Page 1 1 - - - 2 3 Overstudied and Underserved: 4 Uses of the Law to Promote Healthy, 5 Sustainable Urban Communities 6 7 A Symposium Presented by the 8 Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia 9 10 - - - 11 Thursday, October 6, 2011 12 - - - 13 14 The Arch Street Meeting House 15 4th and Arch Streets 16 Philadelphia, PA 17 18 - - - 19 20 Reported by: Cheryl L. Goldfarb, R.P.R. 21 22 - - - 23 VERITEXT NATIONAL COURT REPORTING COMPANY 24 MID-ATLANTIC REGION 1801 Market Street - Suite 1800 25 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 VERITEXT NATIONAL COURT REPORTING COMPANY 888-777-6690 ~ 215-241-1000 ~ 610-434-8588 ~ 302-571-0510 Page 2 1 I N D E X 2 AGENDA ITEMS PAGE 3 Welcome and Introductions 3 Donald K. Joseph 4 Preamble Discussion: Principles of 8 5 environmental justice Alex C. Geisinger 8 6 Adam H. Cutler 17 7 Session I: Engagement from the 33 perspective of communities 8 Moderator: Robert Kuehn 33 Panelists: Ayanna King 41 9 Julie Becker 54 Rev. Dr. Horace Strand 70 10 Session II: Cross-disciplinary 103 11 collaborations Moderator: Jennifer R. Clarke 104 12 Panelists: Louis M. Bell 105 Leslie Fields 112 13 Arthur Frank 123 Cecil Corbin-Mark 130 14 Keynote address: Vernice Miller-Travis 154 15 Session III: A project to unite NE 199 16 region (or PA - PHL and PBG) - integrating cumulative impact 17 screening tools into planning Moderator: Adam H. Cutler 199 18 Panelists: Jim Sadd 200 Eileen Gauna 221 19 John Relman 237 20 Screening of "Reclaiming Hunting Park" 263 21 Session IV: Land use/planning/ 262 community economic development tools 22 Moderator: Michael Churchill 263 Panelists: Alan Greenberger 265 23 Vernice Miller-Travis 275 Melissa Kim 293 24 Karen Black 304 25 Closing Remarks by Donald K. Joseph 323 VERITEXT NATIONAL COURT REPORTING COMPANY 888-777-6690 ~ 215-241-1000 ~ 610-434-8588 ~ 302-571-0510 Page 3 1 - - - 2 WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS 3 - - - 4 DONALD K. JOSEPH: It's time to 5 start. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. 6 Already, I know this is going to 7 be a great conference because at nine o'clock, 8 ninety percent of the people in this room were 9 seated and ready to go. 10 So it would be a mistake to ignore 11 the outside world and not note the passing of 12 Steve Jobs. He had a view that one should live 13 every day as if one were facing death and to 14 follow one's dreams. 15 PILCOP, I suggest to you, since 16 1968, as the Committee For Civil Rights under Law, 17 has done exactly that. It is a wonderful 18 opportunity that I have to welcome you to this 19 Conference on Environmental Injustice. 20 And before I do a shout-out to our 21 sponsors, all of whom are listed over there 22 (indicating), I must say that seeing some of the 23 elders of PILCOP in this room, Dave Rich, Andre 24 Dennis, Jeff Golan, it is wonderful to have you 25 here. VERITEXT NATIONAL COURT REPORTING COMPANY 888-777-6690 ~ 215-241-1000 ~ 610-434-8588 ~ 302-571-0510 Page 4 1 And now to Marc Topaz and his law 2 firm, who are our single largest sponsors this 3 year, we say thank you. And we say the same to 4 Drinker, to Pepper, to Cozen, and to Berger 5 Montague, who are our second level. 6 You should understand that these 7 contributions are made as part of a yearly 8 donation to keep PILCOP going. And all of these 9 firms have supported us over many years. And we 10 are deeply appreciative to them and all the rest, 11 who I don't have time to name now. 12 I'm anticipating with excitement, 13 this program. But unlike the last two years, I 14 have not participated in the panel planning. Each 15 of these panelists has spoken on at least two 16 conference calls. And they make sure the areas 17 they are going to cover are covered well. 18 So I am as eager as you as to the 19 content. However, I do know how these symposiums 20 are prepared. 21 Over a series of weekly staff 22 meetings, we create topics and then go over who 23 would be the best speakers suited for them, and 24 then we go get them. Geography is irrelevant. 25 Thus, you will see speakers from California, New VERITEXT NATIONAL COURT REPORTING COMPANY 888-777-6690 ~ 215-241-1000 ~ 610-434-8588 ~ 302-571-0510 Page 5 1 Mexico and St. Louis, as well as our East Coast 2 travelers. 