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The Visible Spectrum, Nancy E. Anderson, Ph.D Jan 1994

The Visible Spectrum, Nancy E. Anderson, Ph.D

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Today, the national environmental movement is entering a new phase, led by new players, just as the still young environmental protection movement is becoming more politically influential at the local level. The political power of the environmental justice and equity movement and its links with racial and social justice organizations makes its potential impact reach far beyond “NIMBY” (not-in-my-backyard) protests. NIMBY was the first wave of quasi-organized local environmental protests, usually rooted in a single issue. Environmental justice is the next wave, drawing in a broader range of concerns. The focus of this analysis is on how environmental issues are …


Achieving Environmental Justice: The Role Of Occupational Health, George Friedman-Jiménez, M.D. Jan 1994

Achieving Environmental Justice: The Role Of Occupational Health, George Friedman-Jiménez, M.D.

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The current rapidly growing interest in environmental justice is both timely and important. Occupational health is an integral part of assuring environmental justice. Concrete examples of environmental inequity leading directly to unequal health status can be found in occupational health literature and among the patients of occupational health clinics which serve populations that include low wage workers and workers of color. The toxic properties and health effects of many environmental contaminants were originally discovered in workplace settings where workers were repeatedly exposed to high doses of such contaminants. In the future, clinical occupational medicine, occupational epidemiology, occupational toxicology, and occupational …


Race, Gender, Age, And Disproportionate Impact: What Can We Do About The Failure To Protect The Most Vulnerable?, Samara F. Swanston Jan 1994

Race, Gender, Age, And Disproportionate Impact: What Can We Do About The Failure To Protect The Most Vulnerable?, Samara F. Swanston

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Hard economic times and social conditions are driving a reordering of environmental protection priorities that threatens to sacrifice the most vulnerable groups. Environmental regulatory agencies acknowledge that vulnerable populations face the greatest risk of harm from environmental insult and that these groups are not adequately protected. Although a risk-based prioritization of resources benefits the greatest number of people, such allocation would disadvantage minority communities, which contain disproportionate numbers of sensitive subgroups. Our regulatory bodies must therefore develop new strategies to adequately protect sensitive subgroups identified in minority communities. Part II of this Article looks at some of the considerations that …


Environmental Justice Litigation: Another Stone In David’S Sling, Luke W. Cole Jan 1994

Environmental Justice Litigation: Another Stone In David’S Sling, Luke W. Cole

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article attempts to synthesize some of the lessons environmental justice lawyers have learned, in order to offer a practitioner’s perspective on environmental justice cases. The author’s ambition in setting out these lessons is to allow community groups and attorneys entering the struggle to learn from mistakes, emulate successes, and avoid re-inventing the wheel. Without addressing the strategic and tactical drawbacks of litigation, this Article assumes that a community group has decided to pursue litigation. This Article will only discuss siting cases, as siting disputes have been the primary context for environmental justice litigation thus far. The Article proposes a …


Issues Of Classification In Environmental Equity: How We Manage Is How We Measure, Rae Zimmerman Jan 1994

Issues Of Classification In Environmental Equity: How We Manage Is How We Measure, Rae Zimmerman

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article addresses how concepts of race and ethnicity have been operationalized as a basis for defining and locating subpopulations (either explicitly or implicitly) for the purpose of analyzing environmental equity issues, and recommends some future directions. Part II focuses on how subpopulations are currently defined and on some problems encountered to date. The implications of these inconsistencies on the accuracy of health and environmental risk measures for a given subpopulation are addressed. Part III focuses on how spatial areas have been defined to aggregate these subpopulations within confined geographic boundaries.


