A “Brown field” is the term generally used to describe previously developed land, which may be contaminated by toxic chemical dumping.
Imagine that you buy a house in one of the coolest neighborhoods in the country – that is how Oprah Magazine rates the Mount Airy Neighborhood of Philadelphia.
OK – you got your house, things are good.
And one day, the city Water Department starts digging across the street from you, and then you get sick….. very sick.
That is pretty much what happened to Margaret Motheral.
Margaret Motheral has been fighting the illegal digging up of chemicals dumped in the land next to her Mount Airy house and then the illegal digging up of that land for illegal development for over 4 years now. She has been in the hospital three times due to exposure to toxic contaminants and displaced from her home. Her story shows the worst side of city politics and business that wants to cover up the problems. She was finally able to get the attention of the Criminal Investigative Unit of the EPA.
Here is an attachments with links that contains the details of her story in her own words., so you can see for yourself what she is talking about.
Investigation of Environmental Crime
matthew feldman
May 15, 2010
I can’t believe that she convinced you to write about her
jayma19
May 16, 2010
Hey Matt:
Margaret did not convince me of anything.
I was looking for material from Margaret that I could publish. After a year of waiting, it finally showed up.
What I published is one paragraph that Margaret wrote and that I lightly edited. That is it.
I find your reaction to that one paragraph interesting.
Would you care to share the judgments that you have on Margaret and her story?
Feel free to respond to jayma.19@gmail.com
Thanks
butterflyrevolution
May 17, 2010
http://mamash-yitzi.blogspot.com/2009/07/rabbis-for-human-rights.html
Home demolitions constitute an especially disturbing human rights issue. A sense of home is an essential part of our humanity; homelessness has always been considered a human tragedy. Jews, because of our own history, are especially conscious of the issue of home, and Zionism can be said to be the movement to find a home for a people so often deprived of our homes.
The destruction of a home can only be experienced as a violation by its inhabitants. Something fundamental to one’s identity has been removed. To be deprived of one’s home is to be naked in the world. More, it can mean that one is unable to locate oneself in the world, to feel that one has a place. Without a home, wherever one walks in the world, a sense of tragedy and pain, of emptiness and shame accompanies you.
miriam edelman
May 15, 2010
I have known Margaret for over 25 years. She is a brilliant courageous woman who is trying to do the right thing all alone. Transparency in government has been a buzz word these days. The transparency that Margaret has gotten from the city of Philadelphia for over the past 5 years has been that of cover-up and greed. She has been labeled a crazy woman. We have heard that way too many times in history.
WHO out there has the courage to stand up and do the right thing? Miriam Edelman, RN
jayma19
May 16, 2010
Thank you for your comment.
The little I know of Margaret’s story is intriguing.
I think there is enough to her story that it deserves to be published.
I also think that Margaret is her own worse enemy.
Why?
Because Margaret or someone needs to pull the relevant materials, i.e.: the facts from the sea of her writings and get the actual scientific evidence
and distill all that into a few short coherent pieces that people WILL read.
I unfortunately do not have the time or resources to do this and I will be happy to publish the results of such effort.