President
149th South Ozone Park Civic AssociationAracelia is supporting a community science project on groundwater flooding as part of the Thriving Earth Exchange at the American Geophysical Union.
She/Her
I worked as a School Secretary with the Department of Education for over 30 years, where I actively advocated for parents of children with special needs. During this time, I served as a chapter leader with the United Federation of Teachers and as a delegate for both the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and New York State United Teachers (NYSUT). I am also a member of the AFT Black Caucus, New York State Chapter.Following my retirement, I pursued higher education at Queens College, earning a B.A./M.A. in Urban Studies with a 4.0 GPA in May 2019. Shortly after graduation, I was offered a teaching position at the college, where I taught the course “Poverty and Affluence,” which explored topics such as environmental racism, preparing me for continued work in environmental justice.I currently serve as President of both the 149th Street South Ozone Park Civic Association and the Inwood Street Block Association. I actively attend Community Board 12 meetings and am a member of the Southeast Queens Residents Environmental Justice Coalition (SQREJC). In response to the November 2019 sewage backup, I collaborated with local elected officials and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), conducting door-to-door outreach, coordinating meal distribution with local churches, and supporting displaced residents, particularly seniors in temporary housing.Through SQREJC, I continue to address issues related to groundwater, flooding, air quality, and other environmental concerns. I am also a member of the 113th Precinct Council, where I’ve contributed to events such as Prom Day, National Night Out Against Crime, and a community holiday celebration organized in partnership with local organizations. I maintain strong ties with the DEP to ensure residents continue receiving support related to environmental and infrastructure issues.Full Transcript
INTRO
This is The Climate Story Project— where we share real stories about how climate change is shaping our lives. Stories that connect us. Stories that move us to act. This is a project of the New York Climate Exchange, a non-profit organization that’s accelerating climate solutions through a unique partnership model and climate campus on Governors Island. In each episode, you’ll hear voices from different places and walks of life in our growing archive of personal climate stories, so that we can remember, reflect, and respond together.
The story you’re about to hear is from Aracelia Cook and Kathy Rufus. Aracelia is the president and Kathy is the treasurer of the 149th South Ozone Park Civic Association. They are both leaders on a local ground water community science project, as part of the Thriving Earth Exchange at the American Geophysical Union, partner of the New York Climate Exchange.
ARACELIA
Well my name is Aracelia Cook, I am the president of the 149th South Ozone Park Civic Association.
KATHY
My name is Kathy Rufus and I'm the treasurer of the 149th Civic Association.
ARACELIA
South.
KATHY
South Ozone Park. Forgive me.
ARACELIA
When I was a little girl here in New York, I remember the snowstorms that we used to have. And I mean, we had snowstorms. I mean, I lived around the corner from my elementary school and I remember my mom would have to carry me through the snowstorms to the school. Over time, you stopped seeing snowstorms like that.
KATHY
I'm originally from South Carolina, I've been in New York for about 36 years. When I came to New York, it was like snow for the first time. Mountains of snow. I had never seen that. So I had to learn how to navigate through the snow.
But in the last five years, no snowstorms, no 10 inchers. I'm like, what's going on here?
ARACELIA
Over time, I have really noticed a change in the environment.
KATHY
Definitely has changed. There’s definitely a thing called climate change.
ARACELIA
Climate change has affected us really adversely here in Southeast Queens. We suffer with ponding water. We have a park, Baisley Pond Park, and you'll see where the water's just settling because it doesn't have anywhere to go.
And then one of the other issues is the pesticides that are used in our community. When they start talking about, “oh, we're gonna spray about five o'clock.” And you saying spray, so you gonna be over our heads, spraying out some chemicals. I don't even come out my house, because I'm nervous about what are they spraying? What kind of chemicals are you spraying and how is that going to impact on the overall health of us as individuals?
One of the big issues that we are addressing right now is the battery energy storage systems that are going to be storing lithium ion batteries in our community. These should not be in residential areas, it should be in industrial, so therefore it's not impacting on the environment of the community. So we are fighting against that. We are fighting also against flooding in our community. We are fighting against the pollution of the incinerated plants. Like Royal is an incinerator that burns garbage over there on Libby Avenue, and the smell that permeates that area is really not good. Years ago, when they had the Wonder Bread, you could smell the bread. But now you have the garbage.