Planning, Power And Politics: A Case Study Of The Land Use And Siting History Of The North River Water Pollution Control Plant, Vernice D. Miller Jan 1994

Planning, Power And Politics: A Case Study Of The Land Use And Siting History Of The North River Water Pollution Control Plant, Vernice D. Miller

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Essay discusses one example of environmental racism in New York City – the planning and construction of the North River Water Pollution Control Plant in West Harlem. This case study of the West Harlem community depicts how race-based land use planning and environmental policy-making transformed West Harlem, one of this city’s most beautiful communities, into a giant dumping ground. Since 1968, the North River Water Pollution Control Plant has irritated the residents of West Harlem. Initially, countless public hearings and community meetings were held to address why this facility was being built in this community. After the Plant was …


Issues Of Community Empowerment, Peggy M. Shepard Jan 1994

Issues Of Community Empowerment, Peggy M. Shepard

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The environmental policies and concerns of local, state, and federal governments have failed to protect their citizens. More particularly, the nation's environmental agenda neglects to account for the urban environmental problems of people of color. This Essay first considers how environmental injustice and racism has impacted the West Harlem community. It next considers some of the particular health implications, such as lead poisoning and asthma, in the Harlem community. The needs of all communities of color and poverty are considered. The response of West Harlem Environmental Action to these needs is examined. Finally, the Essay concludes by briefly examining some …


Protecting Endangered Communities, Clarice E. Gaylord, Geraldine W. Twitty Jan 1994

Protecting Endangered Communities, Clarice E. Gaylord, Geraldine W. Twitty

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Nontraditional environmentalists are struggling to protect and preserve communities, both urban and rural, that have become threatened by constant, multiple exposures to toxic air, contaminated water, and pesticide-ridden and chemical-laden soils. Numerous reports, including a 1992 study by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, have suggested that people of color and low income communities have been, for decades, the unwilling recipients of numerous hazardous waste sites, incinerators, chemical factories, and sewage treatment plants. Historically, these communities often lacked the essential resources necessary to oppose sitings of potentially hazardous facilities: money, organization, and political voice. Land in these communities is usually …


The Meaning Of Urban Environmental Justice, Michel Gelobter, Ph.D. Jan 1994

The Meaning Of Urban Environmental Justice, Michel Gelobter, Ph.D.

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Environmental justice is redress for the structures and situations arising from environmental discrimination and, particularly, environmental racism. Environmental discrimination is actions and practices, arising from both individual ideologies and social structures that preserve and reinforce domination of subordinate groups with respect to the environment, while such discrimination with respect to race is environmental racism. Part I of this Essay discusses how environmental injustice is a three-dimensional nexus of economic injustice, social injustice and an unjust incidence of environmental quality, all of which overwhelmingly assures the continued oppression of communities of color and low-income communities on environmental matters. Part II of …


Notes From The Front Line, Nancy E. Anderson, Ph.D Jan 1994

Notes From The Front Line, Nancy E. Anderson, Ph.D

Fordham Urban Law Journal

In the last five years, local thinking about environmental protection started to take shape. It is indisputable that cities are not neutral or homogenous geographies in terms of distributing benefits and burdens by class and race. This fact is applicable to local environmental politics. Environmental justice and fair share advocates – and in some instances the courts – are finding that cities like New York are extremely heterogeneous in terms of environmental conditions and the impact of implementing environmental laws. This Essay describes the Environmental Benefits Program, which the New York City Department of Environmental Protection has undertaken in order …


Newborn Hiv Screening And New York Assembly Bill No. 6747-B: Privacy And Equal Protection Of Pregnant Women, Kevin J. Curnin Jan 1994

Newborn Hiv Screening And New York Assembly Bill No. 6747-B: Privacy And Equal Protection Of Pregnant Women, Kevin J. Curnin

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Proposed New York Assembly Bill No. 6747-B5 attempts to answer one of the most urgent problems of the current HIV/AIDS epidemic: pediatric AIDS. Part I of this Note discusses the bill, which would respond to pediatric AIDS by mandating HIV testing for all babies born in the state and requiring disclosure to all mothers whose babies test positive. Part II of this paper briefly discusses the medical background of pediatric AIDS and HIV infection, particularly the epidemiology of HIV/AIDS in women and children. Part III describes New York’s current HIV screening program and compares it to the changes proposed under …


