Greenspace in Chelsea: the Influence of Economic Injustice, Legislative Malpractice, and Environmental Racism
Stella Lavallee
Instructor’s Introduction
In WR 120 Boston Biodiversity Now students discover the biodiversity of the city through class and solo visits to diverse green spaces, but each student also explores issues involving green spaces in another place they have lived or have visited enough to know very well. For some, this place beyond Boston is on the other side of the world. For Stella, it is much closer as she chose to focus on Chelsea, her hometown.
Stella’s compelling essay “Greenspace in Chelsea: the Influence of Economic Injustice, Legislative Malpractice, and Environmental Racism” demonstrates the relevance and power of a specific local focus through her well-chosen vivid examples of the distinct environmental and economic challenges Chelsea faces. Yet her piece addresses issues that impact many low-income, environmentally burdened communities across this state, this country, and the world, and so offers a foundation for readers to think about other specific communities and the larger systems of power that lead to pervasive economic injustice, environmental racism, and gentrification.
The issues Stella explores and her local context make her paper ideal to discuss in courses focused on environmental and social justice. Her adept use of the structure which the assignment required – introduction, questions, implications, and conclusion offers students an option for organization they may not have considered. More broadly, the focus this structure gives to the astute questions Stella asks about Chelsea encourages a focus on challenging, complex, relevant questions in academic inquiry and provides a helpful set of specific example questions for students to analyze.
Most importantly, Stella’s paper shows students that even for academic writing in which they do not discuss their individual experiences directly, the places they call home can be powerful inspiration.
Holly Schaaf
From the Writer
As new research continues to reinforce our understanding of the positive impact of greenspaces on those living in urban areas, there has been a push to develop these spaces, especially in communities that have long been sites of environmental burden.
However, to avoid harming these communities, the approach to this development cannot be one-size-fits-all. To maximize health and environmental benefits, as well as to avoid the displacement of residents through environmental gentrification, these initiatives must account for the full range of factors that disservice these communities. This essay examines this issue through a local lens, focusing on Chelsea, Massachusetts, an environmental justice population neighboring Boston.
Greenspace in Chelsea: the Influence of Economic Injustice, Legislative Malpractice, and Environmental Racism
Introduction
In his chapter about community-led action, Brett Levin asserts that “in communities that have been neglected in governmental attention or legislative protections, or which have found governmental initiatives to be unproductive or unfit to address their environmental needs, grassroots engagement can be effective in fostering ecological diversity through community activity” (Levin, 2022). Chelsea, Massachusetts, which is just north of Boston, about five miles from Boston University, is one of these communities. Chelsea is a 2.46 square mile city housing an estimated 45,000 individuals. It is surrounded by water on three sides: on one side, the Mystic River, on another, Chelsea Creek and Mill Creek, and on the third, the Island End River. Despite this, Chelsea is not a waterfront city: there is very little public access to this waterfront. Chelsea, both as a consequence of current governmental neglect and racism through redlining in previous generations, and partially because of its size, also has very little greenspace. Still, the community of Chelsea is affected by the quality and lack of their greenspace, as well as the quality and lack of access to their waterfront. From an environmental perspective, the needs of Chelsea pose a unique challenge. We must explore Chelsea’s potential for greenspace, the economic reality in Chelsea, and the ways in which Chelsea citizens can or cannot harvest power as a community to fight for their environment.
Questions
Is it possible or appropriate to build green spaces within Chelsea given environmental and practical constraints?
Greenspaces are shown to improve the physical and psychological health of those in the area, (Nguyen, 2021) as well as environmental health. However, the construction of new greenspaces is not always appropriate. Some spaces are simply unable to accommodate the needs of a robust ecosystem. While Chelsea’s dense population desperately needs green space, building some is far easier said than done. There are limitations inflicted on potential sites by size constraints, surrounding land use, and battles for acquisition of land: all complicating the process of construction or renovation of green spaces.
Even where there is space, building substantial greenspaces sometimes leads to a phenomenon coined “environmental gentrification,” in which green spaces built for the benefit of low-income communities spur upscale housing developments which raise the cost of living, ousting these residents and possibly subjecting them to further environmental burden (Greenberg, 2015).
One way to approach both of these factors: that robust green spaces may not be appropriate in Chelsea, and that building new green spaces could drive gentrification and subsequent displacement of residents, is to instead bolster already existing green spaces, like parks or community gardens. This both avoids inadvertently encouraging gentrification and allows for investment into existing environmental initiatives led by members of the community.
