Mary Robinson - Free Response 5

In 2008, the city council officially closed the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind in Hampton Roads. The school opened in 1909 as the “Virginia State School for Colored Deaf and Blind Children” (there was already a school for non-POC children in Staunton, Virginia). Once local schools were required to teach and accommodate those who are deaf and blind the enrollment rate declined. Thus, in 2008 the school was shut down. If you were to visit the old location of the Hampton School you will be met with a vacant lot, aside from one building that still stands. There are construction vehicles and timber piles that have accumulated from land clearing initiatives to bring in a new construction project. The city now wants to use the site for industrial warehouse development which is against the wishes of the local Hampton community (Wolf, 2022). This project means that trucks spewing diesel fuel pollutants would be coming in and out of the site causing environmental harm to the community. Already near the site is a multi-lane highway which continues to raise pollutants and negatively impact air quality within the area which would only be further caused by the warehouse construction. The community states that this development would threaten the character and safety of the predominant black community surrounding the area (Wolf, 2022). Residents of the surrounding area want to utilize the site for green space, affordable housing, spaces that will allow the community to gain something whether that be healthy accessible food options or the opportunity for more jobs (Wolf, 2022). However, the city is paying little to no attention to the community in which their warehouse project would affect. This is an example of social equity which concerns itself with the justice and fairness every individual has in partaking in the decision-making process. Oftentimes those in power make decisions that do not take into consideration the impact certain actions would have on communities, resulting in environmental injustice within communities. https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/hampton/hampton-community-doesnt-want-historic-site-rezoned-for-warehouses/

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