Compensated Siting Proposals: Is It Time To Pay Attention?, Vicki Been Jan 1994

Compensated Siting Proposals: Is It Time To Pay Attention?, Vicki Been

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Many proposals to overcome the difficulty of siting locally undesirable land uses (“LULUs”) fairly and efficiently suggest that the problem could be resolved if victims of the siting were adequately compensated for the burdens the LULU imposes. This Article seeks to spur greater attention to the difficult moral and political issues compensation proposals raise by showing that compensation programs are widespread in actual siting practice. It argues that the success of compensation programs, while limited, has been sufficient to ensure that such proposals will continue to be a significant feature of siting programs. It urges those interested in environmental justice …


The Constitutionality Of New York State's Affirmative Action Law, John J. Sullivan Jan 1994

The Constitutionality Of New York State's Affirmative Action Law, John J. Sullivan

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Gay Rights Through The Looking Glass: Politics, Morality And The Trial Of Colorado's Amendment 2, Suzanne B. Goldberg Jan 1994

Gay Rights Through The Looking Glass: Politics, Morality And The Trial Of Colorado's Amendment 2, Suzanne B. Goldberg

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Lesbian And Gay Families And The Law: A Progress Report, Arthur S. Leonard Jan 1994

Lesbian And Gay Families And The Law: A Progress Report, Arthur S. Leonard

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.


S.P. V. Sullivan: The Effort To Broaden The Social Security Administration's Definition Of Aids, Theresa M. Mcgovern Jan 1994

S.P. V. Sullivan: The Effort To Broaden The Social Security Administration's Definition Of Aids, Theresa M. Mcgovern

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.


When The Police Are In Our Bedrooms, Shouldn't The Courts Go In After Them?: An Update On The Fight Against "Sodomy" Laws, Evan Wolfson, Robert S. Mower Jan 1994

When The Police Are In Our Bedrooms, Shouldn't The Courts Go In After Them?: An Update On The Fight Against "Sodomy" Laws, Evan Wolfson, Robert S. Mower

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Remarks Delivered On The Occasion Of The Presentation Of The Fordham-Stein Prize To The Honorable Milton Pollack On October 26, 1994, John D. Feerick, Milton Pollack Jan 1994

Remarks Delivered On The Occasion Of The Presentation Of The Fordham-Stein Prize To The Honorable Milton Pollack On October 26, 1994, John D. Feerick, Milton Pollack

Fordham Urban Law Journal

In his remarks, John D. Feerick, Dean of Fordham University School of Law, decribes the many accomplishments of Judge Milton Pollack, recepient of the Fordham-Stein Prize. Dean Feerick applauds Judge Pollack's successful consolidation and settlement of the scores of private lawsuits brought on behalf of hundreds of thousands of investors against Michael Milken and Drezel Burnham, Lambert. In his response, Judge Milton Pollack describes how the Supreme Court's ruling in Erie v. Tompkins required federal judges to find and apply state law as interpreted by state courts. This exploded the dockets of district courts and it became the job of …


Suits By Public Hospitals To Recover Expenditures For The Treatment Of Disease, Injury And Disability Caused By Tobacco And Alcohol, Raymond E. Gangarosa, Frank J. Vandall, Brian M. Willis Jan 1994

Suits By Public Hospitals To Recover Expenditures For The Treatment Of Disease, Injury And Disability Caused By Tobacco And Alcohol, Raymond E. Gangarosa, Frank J. Vandall, Brian M. Willis

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Public hospitals are forced to absorb many of the costs of treating indigent patients whose alcohol and tobacco consumption has predictably lead to illness. This is contradictory to hospital's own interests in preventing disease, improving the efficiency of therapy and minimizing their financial losses. The goal of this article is to examine the possibility of reassigning these coasts through litigation. A cause of action should be available to public hospitals to recover their expenditures for the uncompensated medical treatment that is necessitated by alcohol and tobacco use. Such litigation in Mississippi and similar Florida legislation should serve as a model …


Environmental Justice And Sustainability: Is There A Critical Nexus In The Case Of Waste Disposal Or Treatment Facility Siting?, Kent E. Portney Jan 1994

Environmental Justice And Sustainability: Is There A Critical Nexus In The Case Of Waste Disposal Or Treatment Facility Siting?, Kent E. Portney

