MARTA Shrinks While Expanding Services To Suburbs
By Dr. Robert D. Bullard

It was less than a year ago (January 1, 2001) that MARTA raised its one-way cash fare from $1.50 to $1.75, a whopping 17 percent increase (Click HERE for more information on the fare increase). The fare increase sparked citizen outrage, protests and hearings. A citizens coalition even filed a discrimination complaint with the Federal Transit Administration. Fulton and DeKalb residents were assured that the fair increase would solve the budget problem. The fare took place at the same time that MARTA opened two sparkling new stations (Sandy Spring and North Springs) in the northern suburbs. MARTA has a $20 million shortfall. In response to this $20 million deficit, nearly 100 MARTA bus routes throughout Atlanta, DeKalb and Fulton counties will be eliminated or reduced under a proposal unanimously approved by the board of directors. The cuts include eliminating 36 routes, eliminating weekend service on 26 routes, reducing weekend service on 35 routes, and reducing frequency of trains. It would also reduce the transcard discounts for students and bulk purchases. In addition to route cuts, other proposed cost-saving measures include two-week furloughs or unpaid leaves for 700 non-union administrative employees, including General Manager Nathaniel P. Ford, Sr. and his senior staff.

It is somewhat paradoxical that MARTA is expanding services outside of Fulton and DeKalb at the same time that it is cutting back services to its core riders. Only Fulton and DeKalb resident pay the one-cent sales tax to support MARTA. Yet, riders from outside MARTA's taxing district reap the benefits of the three-decade old system. There is talk of running express buses all the way to Macon. Similarly, MARTA is assisting two outlying suburban counties (Gwinnett and Clayton) enter the transit field. Gwinnett and Clayton recently started bus systems - even in the sluggish Metro Atlanta economy. It is also ironic that these two suburban counties opted out of MARTA three decades ago, yet they have representatives that serve on MARTA's board. The Gwinnett and Clayton MARTA board members voted a year ago for the fair increase and in December for the service cuts for Atlanta, Fulton, and DeKalb residents.

Clearly, MARTA needs state funding. This problem is not foreign to the state. For example, the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) executive director, Catherine Ross, serves on the MARTA board. GRTA has the power and mandate to bring some sense to this chaotic public transit situation. GRTA has not flexed its muscle on regional transit. It has facilitated suburban systems (Gwinnett and Clayton) to come on line at the same time MARTA, the region's most mature and far-reaching system, to falter. Current trends point toward the creation of "separate and unequal" transit systems in the region.

GRTA and the state need to act. The current patchwork of small suburban transit fiefdoms simply won't work in the best interest of the region. Fulton and DeKalb residents have carried the regional transportation burden long enough. It is time for the state to provide leader and kick in funds to support regional transit. Georgia is one of 10 states does not provide state support for urban transit operations. Without state assistance in planning a regional transit system (seamless, linked, coordinated, and uniform fare structure), Fulton and DeKalb taxpayers will likely see an annual repeat of this shortsighted band-aid financial management. The MARTA cuts are expected to take effect by March 2002 and are expected to save $3.8 million this budget cycle and $15.1 million the following year. Before the proposed changes can take effect in March 2002, MARTA is required to hold public hearings. Comments can be sent to MARTA Customer Service custserv@itsmarta.com or visit MARTA's website at www.itsmarta.com.

