time. The Housing Authority has maintained that the residents will be protected, but that is yet to be seen. Throughout this fight, we noticed that these residents have so many other battles and stresses surrounding them, we wanted to understand the spectrum of inequality that has come to occupy their daily life, and hold ourselves accountable for being complicit in the infrastructure that reinforces this paradigm. We wanted to look at the regional impacts of NYC on Newark, specifically Terrell Homes, with the hypothesis that “The current capitalist paradigm creates conditions for a symbiotic imbalance of distribution of care resulting in inequitable quality of life among neighbors.” …. many residents in NYC benefit from things that make conditions worse for people in the Ironbound neighborhood of Newark.

Anna and I live here, in Williamsburg and Greenpoint.

And Terrell Homes is here. And every time we drive to Terrell Homes from NYC we can see the industrial and capital infrastructure that surrounds them, from ports to planes, to cargo, traffic, natural gas pipelines, all kinds of regional industrial infrastructure. So we wanted to represent as much of it on maps to begin to visualize the cumulative impact.

But where to start? We thought we’d go back as far as possible. To Land and Water. When most of the Ironbound area near Terrell Homes was marshland.

Here’s where Terrell Homes is Today.

This is the oldest Map we could find.

Here’s where Terrell Homes is.

Moving forward and zooming out regionally…

We noticed there’s no land where Terrell Homes is!

We noticed this shape that was all water and marshland…

Which all became land…

Which is zoned in 2018 for industrial use, which contains the highest valued land…

Newark International Airport, Newark Port and other international and industrial economic infrastructure.

So if we zoom in we can see a zinc factory, Passaic Chemical Works and a shipyard.

Next we see there’s a steel yard, and the zinc factory and chemical works are still there.

Then it all becomes steel works - perhaps a growing industry at the turn of the century.

And by 1915 we see all kinds of manufacturers - perhaps preparing for war times.

And right before Terrell Homes is built, the map shows that the land has become gridded streets, with no occupant.

But we also found a map that shows that a canal ran right along where terrell homes was built which was part of regional infrastructure to service NYC. This canal is one of the first pieces of evidence of regional impact, which must have happened in the early 1800’s, before the maps we just showed you.

This is where the canal ran through the Ironbound neighborhood, just below where Terrell Homes would be built.

And here is terrell homes georectified on the former site of the zinc factory and the chemical works, both were industries serving a regional/national economy.

Now let’s jump to 1960 and provide a little bit of context for today’s demographics. Terrell homes has been around for 15 years by now. It was initially built as housing for veterans coming back from world war 2, housing both white and African American residents.

The maps in the next few slides show the demographic shifts over time between the two populations. The orange represents percentage of white households, and the purple represents percentage of African American households.

Here’s 1980, we can see white flight beginning to set in…

Here’s 2000, we can see a real decrease of white residents.

Here’s 2016, Newark is a segregated city with a majority African American population, which establishes the demographic grounds for environmental injustice.

Here’s Terrell Homes. At this point it’s a community of people of color. Terrell Homes is unique in that the neighborhood its situated in is predominantly Portuguese, with the people of color segregated to public housing.

By counting points in polygons we can see that out of the 330 public housing complexes in Newark, 263 of them are in predominantly African American neighborhoods, which are the same neighborhoods where the majority of abandoned property in Newark exists. That map can be found online, on the Carto map.

It’s also interesting to see that the majority of public housing in 2016 is situated in what was one of the most densely white populated areas of Newark in 1960, until white flight left that area abandoned which is now one of the most densely African American populated areas in Newark.

Just like the trash we produce, which is incinerated through a port authority owned incinerator next to Terrell Homes, every time we drive to terrell homes we utilize infrastructure that has contributed to a regional environmental impact on Terrell Homes, using tunnels that are also owned by the port authority.

