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A block-by-block audit of Northern Manhattan's four communities: East, West and Central Harlem, and Washington Heights was begun in October 1996 and completed in August 1997 by the Earth Crew, WE ACT's community youth internship program. The audit is a starting point for assessing environmental issues and to provide background data. The audit will indicate key areas where past and present development principles and actions, not based on community sustainability, continue to be harmful to the natural, built and social environments.
It will provide an overview of existing conditions that impact Northern Manhattan communities. It will also note environmental issues identified by citizens and community leaders through forums and surveys, some of which have occurred, some currently underway. The objective is collect data on the concentrations of various possible polluters in Northern Manhattan by conducting a block-by-block visual survey of industrial, commercial and residential sites in four distinct Northern Manhattan communities. The completed audit will quantify types and numbers of commercial and industrial businesses. We will compare this list with EPA's list of self-reported sites with regard to establishing compliance.
The audit will identify and quantify abandoned/vacant residential and/or manufacturing sites and vacant lots. The audit will be entered on database and used to inform a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping project WE ACT is working on in conjunction with the NIEHS Center For Environmental Health In Harlem. The goal is to produce a map that will clearly demonstrate the concentrations of industrial and commercial sites within the four communities we serve.
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