MARTA Slapped With ADA Lawsuit

November 30, 2001 - Attorneys for the Disability Law and Policy Center of Georgia, Inc. filed a civil action suit against MARTA. The lawsuit filed is the first formal action against Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) violations. Represented by attorneys for the nonprofit Disability Law and Policy Center and cooperating counsel from the Decatur law firm Hill, Lord and Beasley, the six plaintiffs in the class action suit allege consistent, blatant discrimination against MARTA riders with disabilities. The class action suit against MARTA alleges the following violations:

Lindbergh Center TOD Hits Atlanta's Latinos the Hardest

Transit-oriented development (TOD) is a way to locate people near transit services while decreasing their dependence on driving. The goal of TOD is to reduce the use of single-occupant vehicles by increasing the number of times people, bicycle, walk, carpool, ride the bus, streetcar or rail. The benefits of TOD are many, including stronger sense of community from pedestrian-friendly environment and "causal encounters;" increased transit ridership; increased opportunity for economic development; opportunity for "town centers" and unique gathering places; enhanced property values within _ mile of station; easier connections between communities; increased travel choices for people in the community; improved air quality and decreased traffic congestion; and more public and open space.

In short, TODs are supposed discourage urban sprawl and contribute to building a new community. The construction on the two towers of the MARTA Lindbergh Center TOD is going as scheduled but not without controversy. TOD's are carefully crafted communities that incorporate land-use, economic development, and transportation principles in a mix-use environment. The vulnerable and almost invisible Latino community in Atlanta is already feeling the effects of this development. For more than 30 years, this area has been home for many Latino immigrants, where many of them were lured to the area by its proximity to public transportation and shopping. The area around MARTA's Lindbergh Station (MARTA's Headquarters) showcases relatively cheap housing and the convenience of a shopping center that caters to their daily needs. Stores and restaurants at the mall such as La Fiesta Grocery and K-mart provide a variety of products and services to the community.

The development plans indicate that it is going to take three years, but Lindbergh Plaza will be razed and then rebuilt into a center of mall-sized proportions. The plan is to tear down the 379,230-square-foot shopping center at Lindbergh Plaza and build about 800,000 square feet of retail and 250 apartment units in about 250,000 square feet on up to five floors. The area is already experiencing increasing property values and development pressures from local decision makers. Many of the area landlords are already announcing plans to increase capacity on their properties. All of this will happen at a cost that impacts the current lives of the Latino residents in this community. A likely outcome is that the redevelopment will divide and separate the current residents, disrupt a stable Latino community, and destroy Lindbergh's long Latino connection. See MARTA's www.itsmarta.com for more information on the Lindbergh TOD. For more information on TODs view the Victoria Transportation Policy Institute site at http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm45.htm.

GRTA Passes $4.6 Billion TIP

The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) board passed a $4.6 billion regional Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) on Wednesday, November 14, 2001. The TIP covers ten counties: Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, and Rockdale. GRTA's job is to reduce pollution in the Atlanta region. Before the board voted on the TIP, Terry L. Allen from the Metropolitan Atlanta Transportation Equity Coalition (MATEC), pleaded with the GRTA board to "convert existing highway lanes for use by high occupancy vehicles, provide state funding for MARTA, address environmental problems caused by road construction and redirect Northern Arc funding into other projects." Two board members, Eric Hovdesven (Neighborhood advocate) and John A. Sibley (Georgia Conservancy), voted against the plan. Thirty-eight percent of the projects in the plan provide transportation alternatives for individual drivers who are commuters. Twenty-one percent will be spent on the construction of additional high-occupancy vehicle lanes; ten percent is for the improvements of bridges and interchanges; and fourteen percent will be applied to safety upgrades and maintenance. There is still some question about this new plan's ability to improve air quality in the Atlanta metropolitan region. Visit the Atlanta Regional Commission website http://www.atlantaregional.com/download/2000rtp/index.html for additional information on regional transportation planning.

