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This article was originally published on Jul 17 5:00am EDT by THE CITY

After the Canadian wildfire smoke that blanketed the city in early June cleared, an idea for next time emerged: creating clean air centers.

The centers would be indoor public spaces with clean air where New Yorkers could retreat if they had nowhere else to go, or if the air inside their homes was not healthy.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams is pursuing legislation with the City Council to establish a network of the centers, which already exist in California and Washington state.

Staying indoors doesn’t always mean people are out of the way of particulate pollution contained in smoke. Older buildings tend to be draftier and may lack filtration systems. The pollution may even leak into newer housing stock and remain in the air if the space is not equipped with high-quality filters. This kind of pollution is harmful to health, especially for children, the elderly, pregnant people and those with respiratory or heart issues.

NYC Emergency Management, which manages preparations for and the response to emergency events, has not commited to or ruled out clean air centers for future smoke events.

“Our actions and strategies are constantly guided by and from our trusted scientific and medical experts,” said spokesperson Aries Dela Cruz. “In line with this, following any emergency, our team conducts thorough after-action reviews with a commitment to learn, adapt, and improve.”

But Williams says the time to act is now. “It’s no longer enough to reflect and develop plans for what we’ve already encountered thus far; we must also anticipate and prepare for the unforeseen in order to keep our city safe and healthy,” he said.

Tried and Tested in California

Unless indoor air is clean, staying inside is not necessarily the solution to avoiding the worst of the pollution that comes with wildfire smoke, as THE CITY previously reported.

“In the context of climate change, this problem is not going to get better. It’s going to get worse with the fires,” said Dr. Mary Johnson, a research scientist at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “We really need to become more educated about indoor air quality.” 

A report released by Williams’ office this month recommended the city establish clean air centers, upgrade HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) systems, air filters and air monitors in public schools, and better educate the public on how to make clean air rooms in their homes.

The report largely incorporated ideas from West Coast-based officials.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District in California launched the state’s first official clean air center in San Francisco last year. The effort includes 331 locations across the region, which are activated when the air quality index exceeds 151, denoting unhealthy air.

The centers are located in libraries, senior centers and recreation centers — and in homeless shelters for the unhoused, and in schools for students. One of the centers underwent a $500,000 HVAC upgrade, but the majority were equipped with portable air cleaners certified by the California Air Resources Board with HEPA filters, which cost about $2,000 each, according to a spokesperson.

If New York City were to implement clean air centers, it could stand to incorporate lessons from the West Coast, too.

Ryan Treves, a research fellow at Stanford Law School’s Regulation, Evaluation, and Governance Lab, authored a paper examining the gaps between the intention behind California’s centers and how they’re actually used.

Challenges appeared in how to find space for the centers and staff them. Those in charge of setting them up reported that sometimes not many people showed up to use them.

“Clean air centers must be made accessible through easy transportation options, robust outreach and extended hours,” Treves said. “They must be a part of a holistic strategy that prioritizes those most vulnerable, such as the unhoused and protects people first and foremost where they are.”

Wear a Mask

City Councilmember Lincoln Restler (D-Brooklyn) on Wednesday questioned — during a Council oversight hearing on the administration’s response to the smoke — why the city did not make available places for people who couldn’t escape, even in their homes, from the terrible air quality.

“Oftentimes, problematic outdoor air gets into people’s apartments even when the windows are closed. It’s really important for there to be a safe place to go,” Restler said. “Opening up the network of centers that are traditionally cooling centers and operating them as clean air centers, getting air purifiers out to them would have been a rapid effective response to better keep New Yorkers safe.”

Emergency Management Commissioner Zachary Iscol noted that New Yorkers would have to go out into the haze to travel to a center via walking or public transit, and that would further threaten their safety.

“We think it would actually be putting New Yorkers in danger by having them go outside of their homes to go outside,” Iscol said. 

But experts said that while it’s true that traveling to a center would expose people to the harmful pollution outside, it ultimately would be better than staying inside a home with poor air quality — or without air conditioning, which would make it more likely for a person to have to open their windows.

“By wearing an N95 mask and making that exposure short as possible, the benefits of spending hours in a clean air center would outweigh the short risk of getting there,” said Dan Westervelt, an associate research professor at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Not Just a Cooling Center

The city opens cooling centers when the temperature hits 100 degrees Fahrenheit, or the National Weather Service issues a heat advisory with a forecasted heat index (combining heat plus humidity) of 95 degrees or higher for at least two days. None have been open during the smoke events so far this summer. But simply designating those cooling centers as clean air centers during a smoke event isn’t enough.

“Operating a clean air center is not as trivial as adding purifiers in a cooling center,” said Ilias Kavouras, professor of environmental sciences at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health, who said officials should start working on a network of clean air centers for the next smoke event.

“There are no easy or cheap fix-ups. It is a matter of preparedness so it won’t be an issue of significant adverse health outcomes including health,” Kavouras added.

The city would have to ensure that those cooling centers — air-conditioned libraries, NYCHA buildings, and senior and community centers — have good indoor air quality by monitoring it and employing high-performance filtration systems to clean the air.

And the city would need to make improvements to its network overall, as a 2022 report from the city comptroller found disparities in the number of centers, their locations and hours open.

Eunice Ko, deputy director of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, also encouraged the creation of clean air centers and said the city should make sure it would “distribute them equitably in environmental justice communities.” Those are neighborhoods that already suffer from worse air pollution on a regular basis because of traffic and facilities like power plants.

THE CITY is an independent, nonprofit news outlet dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that serves the people of New York.

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HOOVER, Ala. (AP) — A 25-year-old Alabama woman returned home late Saturday after being the focus of a two-day search by police and family members who reported her missing after she stopped to check on a child who was walking along a highway.

