Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in favor of my amendment to the INVEST Act, which clarifies that the capping of highways with deck parks shall qualify for funding under the Reconnecting Neighborhoods Program. The South Bronx is the most densely populated congressional district with the highest concentration of diesel truck traffic. In Hunts Point alone, there are 15,000 trucks traveling every day from and to the Hunts Point Terminal Market. Children living near the Cross Bronx Expressway are, through no fault of their own, breathing in air pollutants that cause respiratory disease. The sheer prevalence of asthma in the South Bronx is no accident. It is a consequence of the Cross Bronx Expressway, which stands both literally and metaphorically as a structure of racism. My amendment to the INVEST Act would lay the groundwork for capping the Cross Bronx Expressway in the hopes of preventing diesel truck traffic from polluting the air we breathe in the Bronx. There is no policy or project that would do more to fundamentally improve the air quality and life expectancy in the South Bronx than the long-overdue transformation of the Cross Bronx Expressway. {time} 1900”