New Mysterious Boxes in the South Bronx Will Monitor Air Quality
CBS News
By Shosh Bedrosian
With high rates of asthma and air pollution in neighborhoods in the South Bronx, community groups are taking matters into their own hands to change the future for their residents. If you live in the South Bronx, you've probably wondered why there are grey boxes hanging on elevated locations throughout the neighborhood. And local organizations say they're designed to make the community better, in ways that have never been done before.
"This monitor here will measure particulate matter," explained Mychal Johnson, a founding member of South Bronx Unite. Members of South Bronx Unite are hard at work installing 25 air quality monitors around the borough. It's a new way the group is taking matters into their own hands to force policy and legislation changes by tracking the pollution levels they say plagues their community. They received state funding to help kick the plan in motion. "We can no longer live in these circumstances and in these environmental conditions where we're subject to having poor health and we're subject to not having enough resources or funding. We need to raise our voice and advocate for more," said Leslie Vasquez, a Clean Air Project Organizer at South Bronx Unite.