Terrell homes is located along Raymond Blvd, formerly the Morris Canal, which houses 6 gas stations and on Tuesday the 12th of November, 17,246 cars were counted driving past Terrell Homes. We took note of this information because when talking with one of the residents she stressed the number of 18 wheelers, large industrial sized trucks, that drove by and the exhaust that they produce.

The next day 18,293 vehicles were counted on Raymond Blvd. While “only” 2,350 cars passed by Terrell Homes on the adjacent smaller street, Chapel St. Furthermore, Raymond Blvd separates the community from the school, Hawkins Street school, that the kids attend. In order to get to school, they must cross Raymond blvd. One resident we spoke with told us that the kids coats were changing colors from the exhaust of the cars.

These highways also serve another port authority property, Newark International Airport, which served 37 and a half million people in 2015 and nearly 1 million taxis. This implicates terrell homes not only in a regional infrastructure, but a global one. The consistent sight and sound of airplanes flying over head are a constant for terrell homes residents.

And just a few blocks away is Covanta Essex solid waste incinerator, another port authority owned property. 500 thousand tons of solid waste travels from Manhattan to this incinerator annually.

This is the waste that comes from the communities where Anna and I live, which is part of the 281 thousand tons of household waste from NYC incinerated at Covanta just steps away from Terrell Homes.

This is the Superfund Site where agent orange was produced during the Vietnam War, dumping thousands of toxins, namely Dioxin, into the river, which is still an unfinished environmental impact issue, that the Wall St. Journal reported on Dec 3rd. 2018, that the owner of a NJ manufacturing site is using the US bankruptcy process to escape liability for a 12 Billion dollar cleanup

There are also many surrounding Brownfields along the Passaic river…

There’s Contaminated Groundwater…

including Lead, which has become a major issue reported on in the last year, certainly as notable as Flint, Michigan…

And here’s Dioxin, noted at the superfund site, which apparently was just buried underground. According to a news article, this burial is just an interim remedy in which it will be re-examined every two years with the hopes that technology will yield an “economically practical” method of removing and decontaminating the soil…

Here’s Arsenic

And Pesticides. These are all things that are a result of regional/national/international exploits

Here’s a soil map, and it’s important to note as we look at this that it doesn’t quite show soil, as much as it shows us impervious surfaces, and locations of coal ash and sandy material from dredge spoils which are leftover from previous industrial development.

These soil types are also unique to this location in Newark, found nowhere else in the city.

By overlaying the soil map onto the historical map we can see that there was indeed a railway line to NYC along the area where the coal ash is marked. Combining these two maps proves the origin of the particular kind of soil found along the former railway line.

And we can see that the shipyard was located on an area that is marked as tidal flats today, and the zinc factory and Chemical Works company on an area marked outwash plains.

Here we can see the relationship between the various interstate highways and the where the sandy loam from dredge spoils was aggregated and dumped, most likely as landmass to build up the watery area previously marshland so that the interstate could be built. We can see one particular area where the sandy loam actually disappears specifically making way for the interstate to pass through.

And here we can see that the current groundwater contamination of Dioxin is located around a former channel into the Passaic river, which doesn’t look good.

And the same with pesticides, which are also found all around the waste incinerator.

As well as the arsenic.

According to the flood insurance maps, terrell homes is partially in a high risk flood zone. City councilman Amador, was quoted remarking on the superfund site, “the property is in a flood zone and the presence of toxic waste there unsettles everyone. What scares me is that it’s so close to the river. ”

Unfortunately this flood zone seems to make sense when you consider the historic development of the Morris canal which kind of made this area an island.

Or when you consider that half of this area was never even land to begin with.

Here we see Terrell Homes surrounded by a superfund site, dioxin, groundwater contaminants, all in a flood zone…

And so when you have the combined sewer overflow from all of these points along the river, in a flood zone next to contaminated groundwaters, it increases the health risks and cumulative impacts due to all of these regional economies and infrastructures.

By buffering and performing some analysis we can also see that 3 of the combined sewer overflows are located along the shores just preceding Terrell Homes, where there’s reportedly contaminated groundwater. However it’s important to note that these particular contaminated groundwaters may actually have been cleaned up, however we shouldn’t dismiss all of the other sites further upriver which continue to threaten the river’s health.

