Our Favorite Movements of 2014!

2014 has been an exciting year at Clean Air!

We’ve witnessed the sentencing of Tonawanda Coke and won a full investigation after the plant’s explosion, we’ve won a commitment from the state to invest millions of dollars in pollution reducing technology at the Peace Bridge Plaza,  we hosted a very successful Just Transitions Conference to plan our fight for workers and our tax dollars in case our coal plant retires,  won a Common Council resolution to explore Participatory Budgeting in Buffalo and kicked off the City’s PB committee, joined residents in Seneca Babcock fighting for their quality of life, we’ve presented at the 3rd International Conference on Participatory Budgeting in Oakland California, won a historic victory on Amigone Crematory – ending over 20 years of human ash that polluted a neighborhood, we’ve hosted social and economic  justice leaders like Les Leopold, Brent Bucknum, Josh Lerner, Claire Miller, Sean Sweeney and Jean Pogge…

and don’t forget… we’ve moved into a bigger office and grown our staff!

Below are a few of our staff’s favorite moments. What was yours?

Erin: My favorite moment was sitting with the staff and membership at our retreat at Stella Niagara singing along as Bill led us. I loved learning about the songs of resistance, making noise with people I love, and regenerating ourselves for the fights to come!

Natasha: My favorite moment of 2014 was in Oakland California for the 3rd International Conference on Participatory Budgeting in North America. As an organization we have been researching, advocating for and promoting PB as a means to allocate public dollars in the Tonawanda Coke case and in the City of Buffalo. We attended the 2nd International Conference in Chicago with Heart of the City Neighborhoods, Hispanics United, Councilman Rivera’s office and members before trying the process out in Tonawanda. So for the third conference we thought we would apply to present on the work we’ve been doing organizationally- and our proposals were accepted!
We prepped for months, for many of our members it was the first time they would be presenting on a panel in general, let alone for an international audience. Anyway, 3 of our members were presenting on the first day of the conference, almost back to back, on two different panels, so of course Rebecca and I attended both sessions. I was taking pictures on my phone and on our camera, smiling from ear to ear- I was so proud of our members and our organization. In between our member’s presentations I received an email from Ms. Lehman from the NYS Thruway Dept. where she informed me that the Public Bridge Authority just passed a resolution to invest approximately $3 Million on green infrastructure to act as buffers between the Peace Bridge Plaza and the residents- something we have been pushing the PBA to do for years.  Yes, I think that was my favorite moment of 2014.

Rebecca: My favorite moment from this year was working with the technical team to review and comment the DuPont Yerkes air permit. We aim to get technology in the plant to improve the safety and health  of  workers and residents who live near the facility. Our group read and reviewed 100’s of documents, met weekly to problem solve and try to identify ways the company could monitor more accurately, and find ways the facility could reduce , emissions. After we set our comments into DEC we held a press conference outside the plant, and were joined by allies in Labor, the City of Tonawanda Mayor’s Office, and from the Western New York Council on Occupational Safety and Health. Being able to comment on something like an air permit took a lot of patience and it was a learning curve for all of us. Our demands have now been sent on to EPA – and I am excited to see what next year will bring.

Rachel: My favorite moment was the vote at the Erie County Legislature that kept Amigone Crematory from opening again in our members’ backyards! The anticipation as each legislator cast their vote and the collective shift in energy as we all realized that the motion had passed was such a special experience. It reminded me that real people can make change happen! If you missed  it, check out our video of the vote here.