Even just small fortifications like fostering more trees and native plants in Chelsea’s parks could lessen Chelsea’s environmental burden, and by making parks safer and more attractive it makes for a healthier community. Recently, the city acquired over an acre of land to build two new small parks and outlined plans to designate funding to the revitalization of outdoor public spaces such as Highland park. Improvements have also been made in targeted areas, like through the Cool Block project, a collaboration between the city, GreenRoots, and the BU School of Public Health, which planted trees, resurfaced walkways and roadways, and secured funding for the creation of a park in a vacant plot. While these improvements function to reduce the burden of a heat island, residents also report that the new greenery has a calming effect and supports their sense of well-being (WBUR, 2022).
The existence of these spaces can also help nearby greenspaces both within and across other towns and cities, as they serve as a “bridge” between larger habitats in the urban landscape. This benefits wildlife populations, but also people. For example, the Cool Block project is situated next to the city’s Boys and Girls club, which is a center for recreation and connection. The renovations to the street encourage a wider range of residents to use the area by decreasing the heat burden in what was one of Chelsea’s most severe heat islands and by offering safe, free-to-use public space nearby in the form of a new park.
There exist many intermediates between barren city blocks and robust conservation areas, and often these intermediates pose the least harm to communities like Chelsea.
How can we create clean parks and waterways for Chelsea given the need to spend money on other areas such as schools and infrastructure that desperately need funding?
It is well documented that Chelsea’s environmental health is poor, however, as is the case in many low-income communities who are disproportionately environmentally burdened, Chelsea cannot necessarily afford to devote adequate money to this issue. The budget has historically been overwhelmed by an underfunded and struggling school system, which is just one of many stresses that Chelsea must manage. Still, through cooperation from grassroots organizations, city government, and local stockholders, funding can be secured to be put towards environmental restoration.
Chelsea is currently engaged in multiple such projects. For example, through funding provided by the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management’s Coastal Pollutant Remediation Program (CPR) grant, there has been a focus put on addressing water quality in Mill Creek, which, “for the past decade, has consistently received a water quality rating of F, and has been the most polluted water body in the Mystic River watershed” (Chelsea, 2022). They have been able to identify that the majority of this pollution is attributable to raw sewage dumping from municipal outfalls and have begun site-specific considerations regarding improvements to both the physical structures and practices influencing stormwater drainage in those areas. Additionally, the city has been able to decrease pollutants from entering the creek by other drainage systems through frequent street sweeping and careful control of stormwater runoff.
The city is also taking part in the Island End River Flood Resilience project, which over the next year will design a flood protection system along the Island End River, including an “elevated flood barrier, restored salt marsh, and expansion of public space” (Chelsea, 2022). This, as well as many other environmental restoration projects in Chelsea like the Eastern Avenue Climate Resilience project, and the Urban Heat Mitigation Program in collaboration with Green Roots and the Boston University School of Public Health, will be funded by the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant (MVP). Grants like these both protect cities from the hazards of climate change and enable residents to connect with the natural environment. In Chelsea, the Island End River Project is a step toward public use of what has been a largely inaccessible waterfront.
Though Chelsea has a variety of urgent issues that out of necessity take financial priority over long term restoration projects, with advocacy from the community and local government, Chelsea has succeeded in securing funds to protect the best interest of their environment. These funds, often provided by state or federal governments, or local stakeholders, are crucial to enable economically disadvantaged cities like Chelsea to fight for their immediate and long-term environmental health. It is key to note, however, that reliance on these funds is not a permanent solution. Accessing government funds is often a difficult process, especially in the areas who need these funds the most, who are less likely to have the personnel or resources to assess and demonstrate eligibility for such grants. Because of the roadblocks in securing funding, overwhelmed populations like Chelsea are further disadvantaged when compared to higher income communities who can allocate funds to these concerns out of their own budgets.
How can an underprivileged community, especially one with a large population of undocumented citizens, gather the political and economic power to defend the best interests of its environment and inhabitants?
Chelsea is identified as an environmental justice population. Environmental justice populations are at-risk populations that fulfill criteria determined by the Environmental Protection Agency and are a focus for ensuring every area receives equitable protection from environmental hazards. In Chelsea, it is estimated that 22.5% of the population is living under the poverty line. This is over twice the average in Massachusetts. Chelsea is also a sanctuary city, and has an estimated foreign-born population of 45%, many of those being undocumented (Census, 2022). Additionally, it is estimated that Chelsea’s population has been chronically undercounted, preventing access to over a million dollars in potential funding (Cahn, 2020), as well as impacting Chelsea’s representation in government. On top of this, Chelsea’s population is majority Hispanic, and this, as well as historical influences like redlining in previous decades, is one of the factors that lead to Chelsea being affected by environmental racism.