Emory Professor Links Sprawl and Health

Sprawl is a public health issue, contends professor Howard Frumkin of Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. Frumkin's paper, "Urban Sprawl, Public Health, and Equity" is part of the Environmental Justice Resource Center's commissioned paper series for its Atlanta Transportation Equity Project (ATEP) Many of the Frumkin's findings are reported in an article by Valerie Gregg, "Taming Urban Sprawl" http://www.emory.edu/WHSC/HSNEWS/PUB/PH/Spring01/sprawl.html that appeared in the Public Health (Spring 2001). Frumkin argues that sprawl is very much a public health issue, based on seven considerations: air pollution, health, lack of exercise, motor vehicle crashes, pedestrian injuries and fatalities, threats to mental health, and lost social capital. The distribution of hazards across the population is addressed for each component. Like most public health hazards, the adverse impacts of sprawl do not fall equally across the population, and those most affected deserve attention. Nationally, minorities and the poor bear a disproportionate burden of sprawl-driven health threats. In Atlanta, Georgia, the pedestrian fatality rate is 4 per 100,000 people for African Americans, 10 for Hispanics, and less than 2 for whites. This explains who has to walk on roads that are not walkable, who gets to drive, and how we designed the Atlanta region. Urban sprawl impacts the quality of life for Atlantans. If air pollution is relatively high, more individuals die from heart and lung diseases and children with asthma visit the hospital emergency rooms in high numbers. Suburbanites who commute back and forth from home to work and live in cul-de-sac neighborhoods are not encouraged to use biking and walking as modes of transportation. Obesity is threatening the health of Atlanta's suburbanites. There are many suburbs that have no sidewalks or bike trails, and this contributes to individuals not participating in regular physical activity. Smart growth policies are needed to provide alternatives to cars and to plan and build healthier communities for all of us.

Urban Sprawl Harms Southern Forest

Urban sprawl is harming forests in the southern Appalachian Mountains, the Appalachian foothills from Virginia to Alabama, the coastal plains along the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, and the Florida Panhandle. According to a newly release study by the U.S. Forest Service, urban sprawl could reduce forests in the South by 12 million acres by the year 2020. The reduction of forest will affect the habitat of a number of native plants and wildlife. A 12 million acres decrease will account for about 6 percent of the region's forests. Study leaders John Greis and David Wear contend that losing forests near urban areas disrupts the homes of native plants and wildlife and eliminates areas that can be used for outdoor recreation. The federal government manages only a small percentage of Southern forestland and about 5 million private landowners control about 90 percent. The Society for American Foresters have assisted small landowners keep their land instead of selling it to developers who will use the land to build shopping malls, parking lots, and office complexes. For more information visit: the US Forest Service at http://www.fs.fed.us/.

GSU Law Symposium Proceedings on Urban Sprawl

The proceedings from the February, 2001 Symposium on Urban Sprawl: Local and Comparative Perspectives on managing Atlanta's Growth is now available. The symposium was sponsored by the Georgia State University Law Review and the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. For an in-depth examination of the race and social equity components of sprawl, see Robert D. Bullard, Glenn S. Johnson and Angel O. Torres. The Costs and Consequences of Suburban Sprawl: The Case of Metro Atlanta (Georgia State University Law Review, Vol. 17, No.4, Summer 2001: 935-998). For information on obtaining the conference proceedings, contact Jill Wasserman at (404) 651-2047, email: hmwg@mindspring.com or visit the GSU Law Review Symposium at http://law.gsu.edu/lawreview/symposium/index.htm.

AFL-CIO Passes Resolution on Sprawl and Smart Growth

December 6, 2001, Las Vegas, Nevada - The AFL-CIO passed its first-ever resolution on urban sprawl and smart growth last week at its national convention in Las Vegas. The Chicago Federation of Labor as well as the Cleveland Federation of Labor and the Contra Costa County AFL-CIO submitted the resolution. The resolution links sprawl to many ills harming working families, reminds us all that some unions have been doing things for decades that are now called "smart growth," and authorizes the federation's leadership to weigh in on the rapidly-emerging smart growth debate. Many smart growth solutions are consistent with the AFL-CIO's Union Cities program to revitalize central labor councils. For more information please visit http://www.aflcio.org/home.htm.

Don't Breathe and Drive?