KATHY
I was teaching in Hempstead in my first grade class, and I found out that two thirds of my students had asthma. I was like, really? And you see that so much now in kids. You know, the biggest two things, I guess, is asthma and diabetes. You know, so that's frightening.
ARACELIA
Back in 2019, we had a devastation in our community, where we had a 42 inch sewer line to collapse. This sewer line caused over 325 homes to be inundated with raw sewage.
The day that it happened, 'cause it was a Thanksgiving weekend, I kept smelling something, like, what's that smell? What's that smell? When I went outside, I saw the 49.99 Sewer man. He was next door to the people’s house. I'm like, oh, that's where that's at, they had a sewage back up. So, the guy come and say, “Yeah, this is a DEP problem. You gotta contact them.” I’m like, “DEP?” I'm like, now all of a sudden get my attention. What's going on? Every house, people started coming out talking about the sewage, talking about this and that.
KATHY
It's so funny, we're only a few blocks away, but everything in my area is so different from what they've gone through. And I'm amazed at how things can happen. It used to remind me of how when we were little, you come home from school and it's storming. The street next to you, dry as a doornail. You know? I'm like, that is something.
ARACELIA
Yeah.
KATHY
And that's how strange it was.
ARACELIA
And that's how it was because their block was good. Their block was good. It went from 144 to 147 Street, from some parts of Rockaway, over to the conduit. So for myself, I just had my basement sanitized. Other people’s houses were crazy. I mean, you had to put on boots to go down into their basement. People could not live in their basements. People were removed from their homes. They put us in hotels. The Red Cross put us in hotels. But even with that, I didn't like staying in a hotel because you're just taken outta your element.
It was really devastating for our community. Some of the residents, they didn't ever get back into their homes. Mr. Prescott– very nice gentleman– I met him and his mom. They had to go into a hotel. His mother passed away. She never got a chance to come back into her home. He was able to sell the house and he moved upstate, but he has since passed away. We had Reverend Harris. Reverend Harris was 98. He didn't see his basement get completed. He wound up going into a nursing home and passing away. Some residents lost everything in their basement. They haven't received any kind of compensation at all.
Since that main one, we've had about two more sewer line breaks. They told us we could not plant for about two years, because of the contamination from the raw sewage that went into people's yards. We have been trying, even right to this day, to get the soil tested. So you could even see the impact that it's having on the natural environment.
I love green. I love flowers. So I plant flowers in front of my yard. I'm a little upset about my front because it was so hot, my grass got burnt really bad. but in my backyard I have tomatoes growing, lettuce growing. All you see in our community, unfortunately, is a lot of trash. You don't get to see greenery or anything like that. So that's something I would love to see in our community.
KATHY
And I would love to see more bird baths in the parks. There's a corner across the street from me and every morning a cluster of birds would get together and you hear 'em just talking. And I was like, “I sure wish I knew what they were saying.” But they just seem so happy, you know? And that makes you feel good to see them out there just, you know, engaging with each other. And I'm a flower person too. So lots of greenery. Definitely lots of greenery.
ARACELIA
And crickets.
KATHY
Oh, I love to hear– I used to love listening for crickets.
ARACELIA
I love crickets. I think I heard some crickets last year, but you don't hear them on the regular like you used to hear before with crickets.
KATHY
And the light bugs. We used to catch them. We used to catch them.
ARACELIA
Yeah lightning bugs and ladybugs.
KATHY
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
ARACELIA
I used to love to see, see those things. And we'd catch the lightning bugs and you don't see that.
KATHY
Yeah, you don't see 'em.
ARACELIA
And butterflies. I love butterflies.
KATHY
Oh yes. You don't hardly see butterflies at all.
ARACELIA
The caterpillars and things like that.
KATHY
Mhm.
ARACELIA
Yeah. So that would show to me a thriving environment.
KATHY
Yeah. A world like that would be nice.
OUTRO
This story is part of The Climate Story Project. To find more stories and learn more about The New York Climate Exchange, visit nyclimateexchange.org and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram. This episode was produced by Kylie Miller. Thanks for listening.