Mother Clara Hale Bus Depot: Toxic Site
Corey Chao and Celina Lacaze
Mother Clara Hale Bus Depot, located at 721 Lenox Avenue in Central Harlem, re-opened in 2014 after being demolished in 2009. We were surprised by the depot’s immediate surroundings: high-density residential buildings (in some cases, just a few feet away), schools, daycares, and centers for the elderly literally across the street. The depot itself feels very clean: the new design is LEED gold certified, has a rooftop garden and heat-deflecting walls covered with murals inspired by residents, but after some conversation with nearby tenants, we realized the depot was only part (perhaps a very small part) of the long-running pollution issue. The busses themselves were the primary culprits, arriving en masse to this residential block, often idling between drivers, 24 hours a day. We saw several outside a senior center right beside the depot. The receptionist complained about idling busses and the proximity to their clients.
Yet, after follow-up research, it appears the overhaul of the bus fleet was another project undertaken by MTA to improve its impact on locals–a hard fought victory for WEACT. While Mother Clara Hale houses some 20% more busses than before its renovation (up to 150), they use ultra-low emission natural gas and automated pollution-control technology.
WEACT’s organizing around the old bus fleet likely spurred the MTA’s green renovation of MCHBD. The new depot design, now boast by MTA as the cleanest and environmentally friendly transit fleet, was intended to minimize its footprint on the neighboring community. But the upgrades and their impact may not have been made especially clear.
Our insights and new questions:
- Can/does the success of this campaign support future improvements by the MTA?
- The invisibility of pollution cuts both ways: of course there’s great risk that we can’t see harmful levels of particulates or pollutants and thus not grasp a present danger, but there’s also the fallout of not recognizing significant reductions in pollution (less of an impact on political will, continued indoor-focused activities, and so forth).
- The facility is likely less of a polluter than the busses.
- This activity is concentrated in a residential area nearby young and elder care centers.
- The bus depot is planned to accommodate fleet growth in the future.
- Can the busses be leveraged as monitoring tools?
- Is the low-emissions technology really as clean as it claims to be?