3 The excellence of these programs 4 comes from the expertise, from the vast knowledge 5 of the Law Center's legal staff for the area and 6 the vetting that goes on in this regard. 7 And this year is no exception, 8 except that unlike other years, Adam Cutler, the 9 person whose area of expertise is involved, had a 10 much heavier burden. We left most of the choice 11 of speakers, at least in the first instance, come 12 from him, and then he had to go get them. And so 13 we're very much appreciative of Adam. 14 However, my job, and not of them, 15 is that we must keep to our time schedules. And 16 even though there's a typo in the first one for 17 mine, we will do our best to stick to them. 18 There's a reason for that, 19 however. 20 The reason is that just as 21 important as who speaks is the time between 22 speakers, between panels, when we, as an educated, 23 motivated group get to talk to each other. It is 24 the spaces in between that I suggest much learning 25 is accomplished. And that is another reason for VERITEXT NATIONAL COURT REPORTING COMPANY 888-777-6690 ~ 215-241-1000 ~ 610-434-8588 ~ 302-571-0510 Page 6 1 doing so. 2 So I must thank the Rutgers Law 3 Journal for not only publishing again this year 4 the proceedings, but also I am pleased to report 5 that last year's has now been published and is up 6 online. And they have committed not to take as 7 long this year and have it up in December. 8 I'm sure you know we are honoring 9 Jerry Balter. And it is fitting that JLEP, the 10 journal, is sponsoring it, because Jerry not only 11 has written for the journal, his article was the 12 very first article in the very first issue of the 13 journal. 14 So I won't go on to talk about 15 Jerry, but I will say he has been a wonderful 16 influence on our organization and the community of 17 environmental justice. And Adam is ably following 18 in his shoes. 19 And with that, we are going to see 20 a video that was created by a student in Adam's 21 program at Drexel, John McGlaughlin. 22 And if we would turn on the video. 23 - - - 24 (Whereupon, a short video on 25 environmental justice in Chester, PA is shown to VERITEXT NATIONAL COURT REPORTING COMPANY 888-777-6690 ~ 215-241-1000 ~ 610-434-8588 ~ 302-571-0510 Page 7 1 the audience.) 2 - - - 3 (Applause) 4 - - - 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 VERITEXT NATIONAL COURT REPORTING COMPANY 888-777-6690 ~ 215-241-1000 ~ 610-434-8588 ~ 302-571-0510 Page 8 1 - - - 2 PREAMBLE DISCUSSION: 3 PRINCIPLES OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE 4 - - - 5 ALEX C. GEISINGER: And on that 6 note . 7 Good morning. 8 AUDIENCE: Good morning. 9 ALEX C. GEISINGER: So my name is 10 Alex Geisinger. I'm a professor at Drexel Law 11 School. For those of you who don't know me, I 12 provide the students for Adam's clinic. And I'm 13 here really just to give you a very short 14 ten-minute overview of environmental justice. 15 For those of you who have done 16 this and lived your lives in it for a long time, 17 we ask for your indulgence. There's food, right. 18 And you can run out and catch up with each other, 19 if you haven't seen each other for a while. But 20 there are people here for whom this is a 21 relatively new concept. So we figured we'd take 22 about ten minutes just to give them an overview 23 before moving on to the rest of the program. So, 24 please, you know, I won't be insulted at all, go 25 grab some food, do what you need. VERITEXT NATIONAL COURT REPORTING COMPANY 888-777-6690 ~ 215-241-1000 ~ 610-434-8588 ~ 302-571-0510 Page 9 1 So as an overview of environmental 2 justice, we'll start just by defining it. This is 3 one of many definitions of environmental justice. 4 So one definition states, 5 environmental justice is the fair -- it's defined 6 as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement 7 of all people, regardless of race, color, national 8 origin or income, with respect to development, 9 implementation and enforcement of environmental 10 law. 11 So I'm a professor, and I read you 12 that definition. And I understand that that 13 probably doesn't mean a lot to the people who 14 haven't been doing this.