Medical Waste Incinerators in The Bronx

How can a community effectively resolve conflict?

South Bronx High School

Ms. Dunn-Ruiz

INTRODUCTION:

In the past few decades the asthma rates have dramatically increased in The Bronx. Many people attribute this to the growing number of air polluting factories housed in The Bronx. What rights do members of a community have to block the construction of buildings intended for industries contributing to health problems in their community?

TASK:

Every member of your group will be assigned a role that they will play for the duration of this project. As that person you will research your individual position on the construction of a Medical Waste Incinerator in the South Bronx. You will write out the steps you would take to ensure that your needs are met. As a group you will then have to negotiate the conflict. Your group will create a narrative account of

the steps taken and the consequences of those action.

PROCESS:

· Review your assigned role

§ Bronx Borough President

§ Principal of St. Luke Elementary School

§ High School Junior living in the community

§ representative of Bronx Lebanon Hospital

§ representative of Resource Management Technologies

§ representative of Browning Ferris Industries

· Read general information

· Research your position on the issue

· Write individual position paper

· Present position paper to group

· Debate possible options to resolve conflict using CompuLegal to review your rights

· Write a group account of what steps were taken by the various parties and what happened as a result

· Present your findings to the class

· Class discussion regarding various methods of conflict resolution

· Read actual historic account of the conflict

· Evaluate effective conflict resolution skills

· Self evaluation

· Group evaluation

· Write process essay detailing what you learned though this project

RESOURCES:

POSITION PAPER :

South Bronx Clean Air Coalition

http://www.crp.cornell.edu/projects/southbronx/index.html

New York City Sierra Club

http://www.newyork.sierraclub.org/nyc/article8.html

Bronx Borough President Wep Page

http://bronxboropres.nyc.gov/en/gv/home/index.asp

Congressman Jose Serrano Web Page

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ny16_serrano/pr_981228_EPA.html

RIGHTS and ACTIONS :

Various Supreme Court cases arranged by topics

http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/topic.htm

Feiner V. New York

http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/feiner.html

Tinker V. Des Moines

http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/tinker.html

Forsyth County V. The Nationalist Movement

http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/forsyth.html

Laude V. Gilleo

http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/ladue.html

Dole Food Co. V. Patrickson

http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/01-593.ZS.html

Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.,

http://www2.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/foliocgi.exe/historic/query=[group+f_environment!3A]/doc/{t93238}/hit_headings/words=4/pageitems={body

City Government Organization Chart

http://www.nyc.gov/portal/frame.jsp?url=http://64.14.47.89/query.html?qt=organization+chart

EVALUATION:

You will be graded at every step of this process.

This includes written work, as well as how effectively your group works together.

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4	Score
Research and Debate	Incapable of working together	Working individually on sections without interaction or assistance from group	Equal distribution of responsibility and effort with minimal interaction and assistance	All group members actively working with one another on all aspects of project
Individual Position Paper	Based only on personal opinions	Relies heavily on personal opinion but makes implicit references to research	Provides personal opinion and makes superficial references to research	Thoughtful discussion including both opinion and cited evidence of research
Group Action Paper	Simple list of irrelevant or events with no explanation of consequences	Superficial discussion of events and consequences, lacking logical flow	Adequate discussion of events and consequences	Thoughtful discussion of the events, with clear consequences in a logical order
Presentation of Findings	Missing any required sections	All sections completed but done so thoughtlessly and carelessly with errors that hinder comprehension	Sections all completed and presented	Excellent presentation of all elements including layout, graphics, content, and oral presentation
Individual Process Essay	Based only on personal opinions making no references to events or information	Relies heavily on personal opinion but makes implicit references to events or information	Provides personal opinion and makes superficial references to events, information, and knowledge gained	Thoughtful discussion of project and the learning process, including both opinion and cited evidence of events and information

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS STANDARDS ACHIEVED

E1c Read and comprehend informational materials.

E2a Produce a report of information.

E3b Participate in group meetings.

E4a Independently and habitually demonstrate an understanding of the rules of the English language in written and oral work.

E4b Analyze and subsequently revise work to improve its clarity and effectiveness.

CONCLUSION:

This project focused on the relationship between private industry and community interest in the particular instance of Medical Waste Incinerators in the South Bronx. The conflict of public interest versus private industry is, however, an ongoing one that manifests itself in many ways. Through this role-playing project you have learned how complex these types of conflicts are, as well as the various options available to you as a citizen of this city and country.

Look around…

What ails your community?

What can you do to help?