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A brief essay about St. Louis' notorious eminent domain history--

--along with 2 recent St. Louis Post-Dispatch articles about "urban renewal" projects that are scheduled to reoccupy the Mill Flats area, which hosted the most notorious episode of displacement of African-American communities: the Chouteau Greenway project (will it serve or displace low-income St. Louisans?); and SLU's Mill Creek Flats high-rise project, which certainly will, and whose name seems to me an especially tone-deaf if gutsy move...

https://humanities.wustl.edu/features/Margaret-Garb-St-Louis-Eminent-Domain

https://www.stltoday.com/business/local/steelcote-developer-plans-more-apartments-brewery-space-in-million-midtown/article_811eaf96-76e1-5c20-a870-1e79abd3f06e.html

https://www.stltoday.com/business/local/chouteau-greenway-project-aims-to-knit-st-louis-neighborhoods-together/article_55fea4e6-6829-5c80-9168-313305b4e3bb.html

This initiative by the ICC to ground the history of Environmental Justice in Newark, while creating resilience through education and powerful messages.

This article did not talk about how much newark is polluted, in comparison to social implications. Granted this article was about a passed government action, there was information I probably wasn't shown that was taken into consideration.

This report is about an initiative taken by the government to rectify a century's worth of pollution dumped into the Passaic River and the means used to do it.

One process to consider is that alot of Newark Environmental and Public Health laws had not been changed since the 1950's, so that allowed for continuing of neglegence over the course of history in terms of environmental justice. Other social processes that might have played a part is race and class. Low-rise and dense housing for low-income and minority civilians have become major victims of careless industrialization.

The policy is a program funded by the EPA called C.A.R.E. (Community Action for a Renewed Environment). The aim of this program is to build the public voice in environmental matters, and to give access to different sources of information from the community. 

A process is placed that allows for social justice to take place in the development phase. 

"Commercial and Industrial developers have to go through the following process when proposing for a building: 

1. Reference the city’s ERI and prepare a checklist of pollutants
2. Submit checklist and development application to the city
3. Checklist goes to the Environmental Commission
4. Checklist goes to the Planning or Zoning Board (where appropriate)

The public has full access to this checklist to weigh in on it and make their voices heard." 

The first point that peaked my interest is when Dr. Nicky Sheats brought up the real world example of a powerplant that was placed in the Ironbound District. It's an example of how government standards don't reflect or align with individual standards. I thought this was interesting to see how the people didn't have their due justice in deciding to have a polluting plant in their neighborhood. The other fact that caught my eye is that Newark zoning laws, previous to being updated in 2012, had been grandfathered in since 1954. This goes to show the complete lack of awareness for public health that has resided in New Jersey's History. The last point that truly shaped this article is how steps were being taken to prevent environmental justice issues. Commercial and Industrial developers have to go through the following process when proposing for a building: "

1. Reference the city’s ERI and prepare a checklist of pollutants
2. Submit checklist and development application to the city
3. Checklist goes to the Environmental Commission
4. Checklist goes to the Planning or Zoning Board (where appropriate)

The public has full access to this checklist to weigh in on it and make their voices heard."