Nearly 50 years after the Love Canal environmental disaster, families in Niagara Falls are once again raising safety concerns in and around their homes.
Residents and community advocates gathered at Frontier Firehall to call on New York State for truth and justice. Some residents are living with radioactivity on their properties, while others are pointing out the presence of toxic chemicals seeping from the ground.
Lexi Hawk, co-founder of Save Our Backyards of Western New York, says it’s time now for the community to come together.
"Community involvement is the most important because people power is bigger than anything. It's bigger than test results. When you know something is wrong, you shouldn't have to wait for the scientific data to come in to get yourself to safety." Hawk said.
She added that many residents are frustrated because they have not received any updates from New York State.
"They have really went pretty silent on us," Hawk said. "We have a community involvement coordinator, and that's the only person we're allowed to speak to. And all she says is, "We're going to try to find the answer for you," and then we don't hear back."
Hawk says they expect to hear back in the first week of November.
"We still don't have our soil sample results. We're being told not until after Election Day, November 5." Hawk added, "We did find out that my friend Jackie Linkowski on Chester Ave, her foundation is actually made with something called monazite sand; it's literally radioactive sand."
On Tuesday evening, Jackie Young Medcalf, leader of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, an organization founded by Love Canal activist Lois Gibbs, was the keynote speaker at Frontier Firehall.
Medcalf's message to the community is to rally together and to not remain silent.
"This isn't going to be a quick process, and the community has a role in this process, so I want to really encourage them to use their voice, advocate for what they want, organize around a central goal, and encourage them that they really can truly make a difference in protecting their community," Medcalf said.
Medcalf empathized with the community, recalling she went through horrific environmental issues while growing up in Texas.
"I grew up without knowing that I lived in between four Superfund sites, and I was just furious that nobody told us, nobody sent a letter to our house or knocked on our door. Meanwhile, they knew the contamination was all around us," she said.
Medcalf shared her experience with BTPM, "I was like 90 pounds. I'd lost use of both my hands. I was having about seven seizures a week on average. I was losing my hair."
Medcalf, who is now a national environmental advocate stemming from her personal experience, says what is happening to many residents in Niagara Falls is infuriating.
"They had no way of knowing that this contamination was there, and it's infuriating that the government was studying their property without letting them know, and now the state and federal governments have brought in investigators, and they're digging and disturbing these people's yards, and the families are expected to live there," she said.
The community is demanding three urgent needs: Relocate and protect the McKiernan family, investigate surrounding neighborhoods, and determine whether Love Canal is leaking.