In an interview with Amy Laura Cahn of the Conservation Law Foundation, Maria Belen Power from GreenRoots shared her experience in advocacy. According to her, low-income communities like Chelsea, and black and brown communities especially, often become “sacrifice zones” so that the rest of the region can reap the benefits of industry without carrying the associated environmental burden (Cahn, 2020). She recalls one example of this: in 2007, Energy Management Inc. attempted building a diesel power plant in Chelsea, while simultaneously proposing a clean air project for Nantucket. Community organizations like GreenRoots have been successful in opposing proposals like this, sparing low-income communities from being targeted as sites for polluting industries. Grassroots organizations like GreenRoots can give a voice in the legislative process to communities like Chelsea. This is a key way that community organizations can empower underprivileged communities who are often forgotten about in legislation or who are even explicitly targeted as subjects to carry environmental burden by industry or government.
Implications for Chelsea’s Future Health
The construction of a green space may be a tool for environmental health, but unfortunately, our considerations in fighting for these spaces cannot be strictly environmental. Communities that lack greenspace are often underprivileged and underrepresented in environmental legislation. To develop greenspace in these communities, we must begin by addressing the root causes of the environmental challenges in these areas, including but not limited to economic injustice, lack of representation in government and in legislation, and longstanding environmental racism.
Addressing these issues allows for the development or reinforcement of greenspace in these communities, which can improve their environmental health, but also improves the physical and psychological health of residents by providing them spaces for recreation and connection, and by easing the physical health burden of constant exposure to pollutants. This would be especially impactful in Chelsea, which experiences increased rates of respiratory disease and asthma (GreenRoots, 2021).
However, the impact of these issues goes beyond environmental and health challenges. Increasing Chelsea’s voice in government also delivers more money and political capital to address the city’s economic issues, like the high poverty rate, through long term investment in the economy by support given to the school system, and in direct aid through government resources, which Chelsea desperately needs but as an undercounted population does not adequately receive. Improving Chelsea’s environment by tackling issues like governmental neglect and economic injustice also helps in addressing the complex web of other associated issues that hold Chelsea in a position of disadvantage.
Conclusion
The fight for the environment in Chelsea is not only a struggle to build or improve greenspace. As is the case in many low-income communities and communities of color, the issue is derived from long standing systems that disadvantage cities like Chelsea. While the numerous ongoing environment improvement projects in Chelsea are incredibly beneficial to residents, they are only a first step toward addressing the roots of the challenges that the city faces. Likewise, community led action through grassroots organizations is an effective tool to allow residents, especially those who cannot vote or are not adequately represented in government, to advocate for themselves and their communities – but true aid given to these organizations goes beyond grant money. To help Chelsea, we must evaluate and correct the ways in which we estimate need and allocate resources, as well as how we direct the development and environmental burden of industry and ensure that underprivileged communities are given equal voice in the legislative process. We also must examine and account for influences on all of those factors, including economic injustice and environmental racism. To address issues as complex as environmental health in underprivileged areas it is imperative that we understand the full picture.
Works Cited
Levin, Brett. “How Community-Led Action Can Advance the Development of Biodiversity Islands.” Springer International Publishing, 2022
Nguyen, Phi-Yen, et al. “Green Space Quality and Health: A Systematic Review.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 18, no. 21, 20 Oct. 2021, p. 11028, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111028.nce_sustainability.php#collapse1891b1.
Greenberg, Miriam. “Environmental Gentrification.” Critical Sustainabilities, 28 May 2015, critical-sustainabilities.ucsc.edu/environmental-gentrification/.
“In Chelsea, Cooling an Urban Heat Island One Block at a Time.” Www.wbur.org, www.wbur.org/news/2022/05/12/chelsea-massachusetts-heat-island-cooling.
City Of Chelsea. “Welcome to the City of Chelsea, MA.” www.chelseama.gov, 2022, www.chelseama.gov/departments/housing_and_community_development/climate_resilience_sustainability.php#collapse1891b1.
United States Government. “U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Chelsea City, Massachusetts.” www.census.gov, www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/chelseacitymassachusetts/PST045222#PST045222.
Cahn, Amy. “UPDATE: How Has Racism Contributed to Environmental Justice Inequities?” Conservation Law Foundation, 14 Oct. 2020, www.clf.org/blog/how-has-racism-contributed-to-environmental-justice-inequities/.
GreenRoots. “An Unfair Burden: Why Environmental Justice Means Cleaner Air for Cities like Chelsea, Mass.” GreenRoots, Inc., 1 Sept. 2021, www.greenrootschelsea.org/news/2021/9/1/an-unfair-burden-why-environmental-justice-means-cleaner-air-for-cities-like-chelsea-mass.
Stella Lavallee is a freshman studying Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences. As a Massachusetts native who grew up between Chelsea and Lowell, she has a sustained interest in the structural factors affecting the health of disadvantaged communities: particularly those in the Greater Boston area. Her thanks go to her WR120 professor Holly Schaaf for her encouragement and feedback, and to the Boston University writing program for fostering an environment that allows for self-expression and the authentic work that is produced by it.