Most of us know about driving hazards such as speeding motorists, distracted drivers, and tailgaters. Now we can add exposure to toxic chemicals. In Environmental Health Perspective article, Bob Weinhold, "Don't Breathe and Drive? Pollutants Lurk Inside Vehicles." Environmental Health Perspectives Vol. 109, No. 91 (September 2001): A422-A427 http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2001/109-9/focus-abs.html, shows that at times it pays to live in the fast lane. Drivers motoring in freeway carpool lanes not only avoid the congestion of traffic in slower neighboring lanes, they may also avoid lung congestion from pollutants that seep into their vehicles as they creep along in bumper-to-bumper traffic. In-vehicle pollutants have been investigated in about two dozen studies over the past two decades, with consistent findings around the world: driving in tightly packed traffic leads to interior concentrations of pollutants that are up to 10 times higher than those in ambient city air.

The amount of in-vehicle concentrations of several pollutants such as benzene, formaldehyde, toluene, and carbon monoxide are a result of car's ventilation system to be exposed to the quantity of exhaust emitted from the automobile directly in front of you in traffic. Researchers have found that exhaust from a diesel-powered bus or truck could quickly double some short-term particulate levels inside a closely trailing vehicle. A car's own exhaust pollutes the air when it is idling. Some potential remedies for vehicle pollution are:

Call for Papers: Equity and Smart Growth!

The Environmental Justice Resource Center is compiling an anthology on Race, Class, and Social Dimensions of Smart Growth. The EJRC is seeking essays that address various social equity dimensions of smart growth (poverty alleviation, housing, transportation, air pollution and public health, brownfields redevelopment, gentrification, displacement, access to jobs, schools, transportation equity, toxic waste, and community development). The essays should between 4,000- 5,000 words (including endnotes) that describe and highlight a social equity dimension of smart growth. A small honorarium is given for the essay. This project is made possible through a grant from the Ford Foundation. Please submit a 250-word abstract to ejrc@cau.edu or contact Dr. Glenn S. Johnson at jojnsong@cau.edu. For additional information on the center's national equity and smart growth initiative, please click HERE.

Environmental Justice Sheros and Heros

The EJRC is developing profiles for unsung "Sheroes and Heroes" in the environmental justice movement. Please click HERE to see a sample "Sheroes/Heroes" profiles. We would like to profile the work of people of color leaders and organizations doing groundbreaking work in the movement. In compiling the profiles (500-1,000 words per profile), we would need the following: a brief biographical sketch on the person, name of his/her organization, role in the organization; when did the person first get involved in the organization and a brief historical background of the organization; what is it the organization wants (goals) and what did the person or group do to get it (actions); major issues addressed, communities where the person works, and current struggles; some of the person's or organization's most important accomplishments, achievements, victories, milestones, and outcomes that he/she is most proud; issue areas where the person sees his/her group has taken leadership roles and have made a difference; and a color photograph of the shero/hero. We will scan the photo and return original. Our goal is to get a diverse group of Sheroes/Heroes. If you would like to recommend someone, please send the contact information to Marie Green, EJRC Communication Specialist at (404) 880-6914 or mgreen@cau.edu.

WANTED! Transportation Racism Stories

Robert D. Bullard and his colleagues at the Environmental Justice Resource Center in Atlanta are editing a new book on Transportation Racism: Still Separate and Unequal. The authors are looking for stories from people around the United States who are fighting transportation racism (transit, highways, siting of transportation facilities such as bus depots, and rail yards, inequitable services and subsidies, transportation investments, etc.). They are soliciting short (500-1000 words) essays that describe compelling examples of transportation racism in America. This new book is a follow-up to their 1997 award-winning Just Transportation: Dismantling Race and Class Barriers to Mobility book. If you have or know of a compelling story that you would like to tell and have it included in the new book, please contact Professor Bullard at ejrc@cau.edu or (404) 880-6911. You may also fax the story to the center at (404) 880-6909.