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Over the past ten years, two environmental "movements," have evolved and gained rapidly in both stature and import. One of these, the environmental justice or equity movement, has sensitized Americans to its contention that minority populations and people of lower socio-economic status have disproportionately borne the risks of environmentally impacting events. The other movement, advocating sustainability, focuses on fostering behavior and policies that contribute to economic growth in environmentally responsible ways. In actuality, as will be elaborated later, sustainability has several meaning, which can be categorized in at least three distinct and sometimes even contradictory ways. Any connection between the …


Challenging The Telco-Cable Cross-Ownership Ban: First Amendment And Antitrust Implications For The Interactive Information Highway, Laura Land Sigal Jan 1994

Challenging The Telco-Cable Cross-Ownership Ban: First Amendment And Antitrust Implications For The Interactive Information Highway, Laura Land Sigal

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Note explores options available to decisionmakers by analyzing Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. v. United States (C & P), which set an important precedent regarding a telephone company's First Amendment right to provide video programming over its own facilities in its local service area. C & P, a Bell Atlantic Corporation subsidiary providing local telephone service in Northern Virginia, claimed that the cable-telco cross-ownership ban, codified at § 533(b) of the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, infringes unconstitutionally upon its First Amendment right to freedom of expression. On November 21, 1994, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth …


Commentary, Ronald J. Tabak Jan 1994

Commentary, Ronald J. Tabak

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Ronald J. Tabak, Chair of the Committee on the Death Penalty for the American Bar Association's Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities, discusses the Section's purpose in organizing Forhdam University School of Law's panel discussion on "Politics and the Death Penalty." The goal was to illuminate the variety of effects of a widespread perception that the belief of legislators, governors, prosecutors, judges, clemency boards, political candidates and others that the public is overwhelmingly in support of capital punishment. The Section aimed to bring together knowledgeable people from a variety of perspectives to discuss (a) how the capital punishment system and …


Fighting Municipal "Tag-Team": The Federal Fair Housing Amendments Act And Its Use In Obtaining Access To Housing For Persons With Disabilities, Robert L. Schonfeld, Seth P. Stein Jan 1994

Fighting Municipal "Tag-Team": The Federal Fair Housing Amendments Act And Its Use In Obtaining Access To Housing For Persons With Disabilities, Robert L. Schonfeld, Seth P. Stein

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article examines the impact of the Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA) on prohibiting housing discrimination against persons on the basis of their disabilities, and analyzes the court decisions interpreting the FHAA on questions of land use to determine whether they are consistent with the stated intentions of the drafters of the Amendments. Part I traces the legislative intent behind the FHAA and, specifically, the sections of the Amendments enjoining housing discrimination against persons with handicaps. Part I also analyzes the court decisions interpreting the Amendments’ requirements as to what facts must be demonstrated to prove discrimination. This Part of …


Peace, Wealth, Happiness, And Small Claim Courts: A Case Study, Arthur Bestf, Deborah Zalesne, Kathleen Bridges, Kathryn Chenoweth Jan 1994

Peace, Wealth, Happiness, And Small Claim Courts: A Case Study, Arthur Bestf, Deborah Zalesne, Kathleen Bridges, Kathryn Chenoweth

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article presents empirical data on the operation of the small claims court in the city of Denver. The study underlying this Article evaluated the court in terms of (1) users’ reactions, (2) the correctness of outcomes (recognizing that a determination of the underlying truth may be impossible), (3) the correctness of procedures (allowing for the informality that has been characterized as essential for their operation), and (4) the effective power of the court in terms of enforcement of results. The study shows that small claims courts may be paradigmatic of governmental responses to social problems. They do some good …


Book Review, Land Use Regulation And Legal Rhetoric: Broadening The Terms Of Debate, R. S. Radford Jan 1994

Book Review, Land Use Regulation And Legal Rhetoric: Broadening The Terms Of Debate, R. S. Radford

