The rise of ‘last-mile’ e-commerce warehouses — and their attendant truck traffic and air pollution — is disproportionately impacting the most historically disadvantaged parts of the city.

Air pollution from delivery trucks is impacting the health of New Yorkers, with an estimated 2,000 excess deaths per year attributed to long-term exposure to fine particulate matter, according to city data.
As Lauren Dalban reports in Inside Climate News, “The poorest neighborhoods often suffer the most in this equation—the PM2.5 levels from traffic are often higher in high-poverty neighborhoods, as well as the number of hospitalizations related to this pollutant.”
Dalban explains that the “last-mile warehouses” built for the distribution of e-commerce goods, which add to traffic and air pollution in surrounding areas, are often located in the poorest neighborhoods. Such warehouses can be built without a permit or environmental review in eight “commercial or manufacturing districts” around the city — many of which coincide with “environmental justice areas—places that have experienced a disproportionate amount of negative impacts from environmental issues due to historical disinvestment and social inequities.”
As part of an effort to redesign its trucking routes, New York City has launched a Commercial Cargo Bicycle Pilot Program and MicroHub program to encourage the use of smaller, low- or zero-emissions vehicles such as vans and cargo bikes for last-mile deliveries. According to Zach Miller of the Trucking Association of New York, “I think 80 percent of deliveries are happening to people’s homes right now in New York City, and that’s not what the truck route network was designed to do, so it is long past time to have this network be redesigned.”
FULL STORY: The Online Shopping Boom Comes at a Price—and Some New Yorkers Pay More Than Their Fair Share

Trump Administration Could Effectively End Housing Voucher Program
Federal officials are eyeing major cuts to the Section 8 program that helps millions of low-income households pay rent.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Ken Jennings Launches Transit Web Series
The Jeopardy champ wants you to ride public transit.

Driving Equity and Clean Air: California Invests in Greener School Transportation
California has awarded $500 million to fund 1,000 zero-emission school buses and chargers for educational agencies as part of its effort to reduce pollution, improve student health, and accelerate the transition to clean transportation.

Congress Moves to End Reconnecting Communities and Related Grants
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee moved to rescind funding for the Neighborhood Equity and Access program, which funds highway removals, freeway caps, transit projects, pedestrian infrastructure, and more.

From Throughway to Public Space: Taking Back the American Street
How the Covid-19 pandemic taught us new ways to reclaim city streets from cars.
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