Island Press Hires EMS to Promote "Sprawl City"

Island Press recently hired the Environmental Media Serves (EMS) to publicize Sprawl City: Race, Politics, and Planning in Atlanta, edited by Robert D. Bullard, Glenn S. Johnson, and Angel O. Torres. The Sprawl City marketing campaign is made possible by a $50,000 grant Island Press received from the Ford Foundation. EMS is a nonprofit communications clearinghouse dedicated to expanding media coverage of critical environmental and public health issues. It also builds relationships with top scientists, physicians, and other experts to bring journalists the latest and most credible information. For more information on EMS go to: http://www.ems.org. Amazon.com also recently posted a new 20-page promotion on Sprawl City that includes front and back covers, table of contents, text excerpts, and a full index.

EJRC Staff Conference Participation

Edinburgh, Scotland:

May 19-22, 2001 - Friends of the Earth Scotland: EJRC Director, Dr. Robert D. Bullard visited Scotland as a guest of Friends of the Earth. During his visit, he addressed a number of public meetings, met with Parliamentarians, environmental and anti-racism activists, toured a landfill and open cast coal mine, and met with communities affected by environmental injustice. For information in his visit see http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/press/pr20010516.html.

Durban, South Africa:

August 31-September 7, 2001 - United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD): The UNRISD held a "Racism and Public Policy Conference" where Dr. Robert D. Bullard, along with a network of 30 high-level social scientists and legal scholars from around the world, prepared policy papers and lead discussions at the event. Confronting Environmental Racism in the 21st Century is the title of the paper presented by Bullard. The paper examines the causes and consequences of global environmental racism and the strategies environmental justice groups, community-based organizations, and government can use to improve the quality of life for their constituents.

Brainard, MN:

October 12-17, 2001 - Environmental Grantmakers Association 2001 Fall Retreat (EGA): The 15th annual retreat of the EGA brought together environmental grantmakers and colleagues from all over the nation to participate in a variety of 40 workshops. The theme of this year's retreat was "Just Change," a metaphor encouraging a closer look at the obstacles to change and challenges that face the environmental movement and other movements for social change in North America and abroad. Bob Bullard and Stuart Cohen (Transportation Choices Forum) led a workshop entitled "Get on the Bus: Melding Equity and Environmentalism in Transportation Policy." The session was organized by Douglas Stuart (Turner Foundation) and facilitated by Hooper Brooks (Surdna Foundation).

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:

September 24-28, 2001 - International Colloquium on Environmental Justice, Work and Citizenship, Universidade Federal Fluminense: The international conference brought together researchers and social activists, environmental justice leaders, Brazilians and non-Brazilians, to understand each other better, create partnerships, and develop plans for mutual action. One of the outcomes of the meeting is to create a coalition network and a resource center to address environmental justice in Brazil. Dr. Bullard (EJRC at Clark Atlanta University) and Dr. Beverly Wright (DSCEJ at Xavier University of Louisiana) offered their expertise on building an EJ center from the ground up. Other outcome of the conference will be a book and a website. For more information please visit http://www.fase.org.br/justicaambiental/ .

Kyoto, Japan:

October 20-23, 2001 - Kyoto Environmental Sociology Conference: "New Directions for Environmental Sociology in the Twenty-First Century" was the theme of this conference. The conference provided an opportunity for participants from around the world to explore the direction of environmental sociology in the new millennium. Drs. Robert D. Bullard and Beverly Wright (Xavier University Deep South Center for Environmental Justice) made a presentation entitled "Anatomy of Environmental and Economic Justice Movement: Grassroots Challenges to Globalization." For more information please visit http://www.bukkyo-u.ac.jp/kesc/index.html.

The National Constitution Center Honors Congressman Lewis With We The People Award

November 1, 2001, Philadelphia - The National Constitution Center (NCC) presented Congressman John Lewis (D-Ga.) with the NCC's We the People Award for his leadership role in the civil rights movement and more than 40 years of dedication to the cause of social justice. The event celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Freedom Rides, a campaign in which Congressman Lewis played an active role, to test desegregation in interstate transportation facilities.

