Community Activists Sue to Stop Fresh Direct from Moving In
WNYC News
By Cindy Rodriguez
A local Bronx activist group, South Bronx Unite, and other local residents are suing Fresh Direct, city agencies and developers, to stop the internet grocer from relocating to the neighborhood.
Fresh Direct is receiving $128 million in government subsidies, including loans, grants and tax credits, and in return the company has agreed to create 1,000 new jobs.
The local groups opposed to the project say the jobs are not guaranteed, and they complain the grocer will bring truck pollution to an area with asthma rates that are 9 times the national average.
“What the community wants is sustainable businesses coming in. They want cleaner air. They want to reduce their asthma rates and certainly Fresh Direct will only heighten all of those problems,” attorney Christina Giorgio said. Giorgio, from New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, is representing the Bronx groups in the lawsuit that will be filed Wednesday.
