By making this central digital site for all aspects of The Condor Street Site’s cultural landscape, the hope is to inform the public of this ongoing environmental injustice and to help persuade the EFSB to relocate the substation to a Massport-owned site

BUT HOW DO YOU DO THAT?

DOCUMENT the facts. This project is sited within a flood plane putting all nearby properties and people at an unfair risk in East Boston, a neighborhood already overburdened with regional and industrial infrastructure.

EDUCATE visitors about the history of East Boston’s unjust infrastructure and Eversource’s previous malpracticess so that a fair future is ensured for the neighborhood. Concessions must be made for violations in the past.

UNDERSTAND East Boston as a diverse neighborhood that is largely known by for hosting Logan Airport and all of its fuel. To justify any new project needs to require inclusive design processes that acknowledge all of the different stake- holders and their varied desires for the best outcome possible.

ORGANIZE physically and digitally. Spread awareness of essential conditions. Create spaces where people can recollect, gather, and vocalize their needs. Make places worthy of witnessing and serving to testify.

Rebecca Kozak, Resident & Community Organizer

Wants: environmental justice in my neighbor- hood

So that she can: safely continue to enjoy public space, feel justice for previous wrongs

Kim Janey, Boston Mayor

Wants: to provide executive leadership, set priorities and goals for the City

So that she can: oversee a time of success for those who reside in Boston

Bob Clarke, Eversource Sitting Director

Wants: to find the best physical site toprovide clean energy to New England

So that he can: maximize profit for shareholders and sustainably power the region

Maritza Manrique, Resident

Wants: Eversource to not build the substation

So that she can: feel like her voice has been heard and her needs are not ignored

Sean Lydon, City Deputy of Inspectional S ervices

Wants: to enforce building, housing, health, sanitation, and safety regulations

So that she can: protect and improve the quality of life for all Boston residents.

Kathleen Theoharides,, Energy & Environmental Affairs Secretary

Wants: to lead MA’s efforts on climate change

So that she can: provide reliable and responsible energy options for the state of Massachusetts

Patrick Dawson, Northeastern Student

Wants: An inclusive and fair building process

So that I can: feel like my architectural edu- cation and skillset can used for the good of the public

Lydia Edwards, East Boston’s City Councilor

Wants: to represent my District’s desires to the best of my ability to City Hall

So that she can: ensure constituents within her districts feel taken care of

Adrian Madaro,, Mass State Representative

Wants: to expand quality of public space, equity among East Boston’s diverse population

So that he can: provide equal resources and opportunities to East Boston residents

HISTORY

FUTURE

ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE IN EAST BOSTON
“A highway to the airport cuts through the community. The Chelsea Creek, a tidal estuary and federal shipping channel that bounds East Boston on the north side, accommodates 100% of Logan’s jet fuel, 79% of the gasoline used in Massachusetts, 66% of home heating oil for the region, and road salt for over 300 communities

INDUSTRY RULES OVER NEIGHBORHOOD East Boston’s industrial past has impacted soil quality, pollution of the air and water, and as the airport expands, the effects permeate the long-time resident and recent condo-owners alike

THE CONDOR STREET SUBSTATION
In 2014, local energy provider Eversource proposed building a high voltage electrical substation. Part of a larger electrical transmission project, the substation was put forth by Eversource as a “needed piece of critical infrastructure.” Of much concern to the community was the suggested placement of the substation across the street from an existing playground, on city-owned land originally slated for a soccer field.

“CRITICAL” INFRASTRUCTURE
Electric demand is growing in eastern Massachusetts. The area needs an additional substation and transmission capacity to support the reliable delivery of electric power to meet the region’s current demand. This is contrary according to what New England’s report of Capacity, Energy, Loads, and Transmission Report claims is going to happen, in part due to a wider adoption of off-grid energy solutions.

THE ISSUE IS THE SITE
“We didn’t look at a lot of other areas because we had the available land” “Are we saying it’s perfect? There’s no perfect location” - Eversource’s Bob Clark, Director of Siting and Project Outreach

THE SITE WILL FLOOD
“None of their flood risk modeling takes into account the role of storm water flooding due to intense rain and backed-up sewers.” -Marcos Luna, Resident and Geology Professor

COMMUNITY CHARACTERISTICS
“The East Boston population is 53% Latinx, with 17% of residents living below the poverty line. Over the years the immigrant faces of “Eastie” have changed from Jewish, Canadian, Irish, and Italian, to Colombian, Salvadoran, and Middle Eastern. East Boston has proudly identified as an immigrant neighborhood that has served as a “gateway community” for many families”

“People of color make up more than 60% of the population, greater than 45% of the population are immigrants, which has led to the state designating the neighborhood as an Environmental Justice Population”

“While the various waves of immigrants have been diverse in language and culture, until recently, they were unified in their working-class status. The newest arrivals to the neighborhood do not share this background, as they purchase newly renovated condominiums that were once rental tenement apartments.”

FURTHER DIVIDING THIS CULTURAL LANDSCAPE
“During a decisive November 2017 hearing, the board did not provide two-way interpretation services in Spanish or Portuguese, spoken by Eastie’s Brazilian immigrants, or, for that matter, any other language. Although siting board members were able to hear the English interpretation of Spanish testimony from community members, community members were not provided with an interpretation of the meeting’s proceedings, which were in English”
- Orion Magazine’s Unjust Legacy

“You take a low-income neighborhood, and someone comes in and says we’re going to put in this dicey sort of substation. These are the kinds of things that benefit the region as a whole, and yet the burden that they represent is only held by a certain community”
- Resident and Greenpeace Organizer John Walkey

“This electrical substation: that’s the ugliest thing I’ve seen yet on the screen. Putting it there, it’s like putting liverwurst in an Italian cannoli.”
- Resident Fran Ippolito Riley

LETTER TO KATHLEEN THEOHARIDES
(Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary)
“For far too long, black, brown, and immigrant communities have been excluded from the decision-making processes that directly affect their quality of life. We must address the inequities that intersect race, class, and public health, and that begins with ensuring that the residents of East Boston have a full say in the evolution of their neighborhood”...
Signed by:
Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey, Ayanna Pressley, Katherine Clark, Joseph P. Kennedy, Adrian Madaro, Joseph Boncore, Sal DiDomenico, Jamie Eldridge, Daniel Ryan, Liz Miranda, Michelle Dubois, Lydia Edwards, Julia Mejia, Michelle Wu, Annissa Essaibi-George