The past several weeks have been a mind expansion of epic proportions concerning the rivers in the Northwest and the ills that impact them. Portland Harbor (lower Willamette River) and Lower Duwamish (South Seattle’s South Park and Jefferson neighborhoods) have challenges that will need constant vigilant grass-roots community participation. Clean up of the Lower Duwamish and Portland Harbor superfund sites are not something you do for a term, it is truly a commitment having noticed first hand at the Portland Harbor Community Action Group (PHCAG) and the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition (DRCC).
These coalitions have been in the trenches for over 15 years since the EPA’s listing of the Willamette River as a Superfund. It is my opinion that the length of time of the recognized listing by the EPA has been a difficult challenge for the coalitions, this large time frame allows for a revolving door of concerned citizens who become “meeting fatigued” or “life” simply happens and folks move on to other things. I am not sure why the work of building a strong social fabric in the community has not happened with the PHCAG, I would think that this work would be essential. What I have learned during this course is that nuance is very important, even the nuance in mission statements between DRCC and PHCAG, the DRCC says in it that it will “…ensure… accepted by and benefits the community…” and PHCAG’s says it will, “…ensure…through community participation. One is about giving community control and the other is about letting the community be a part of the show. I find that the approach PHCAG may hamper impacted community involvement, there is not a sense of power, or charge of destiny and this can be felt in trying to galvanize the community to make comment about the up coming scheduled superfund proposal. Progress happens when communities are engaged, have shared concerns and sense of urgency these are avenues for progress. I would define progress as an educated citizenry who can make meaningful comment about the superfund site after the proposal is announced. Currently, however, many individuals who live near the impacted areas in North Portland are not aware of the proposal, cleanup or comment period. The city of Portland and some community action groups (to a certain degree) can be blamed for some of these equitable failures. Communities want to be informed and industry and local/ national government want to promote a fake democratic public participation. The LWG approach the Portland Harbor from a position of power and privilege, they have resources to monitor community engagement and they have the knowledge concerning the science. E.J. Woodhouse explains how industry and governments are not cognizant, “…in recognizing that rapid R&D and scale-up usually prove problematic, nor in thinking through the manifestly undemocratic implication of the privileged positions of science.” and how the, “scaled[ing] up by industry and governments [move] far to fast to allow the relative slow learning from experience that humans and their organizations know how to do.” Coalitions have to remain nimble, tough, and inventive to keep folks informed and bring new blood to the coalitions. Coalitions have to create new stories of the same story to keep the community interested in involved. The community has to feel invested in the cause, so they can’t be intellectualized over or talked down to. It is also my opinion that keeping it simple, staying vigilant, and diversification in outreach (religious organizations, ESL, and youth) are the strengths of coalitions to keep communities informed and engaged. By Michael Pouncil Woodhouse, E. J. (2006). Nanoscience, green chemistry, and the privileged position of science. The new political sociology of science: Institutions, networks, and power, 148-181.
1 Comment
Lola Goldberg
5/23/2016 01:26:09 pm
Another thoughtful and well-written post, Michael. Thank you. I appreciate your participation and insight with PHCAG. The artistic flyer incorporating the communities' needs is great.
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