Born to sharecroppers in Troy, Alabama in 1940, Lewis attended segregated schools and was introduced to racism at the early age of 10 when a librarian refused to allow him to check out books because the library was "only for whites." Nine years later, as a student at Fisk University in Nashville, Lewis embarked on his effort to combat discrimination and racism in America, organizing sit-in demonstrations at segregated restaurants and lunch counters, as well as other forms of non-violent protest.

In 1961, Lewis participated in the Freedom Rides to test desegregation in interstate transportation facilities, an event that drew national attention and revealed the ongoing prevalence of racism and discrimination in the nation. In the early 1960s, Lewis went on to serve as Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Commission, deliver one of the keynote addresses at the historic March on Washington, and lead more than 600 marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama in a nonviolent protest. The march, which became known as "Bloody Sunday" when Alabama state troopers confronted the crowd - kicking and clubbing the marchers - helped prompt President Lyndon Johnson to push for the voting Rights Act which passed Congress in 1965.

Lewis remained active in the civil rights movement as the associate director of the Field Foundation, a volunteer in the Southern Regional Council's voter registration programs, and director of the Voter Education Project. He was also appointed by President Jimmy Carter to direct the federal volunteer agency ACTION. In November 1986, he was elected to represent Georgia's Fifth Congressional District, which includes all of Atlanta and portions of the surrounding suburbs. He is currently serving his eighth term in Congress. Visit http://www.house.gov/johnlewis/wethepeople.htm for more information on Congressman Lewis.

RESOURCES

Bullard, Robert D. and Glenn S. Johnson, eds., Just Transportation: Dismantling Race and Class Barriers to Mobility (New Society Publishers, 1997). This is a book with essays by a wide range of environmental and transportation activists, lawyers, and scholars who trace the historical roots of transportation struggles in our civil rights history. The book examines the dynamics of disparate incomes and transportation equity, as well as the impact of transportation policy on inner city environments. Contact EJRC at (404) 880-6911 or ejrc@cau.edu.

Robert D. Bullard, Glenn S. Johnson, and Angel O. Torres, eds. Sprawl City: Race, Politics, and Planning in Atlanta. (Island Press 2000). This book illuminates the rising class and racial divisions underlying uneven growth and development, and provides a timely source of information for anyone concerned with those issues. Contact EJRC at (404) 880-6911 or ejrc@cau.edu.

Robert D. Bullard, Glenn S. Johnson, and Angel O. Torres. "Atlanta: Megasprawl," Forum For Applied Research and Public Policy, Vol.14, No.3, Fall 1999. This article provides a comprehensive overview on how sprawl-driven construction projects such as low-density residential housing and strip malls have turned Atlanta into the fastest growing human development in history. Contact EJRC at (404) 880-6911 or ejrc@cau.edu.

Urban Habitat Program, Inc. Crash Course in Bay Area Transportation Investment (February ,1999). An analysis of the social equity and environmental implications of Bay Area regional transportation funding. Urban Habitat Program, Inc. (415) 561-3333 or uhp@igc.apc.org.

Eric Mann. A New Vision for Urban Transportation: The Bus Riders Union Makes History at the Intersection of Mass Transit, Civil Rights, and the Environment. Los Angeles. Labor Community Strategy Center,1996. The report provides a detailed description of the historical backdrop, players, strategy, public policies, and civil rights legal case brought by local groups who challenged the Los Angeles MTA. Contact Labor Community Strategy Center at (213) 387-2800 or laborctr@igc.apc.org.

Center for Community Change. Getting to Work: An Organizer's Guide to Transportation Equity. Washington, DC, August 1998. This book describes the federal transportation bill and provides examples on how poor communities can use this bill to improve transportation services in their communities. Contact Center for Community Change at (202) 339-9343 or info@communitychange.org.

