Hard to believe it's been five years since Mattapan Environmental Action Network (M.E.A.N.) featured this video to launch its quest for ongoing assessments of the air quality in Mattapan, MA.
According to the MA Department of Transportation, on average 80,000 cars and trucks blow through Mattapan every day. Since fewer than 50% of Mattapan residents own a passenger vehicle, the vast majority of these trips are commuters passing through here. Add to that the multiples of MBTA bus lines tripping through Mattapan 20-30 times a day, and you can begin to get a sense of what the air quality must be like here.
Of the 30,000 people who live here, the elderly and children under 18 (the two age cohorts most susceptible to developing respiratory conditions from breathing bad air) together constitute 40% of Mattapan's population. So the rates of asthma and emphysema have spiked in recent years.
While the volume of traffic continues to build, the number of large trucks-- especially semis with diesel engines--have increased as well. Some enter, park, and idle here in conjunction with commercial operations or real estate developments; others appear to simply use our streets in ways other than permitted--e.g., an alternative route to an interstate highway connection.
Whatever the case may be, the emissions make walking down the street or standing at a bus stop untenable for many. M.E.A.N. hopes to gather air quality data and/or create opportunities for us to crowdsource potential infringements of air quality standards. So HELP!
