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Downtown Eastside businesses to take lessons from the Bronx In 1998, a young community worker in the South Bronx neighbourhood of New York City went jogging. Her dog decided to explore what looked like an illegal garbage dump – common in the area – and dragged her through piles of debris until she found herself standing, to her astonishment, on the lost shoreline of the South Bronx River. There, Majora Carter said, she had an epiphany, a moment that made her realize people in her community needed to reconnect with their environment. To make that happen, she eventually launched Sustainable South Bronx – an economic development organization that trains unemployed people to install green roofs and restore urban green spaces. The organization built the first riverfront park the South Bronx has had in more than 60 years, and continues to develop jobs as it works to restore not just the environment, but civic pride. It’s a story from which a group of business leaders in Vancouver’s Strathcona neighbourhood hope to learn as they develop a vision they call the “green zone” – a new beginning for the Downtown Eastside. The Strathcona Business Improvement Association will host Carter as the keynote speaker at its Sustainability 2.0 event this Thursday, in hopes that her story will inform and inspire their work (www.strathconabia.com/events).
Carter’s experience growing up was one of “economic degradation begetting environmental degradation begetting social degradation.” The South Bronx experienced massive disinvestment after being deemed unworthy of lending by banks, leading to landlords torching buildings for the insurance money rather than selling. The neighbourhood was home to facilities that handled 40% of the entire city’s commercial waste, two sewage treatment plants, four power plants and truck traffic servicing the world’s largest food distribution centre. It had the lowest ratio of parks to people in New York City and the highest rates of asthma, with asthma hospitalizations at seven times the national level. This is why Carter calls her neighbourhood an “environmental justice” community, one that bears more environmental burdens (including crime and homelessness) and fewer environmental benefits than others. Her answer is sustainable, community-friendly development – making profits while respecting and restoring the community and its health. “Majora Carter encouraged the development of a new economy by focusing on green-collar jobs as a means to engage marginalized residents and provide them with new opportunities,” said Toby Barazzuol, president of Eclipse Awards, a company located in the Downtown Eastside, and vice-chair of the Strathcona Business improvement Association. “Her work reinforces that sustainability is ultimately about community and culture – it challenges us to consider what we value and prioritize as businesses and society.” Barazzuol says the green zone vision for the Downtown Eastside is one of a community where sustainable business efforts are supported to both revitalize the economy and build community. “Our hope is to reinvent Strathcona, Vancouver’s first and oldest industrial community, as a green zone that embraces sustainability as a framework to balance the needs of light industry, artists and low-income residents,” he said. “How can these groups strengthen and feed one another instead of being in competition?” Barazzuol points out that individual companies (particularly small businesses) hit limits when they adopt green practices in isolation. “Once you’ve reviewed your operations, changed to efficient lighting, implemented recycling and offset your carbon, you reach a limit to what you can accomplish,” he said. “To reach the next level of sustainability, businesses need to work together for mutual benefit and to undertake sustainability initiatives that might not be possible alone, such as a waste materials exchange, organics recycling service or buying groups to save on shipping costs.” The Strathcona BIA wants to differentiate its business district based on the green zone vision – to attract new business and investment by offering a collaborative, networked business community that seeks to “create wealth in new and interesting ways.” Sustainability is also being used as an organizing principle to draw community organizations serving residents’ social needs, artists and businesses toward a shared vision rather than working at cross-purposes. “We want Strathcona to be a progressive place to invest and a creative hub that turns even the most challenging problems into new communities,” said Barazzuol. The idea has already attracted funding from Western Economic Diversification and the city. Results from initial research into the green zone idea will be presented at the Sustainability 2.0 event this week. Organizers hope the work they have done so far – and the compelling story of sustainable development in a forgotten neighbourhood in New York City – will plant seeds for a similar rejuvenation of hope and business opportunity here. • Nina Winham (
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) is principal of New Climate Strategies, helping clients build value through a shift to sustainability. www.newclimate.ca Business in Vancouver March 31-April 6, 2009; issue 1014 |
