Program title: Shoreline Access for All: Environmental Justice Along the Coast
By Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council
(CRMC)
Photo by Alex Nunes, South County Bureau chief for RI's The Public's Radio
This webinar highlights environmental justice issues
pertaining to shoreline public access in Rhode Island.
Kate Mulvaney, social scientist for the Environmental Protection Agency, will discuss findings from a study looking at whether there are disparities in ability to access the shore based on race, income, and geographic location across the state.
Julia Twichell, watershed and GIS specialist for the
Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, will present research that used cell phone
data to determine the state's most highly used coastal public access
points.
Leah Feldman, CRMC policy analyst, will explore the
impacts of participation in a place-based educational sailing program in
Newport, RI, as well as outline CRMC’s work to improve equity in coastal
access.
A question & answer session with the speakers will follow the presentations. To submit questions about public shoreline access and equity issues, please click here.
This is the second CRMC on-line discussion on public access. To watch the first on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei1Gul6Wvq8
The online event is set for Wednesday, June 30 at 5 p.m. If you wish to participate, register ahead of time.
This
event comes at a time when there has been a number of local news stories about
blocked access and the role played in blocking access by Rhode Island’s seven
shoreline fire districts, including several that actually have no firefighting
capacity whatsoever.
Two
of the best pieces were done by Rhode Island’s public radio HERE
and HERE.
Progressive
Charlestown has also looked at the problems of allowing homeowner associations
to morph into fire districts that don’t fight fires HERE
and HERE