A Soundview mother is pleading for help, saying the environment around her home has contributed to her children\u2019s health problems as construction work on the Cross Bronx Expressway is set to begin in the coming months.<\/p>\n
Tiffane Thorpe has lived for eight years at NYCHA\u2019s Bronx River Houses, where her apartment overlooks the busy expressway. She said grime and debris frequently coat her bedroom window, forcing her to keep it shut.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou smell things that aren\u2019t good, like chemicals,\u201d Thorpe said.<\/p>\n
Thorpe said some of her young children have developed environmental asthma, which she believes is linked to prolonged exposure to polluted air. Unable to move, she said she has adjusted her family\u2019s daily routine and now gives her children medication twice a day.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter long periods of time of breathing in the air, they begin to wheeze or cough,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
With separate construction already underway near her apartment and expressway work expected to begin this spring, Thorpe fears her children\u2019s health could worsen.<\/p>\n
Neighbors with similar concerns are calling on state leaders to intervene before construction begins.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur governor should come out and take a walk and actually see what other alternative can happen,\u201d said Norma Saunders, president of the Bronx River Houses Resident Association.<\/p>\n
The state Transportation Department plans to replace or renovate five bridges along the expressway, which officials say are more than 70 years old. Opponents argue the project would add lanes, pushing the roadway even closer to nearby homes.<\/p>\n
Residents worry the impact could be irreversible and last for decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody\u2019s saying it doesn\u2019t need to be fixed,\u201d Saunders said. \u201cBut it has to be a better way \u2014 something healthier for our community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Soundview mother is pleading for help, saying the environment around her home has contributed to her children\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,1309,5185,9,24,63,305,9952,2466,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-131847","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-bronx-river","10":"tag-cross-bronx-expressway","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-nycha","15":"tag-nycha-complex","16":"tag-soundview","17":"tag-the-bronx","18":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","19":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}