Conservation Law Foundation. City Routes, City Rights: Building Livable Neighborhoods and Environmental Justice by Fixing Transportation. Boston, Mass.: CLF, 1998. This guidebook is an organizing tool for inner city residents to address major community and environmental justice issues in their respective communities. Contact Conservation Law Foundation at (617) 350-0990 or http://www.clf.org.

David J. Forkenbrock and Lisa A. Schweitzer. Environmental Justice and Transportation Investment Policy. Public Policy Center University of Iowa, 1997. This report provides practical insights on how to measure transportation system changes and their impacts on humans and their environment. Contact University of Iowa Public Policy Center at (319) 335-6800 or http://www.uiowa.edu/~ppc.

WEBSITES

Center for Community Change. The Center for Community Change has launched the Transportation Equity Network at the University of Toledo Urban Affairs Center. The monitoring project is designed to determine whether Metropolitan Planning Organizations or MPOs are taking into account environmental justice and civil rights in their decision-making.

Conservation Law Foundation. The Conservation Law Foundation works to solve the environmental problems that threaten the people, natural resources and communities of New England. CLF's advocates use law, economics and science to design and implement strategies that conserve natural resources, protect public health, and promote vital communities in our region. Founded in 1966, CLF is a nonprofit member-supported organization.

Deep South Center for Environmental Justice. The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) was developed in 1992 in collaboration with community environmental groups and other universities within the region to address environmental justice issues. The DSCEJ provides opportunities for communities, scientific researchers, and decision makers to collaborate on programs and projects that promote the rights of all people to be free from environmental harm as it impacts health, jobs, housing, education, and a general quality of life.

Environmental Justice Resource Center. The Environmental Justice Resource Center (EJRC) at Clark Atlanta University, founded in 1994, serves as a major resource, database, and information clearinghouse on environmental justice, environmental racism, transportation equity, urban land use, suburban sprawl, and civil rights.

Labor Community Strategy Center. The Labor/Community Strategy Center is a multiracial anti-corporate "think-tank/act-tank" committed to building democratic internationalist social movements. The Strategy Center's work encompasses all aspects of urban life: it emphasizes rebuilding the labor movement, fighting for environmental justice, truly mass transit, and immigration rights, as well as actively opposing the growing criminalization, racialization, and feminization of poverty. Through direct grassroots organizing by the Strategy Center's WATCHDOG environmental project, Bus Riders Union, and Urban Strategies Group, and through research, policy development, strategy formation, and publication, the Labor/Community Strategy Center is generating a creative and aggressive response to the growing power of the corporate-led political Right.

New York Environmental Justice Alliance. Founded in 1991, the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance is a citywide network that links grassroots organizations, low-income neighborhoods and communities of color in their struggle against environmental racism. The NYCEJA also produces a bi-weekly Transportation Justice newsletter.

Sierra Club. The mission of the Sierra Club Foundation is to advance the preservation and protection of the natural environment by empowering the citizenry, especially democratically based grassroots organizations, with charitable resources to further the cause of environmental protection. The Sierra Club is the vehicle through which the Sierra Club Foundation generally fulfills its charitable missions."

Sprawl Watch Clearinghouse. The Sprawl Watch Clearinghouse mission is to make the tools, techniques, and strategies developed to manage growth, and to be accessible to citizens, grassroots organizations, environmentalists, public officials, planners, architects, the media and business leaders. At the Clearinghouse we identify, collect, compile and disseminate information, on the best land use practices for those listed above.

Surface Transportation Policy Project. The goal of Surface Transportation Policy Project is to ensure that transportation policy and investments help conserve energy, protect environmental and aesthetic quality, strengthen the economy, promote social equity, and make communities more livable. They emphasize the needs of people, rather than vehicles, in assuring access to jobs, services, and recreational opportunities.

