This article appeared in the March 25, 2004 Jewish Advocate.

Environmental initiatives the focus of JALSA/COEJL forum

By Susie Davidson

Advocate Correspondent

Opposition to Boston University Medical Center’s proposed Bioterrorism Lab in the South End/Roxbury area, and “Beat the Fare,” an initiative to oppose increases in public transit fares, are two recent campaigns of Roxbury-based Alternatives for Community and Environment. This Sunday evening, March 28, from 5-7 p.m. at Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline. JALSA, the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action and COEJL, Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, will host a forum on these as well as other efforts that help low-income communities and communities of color achieve environmental justice.

“Environmental Justice for All Communities: Confronting Power and Demanding Change” will feature Klare Allen, who co-directs the Roxbury Environmental Empowerment Project for ACE, and ACE Staff Attorney Eugene Benson. A light supper will be served at the event, which is part of an every-other month Sunday evening JALSA series for “young social activists,” aged 20’s to 40’s, with high-profile speakers on contemporary issues. JALSA’s YSA forums are supported by the Brookline-Brighton Jewish Community Fund of Combined Jewish Philanthropies.

JALSA, a progressive voice within the Jewish community, focuses on issues of social and economic justice, civil rights, and constitutional liberties. ACE, founded in 1994, provides legal and technical support, educational programs, and organizing aid to New England community groups concerned with solving environmental problems and developing local environmental leadership.

“We will be discussing the bioterriorism lab that BU proposes to build near Boston Medical Center, the reasons for community opposition, and why it is an environmental justice issue,” said Benson, an Arlington resident and graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., who joined ACE in 2003. Prior to that, he was the Associate General Counsel at Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, where he led the Environmental and Regulatory Law section, Executive Director of Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services; Chief Attorney of the Legal Aid Bureau office in Frederick, Maryland, and Managing Attorney and Staff Attorney of the Prince George’s County Senior Citizens Law Project in Mt. Rainier, Maryland.

A native of Queens and Brooklyn, Benson grew up in a Kosher household and attended a Conservative synagogue in his youth. Today, he serves on the Steering Committee of the Environmental Law Section of the Boston Bar Association, and wrote the chapter on Water Pollution Control in Massachusetts Environmental Law (MCLE 1999 and 2002). He also chairs Arlington’s environment task group, and was president of the Mystic River Watershed Association.

Boston Medical Center’s BSL4 Bioterrorism Laboratory, he says, has been opposed by a coalition of residents, community and advocacy groups, elected officials, scientists, and others. Their reasons, he contends, are many: “the health and safety risks are serious, BU refuses to provide documentation about the lab, there will be no public right to know, it does not belong in a residential neighborhood, it will produce few decent jobs for community residents, it will increase gentrification and job loss, and quite simply, it is a waste of money and an example of misplaced priorities.”

He and Allen will also update attendees on ACE's public transportation advocacy. “Beat the Fare,” he says, united community organizations, environmental groups, and MBTA riders in opposition to increases in public transit fares.

Allen, who joined ACE in 1995, founded the Mother's Coalition, which advocates for homeless women and their children. Her organizing and teaching awards include the 1999 “As They Grow” award from Parent's Magazine, and the 1998 African Achievers Award from the Black Community Center. She was selected as Conservation Teacher of the Year by the Massachusetts Audubon Society in 1996 for her role in launching the Roxbury Environmental Empowerment Project. She also received the 1996 Green Leaf award from the Environmental Diversity Forum.

JALSA will provide a light dairy or veggie entree ($5.00 voluntary contributions appreciated); please bring potluck desserts or appetizers (store bought items are fine). Make sure all food is dairy or veggie. There is no access to kitchen facilities, so food needs to keep well at room temperature.

For information, please call 617-742-1836 or Cindy@jalsa.org.

Temple Ohabei Shalom is located at 1187 Beacon St., Brookline (on the “C” branch of the Green Line; on street parking available). For information on Alternatives for Community and Environment, please visit www.ace-ej.org.