Now let’s look at the area which is zoned for redevelopment, which does include terrell homes, but for whose benefit? You would hope that after all of the neglect that this community has faced, any redevelopment might show some care for the people who have lived through it and are living in it now.

This is the current land valuation of Terrell Homes.

And here we see the most valuable land (being that of the port and the airport) serving an international economy. While the second most valuable land is on small plots of property in the commercial area that is zoned for redevelopment.

At first glance, the incinerator, nearby penal institution and the sports stadium prudential center, which is owned by the housing authority, are not valued much differently than terrell homes.

But looking at the net value, the incinerator, penal institution and prudential center have the top three highest values after the airport.

The net value incorporates the improvement value which is ultimately speculative development. Here we see that the incinerator, penal institution and prudential center increases are speculated to have a value 4000% larger than what it is currently valued at. This suggests that land areas with incineration, incarceration and entertainment are highly valued pieces of a regional infrastructure. But what impact does this value have on terrell homes as they fight the forces of gentrification and displacement?

Despite all of these stresses, one of the residents said that the thing that stresses her out the most is the fear of losing the youth to the street.

So we connected with a teacher at Hawkins Street School. She reiterated the same concern for the children’s future.

Upon connecting with this local teacher, Samantha Guzman, she was very interested in finding ways to work with us, perhaps using these maps and this information in the classroom to give the youth tools to confront the international forces that have already impacted their families for generations. This will hopefully demonstrate that the hardships they face are not normal.

Here are two different maps on Carto, beginnings of what might be an interactive way for students to learn more about their neighborhood and city. This first one looks at the Ironbound area.

This one is city wide…

So after collecting all of this data and visualizing it, we realize how many different stories you can tell.

And how many different manipulations of information can be created.

And so before we continue mapping any further we want to be mindful of what meaning these maps may produce, and what harmful stories they may reproduce. If you have any ethical considerations, or advice, our next step would be to start sharing some of what we’ve collected, which isn’t even fully represented by what we have shown here today, with Samantha, the teacher, and a few allies in Newark for feedback.

In conclusion we’d like to problematize our position and end our presentation with this quote from Clyde Woods:

“The same tools that symbolize hope in the hands of the surgeon symbolize necrophilia in the hands of the coroner. Have we become academic coroners? Have the tools of theory, method, instruction and social responsibility become so rusted that they can only be used for autopsies? Does our research in any way reflect the experiences, viewpoints, and needs of the residents of these dying communities? On the other hand, is the patient really dead? What role are scholars playing in the social triage?”

Regarding the process, it was incredibly tedious to find, fix, join, interpret, process and grasp all of the data, considering that we were also at the beginning of the learning curve acclimating to the software as well as to the language of mapmaking itself. We had help from an employee at Newark City Hall, who helped us understand not only how to read some of the data, but who also directed us to the best data to use. Our professor Eric Brelsford was also instrumental in helping us. And I’ll say as much time as it took to visualize all of this material, it was by far much more difficult finding the data. NYC seems to be spoiled with mostly well formatted data, while Newark doesn’t have nearly the same budget or capacity to yield as much clean information. This provided a creative challenge for Anna and myself to think outside of the box, and to find data sets and raw information that we could combine and contrast to glean local and regional meaning. There was a lot of reading through soil data, waste information and insurance code just to figure out how to interpret what we found. But now that we’ve done this initial legwork it seems like we have a good foothold to support our work going forward with Terrell Homes residents, Hawkins Street School and the Ironbound Community Corps.

Link(s) to full project:

• Link 1 - thenewschool.carto.com/u/diebboli/builder/3b189fbe-d78b-456f-8fe3-bb2d86d1815e/embed
• Link 2 - thenewschool.carto.com/u/diebboli/builder/808d7db8-55cd-406b-a539-1e96417ec034/embed