Urban Habitat Program. Founded in 1989, the Urban Habitat Program is dedicated to building multicultural urban environmental leadership for socially just, ecologically sustainable communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. UHP has played a leadership role in broadening environmental justice's national agenda. At the metropolitan regional scale-through actions, networking, conferences, publications, teaching, and advocacy--UHP has assisted over a hundred organizations working on environmental justice issues: health, food security, recycling, energy, military base conversion, arts and culture, education, immigration and population, parks and open space.

VIDEOS

Paving the American Dream - Southern Cities Shores & Sprawl
In its fourth television documentary, Paving the American Dream: Southern Cities, Shores & Sprawl, UNC Wilmington examines what led to the explosive growth occurring along the eastern seaboard and offers some solutions. The states along the South Atlantic Seaboard share a dubious distinction - skyrocketing population, traffic jams, threatened fragile environments, and ugly sprawl. A growing public concern is how to handle this explosive growth and still maintain an environment attractive for living and working.

The video demonstrates that growth is exploding along the ecologically fragile coast, especially in the southeastern United States. In 1960, eight million people lived along the coast. That number is expected to reach nearly 23 million by the year 2015 - a staggering 188 percent increase. Inland areas also suffer from unmanaged growth. Abandonment of city life for quiet suburban surroundings has created its own set of problems. Issues such as traffic congestion, air and water pollution, disappearing farms, forests, and the coastline all lead to a declining quality of life and environment. Over the course of this hour-long documentary, viewers will hear from scholars, corporations, politicians, community leaders, and citizens up and down the eastern seaboard who are faced with the day-to-day challenges of growth. For ore information or to order tapes, contact: UNCW Division of University Advancement, (910) 962-2650 or visit the web site at www.uncwil.edu/smartgrowth.

The Sprawling of America, 60 min. Running time, Great Lakes Television Consortium. This video provides a comprehensive examination into the devastating social, economic and environmental impacts of sprawl on urban and rural communities. This video documents how America grew from cities to suburbs, how the movement changed society, and how suburban communities are now reevaluating their quality of life. For more information contact: Great Lakes Television Consortium, 5000 LSA Building, 500 S State St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109 or (734) 764-9210 (734) 647-3488 (fax), E-mail: gltv@michiganradio.org.

Fat of the Land, 60 min. Running time, Great Lakes Television Consortium. This video is the second hour of the "Sprawling of America" video. This video examines the economics behind suburban sprawl, studies the quality of life in today's American suburbs, and searches the country for innovative solutions to the loss of farmland and reckless third-ring suburban development. Great Lakes Television Consortium, 5000 LSA Building, 500 S State St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109 or (734) 764-9210 (734) 647-3488 (fax), E-mail: gltv@michiganradio.org.

Bus Riders Union Film, 86 min. Running time, The Labor/Community Strategy Center (2000), This video is a new documentary of Academy Award cinematographer Haskell Wexlers' that traces three years in the life of the Los Angeles Bus Riders Union as it forges a powerful multiracial movement to fight transit racism, clean up LA's lethal auto pollution, and win billion-dollar victories for real mass transit for the masses. For more information contact: The Labor/Community Strategy Center 3780 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1200 Los Angeles, CA 90010 (213) 387-2800 (213) 387-3500 fax, E-mail: laborctr@igc.apc.org, http://www.igc.org/lctr.

Just Transportation, 45 min. Running time, Clark Atlanta University: EJRC-CAU Television (1996). This video includes highlights from the "Environmental Justice and Transportation: Building Model Partnerships Conference" that was held in Atlanta, Georgia in 1995. The Atlanta conference brought together grassroots organizers, civil rights activists, local, state, tribal, and federal transportation planners, public officials, legal experts, and academics to discuss strategies for building livable and just communities. Transportation issues in people of color communities are explored and shot on location in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Harlem (New York City), and Washington, DC. For more information contact: Environmental Justice Resource Center Clark Atlanta University Atlanta, GA 30314 (404) 880-6911 (404) 880-6909 fax, E-mail: ejrc@cau.edu, http://www.ejrc.cau.edu.

ABOUT THE EJRC