The Cross-Bronx Expressway: Back at the (round)table

On Monday, community organizers in the Bronx met with representatives from the Spitzer School of Architecture, as well as designers from Felixx, a Rotterdam-based landscape office, and ORG, a design and research group with offices in Brussels and New York, to discuss potential strategies for capping the Cross Bronx Expressway (CBE). The event came on the heels of a recent pledge made by the New York City Department of Transportation to “reimagine” the CBE with the help of federal investment. While the panel was informative, the urgency of the matter was only gotten across during the Q&A. “First and foremost, people want to breathe safe air,” a Bronx resident said in reference to the deleterious effects the seven-mile long, highly polluted corridor had on the health of approximately 220,000 predominantly Black and Brown people who live in the neighborhoods adjacent to the CBE. As one Spitzer alum reminded everyone, these areas have the “highest death and disease rates from asthma”, diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease in the country. #LovingtheBronx and other…