Police said Carlethia “Carlee” Nichole Russell had returned to the home she shares with her parents in Hoover, AL.com reported late Saturday night.

Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis said Russell arrived home alone and was brought to a hospital for evaluation, AL.com reported.

Russell’s whereabouts were not immediately clear since around 10:45 p.m. Thursday when she called 911 and a family member to say she saw a young child walking on the side of Interstate 459.

Police found Russell’s car and her cellphone but were unable to find her or a child in the area.

Hoover Police Lt. Daniel Lowe said the family member on the phone with Russell lost contact with her even though the line remained open. A single witness reported possibly seeing a gray vehicle and a man standing outside of Carlee’s vehicle, but they had no additional information.

Police asked people to report any information they might have about her disappearance, while family members organized a search in the area.

Talitha Russell told AL.com her daughter was headed home in the community about 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Birmingham after leaving work and stopping to get food. She was on the phone with her brother’s girlfriend when she said she saw a child on the roadside.

“My son’s girlfriend heard her asking the child, ‘Are you Ok?’ She never heard the child say anything but then she heard our daughter scream,’’ Talitha Russell said. “From there, all you hear on her phone is background noise from the interstate.”

During the search there were two separate rewards of $20,000 and $5,000 for information assisting Russell’s safe return, police said.

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Mayor Eric Adams names Edward Caban as the new NYPD Commissioner. The mayor made the announcement Monday during a press conference in the Bronx at the 40th Precinct.

Caban, 55, was named interim commissioner in June when former commissioner Keechant Sewell announced her resignation after being on the job for 18 months.

Making history, Caban is the first Latino named NYPD Commissioner.

A Bronx native, Caban joined the NYPD in 1991 rising to the rank of sergeant and later inspector. He previously served as First Deputy Police Commissioner under Sewell.

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Tributes have continued to pour in for the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who announced on July 14 his retirement as President and CEO of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the influential civil rights organization he started decades ago to carry on the struggle for equality and justice that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought heroically.

The organization said Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III will succeed Jackson.

“The promise of America is that we are all created equal in the image of God and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives. While we’ve never fully lived up to that promise, we’ve never fully walked away from it because of extraordinary leaders like Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr.,” President Joe Biden stated.

“Throughout our decades of friendship and partnership, I’ve seen how Reverend Jackson has helped lead our nation forward through tumult and triumph.”

The President continued: “Whether on the campaign trail, on the march for equality, or in the room advocating for what is right and just, I’ve seen him as history will remember him: a man of God and of the people; determined, strategic, and unafraid of the work to redeem the soul of our nation.”

One of Jackson’s comrade in the civil rights struggle, National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., echoed Biden’s remarks.

“On behalf of the NNPA, representing the Black Press of America, I am so pleased to issue the NNPA’s highest regards and respect to the Honorable Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.,” Chavis remarked.

“I have known and worked with the Rev. Jackson all of my adult life as a fellow freedom fighter in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, NAACP, Rainbow PUSH, United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice, and the National African American Leadership Summit.”

Chavis continued: “Rev. Jackson’s transformative ‘Run Jesse Run’ presidential campaigns in the 1980s irreversibly changed America for the better.

“The Black Press resolutely salutes Jesse Jackson’s outstanding national and global leadership, and we pledge to keep fighting for freedom, justice, equality, and equity.”
Jackson, a renowned figure in the fight for civil rights, founded PUSH (People United to

Save Humanity) in 1971 and established the National Rainbow Coalition in 1984.
In 1996, the two organizations merged to form the powerful and influential Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

Organization officials said Dr. Haynes, a Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc. co-chair, has exemplified the same passion and commitment to global racial justice that characterizes Jackson’s legacy.

As a co-founder of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference (SDPC), Inc., Haynes has been a guiding force for over two decades, upholding the mission and ministry of the organization.

“This nation has entered a new era of struggle against racial injustices, hate speech, new forms of institutional oppression against the poor, people of color, and those marginalized due to religion or sexual orientation,” said Dr. Iva Carruthers, general secretary, and co-founder of the SDPC.

Bishop Leah Daughtry, co-chair of the SDPC, highlighted the necessity for collaboration between national and local organizations during what he called critical times.

“Collaboration between national and local organizations is ever more needed at this time,” he said in a news release.

According to his official biography, Jackson was born on October 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina.

He graduated from the public schools in Greenville and then enrolled in the University of Illinois on a football scholarship.

Jackson later transferred to North Carolina A&T State University and graduated in 1964.

He began his theological studies at Chicago Theological Seminary but, according to his bio, deferred his studies when he started working full-time in the Civil Rights Movement with Dr. King.

Ordained by Rev. Clay Evans on June 30, 1968, Jackson received his Master of Divinity degree from Chicago Theological Seminary in 2000.

For his work in human and civil rights and nonviolent social change, Jackson has received over 40 honorary doctorate degrees and frequently lectures at major colleges and universities, including Howard, Yale, Princeton, Morehouse, Harvard, Columbia, Stanford and Hampton.

He was made an Honorary Fellow of Regents Park College at Oxford University in the UK in November 2007 and received an Honorary Fellowship from Edge Hill University in Liverpool, England.

In March 2010, Jackson earned induction into England’s prestigious Cambridge Union Society.

In April 2010, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.

In October 1997, President Bill Clinton appointed Jackson as Special Envoy of the President and Secretary of State for the Promotion of Democracy in Africa.

“Jill and I are grateful to Rev. Jackson for his lifetime of dedicated service and extend our appreciation to the entire Jackson family,” Biden added.

“We look forward to working with the Rainbow PUSH Coalition as he hands the torch to the next generation of leadership, just as we will continue to cherish the counsel and wisdom that we draw from him.”

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