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Dennis Coyle’s new book, Property Rights and the Constitution, is an important addition to the ongoing debate over the constitutional status of private property. Coyle selectively reviews important land use cases decided by the United States Supreme Court and various states in the post-New Deal era. More importantly, Coyle provides an ideological framework that illuminates several key strands in the constitutional jurisprudence of property law. Coyle traces the ebb and flow of competing attitudes toward property rights and regulation in a way that makes sense of the sometimes chaotic body of case law in this field. In the process, he …


City Versus Countryside: Environmental Equity In Context, A. Dan Tarlock Jan 1994

City Versus Countryside: Environmental Equity In Context, A. Dan Tarlock

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article takes an approach to the problem of environmental equity that is different from the remedies advocated by the leaders of the environmental equity movement. The plea that the benefits of environmental protection be extended to all groups in society is, of course, a legitimate one, but the movement is too narrowly focused and its aims are too modest. I dissent from the two central premises held by environmental equity advocates. First, the movement assumes that judicially recognized and enforced rights will lead to improved public health. Second, the movement asserts that disadvantaged communities should adopt a “Not in …


The Victims Of Nimby, Michael B. Gerrar Jan 1994

The Victims Of Nimby, Michael B. Gerrar

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Not In My Back Yard, or NIMBY, in its various forms, has three principal types of targets. The first is waste disposal facilities, primarily landfills and incinerators. The second is low-income housing. The third is social service facilities, group homes and shelters for individuals such as the mentally ill, AIDS patients, and the homeless. This Article addresses the issue of the victims of NIMBY, with special reference to the effects of project opposition on racial minorities. Because the effect of facility opposition varies widely with the type of project involved, Part II arrays the types of relevant projects and shows …


The Question Of Risk: Incorporating Community Perceptions Into Environmental Risk Assessments, James S. Freeman, Rachel D. Godsil Jan 1994

The Question Of Risk: Incorporating Community Perceptions Into Environmental Risk Assessments, James S. Freeman, Rachel D. Godsil

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The environmental justice movement has seen some successes. After years of neglect, the federal government and several states are directing legislative and executive efforts towards reforming siting processes and remedying discriminatory enforcement of environmental regulations. Community opposition in general has proved to be quite powerful in some instances. Since the passage of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in 1976, there has been only one new siting of a hazardous waste landfill and few new sitings of hazardous waste incinerators. To a lesser extent, municipal solid waste and medical waste incinerators have also been successfully blocked or delayed. However, certain …


Communities Of Color And Hazardous Waste Cleanup: Expanding Public Participation In The Federal Superfund Program, Deeohn Ferri Jan 1994

Communities Of Color And Hazardous Waste Cleanup: Expanding Public Participation In The Federal Superfund Program, Deeohn Ferri

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Superfund is the nation's program to clean up the most dangerous hazardous waste sites. The Superfund law mandates that parties responsible for hazardous waste sites (i.e., waste generators, site owners, site operators, and waste transporters) shall be financially liable for cleaning them. If responsible parties cannot be located, are unable to perform cleanups, or refuse to do so, EPA can conduct the cleanup action and seek recovery of associated costs from these delinquent parties. As the Superfund reauthorization effort ensues, it is clear that few unequivocally applaud past Superfund performance. Collectively, communities, industry, and government are critical about whether the …


Politics And The Death Penalty: Can Rational Discourse And Due Process Survive The Perceived Political Pressure?, Norman Redlich Jan 1994

Politics And The Death Penalty: Can Rational Discourse And Due Process Survive The Perceived Political Pressure?, Norman Redlich

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article is a transcript from a program sponsored by the American Bar Association Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities entitled, “Politics and the Death Penalty: Can Rational Discourse and Due Process Survive the Perceived Political Pressure?” In it, Norman Redlich, former Dean of New York University Law School, James Coleman, Shabata Sundiata Waglini, Attorney General Ernest Preate, Jr., Bryan Stevenson, Executive Director of the Alabama Capital Representation Resource Center, journalist Nat Hentoff, New York State Assemblywoman Susan John, and Chief Justice Exum of the North Carolina Supreme Court discuss the issue of the death penalty in America. Redlich discusses …