The NYCLU, Families for Lead Freedom Now, and community members will rally for protections from dangerous levels of lead exposure. Syracuse residents experience lead poisoning at some of the highest rates in the country. The demolition of I-81 threatens exposing the community to even greater risk of lead poison. Advocates and community members will demand that the New York State Department of Transportation establish a health needs assessment related to the I-81 project, and lead abatement programs to prevent the spread of lead exposure in Syracuse prior to demolition.
The rally will take place at the I-81 viaduct: Wilson Park, at the intersection of Almond St. and Jackson St.
Those scheduled to appear include the following:
- Oceanna Fair- South Branch Leader, Families for Lead Freedom Now
- New York Civil Liberties Union Project Counsel Lanessa L. Chaplin
- New York Civil Liberties Union Organizer David Rufus
- Michael Cooper and Toomey Abbott, neighborhood residents
In December 2020, the NYCLU released 202012_nyclu_i-81report ” Building a Better Future: The Structural Racism Built into I-81, and How to Tear it” Down which analyzes NYSDOT’s plans from a racial, economic and environmental justice lens. The report calls on NYSDOT to take a reparative and restorative approach to rebuilding the I-81 viaduct area, and remedy the displacement and destruction of the 15th Ward, where as many as 90% of Syracuse’s Black residents lived in the 1960s.
