'We Need More Support': New EPA director takes a look at New Bedford neighborhood.

NEW BEDFORD — The Old Bedford Village Development Corporation hosted a meet and greet Tuesday for David Cash, regional director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency since February.

"It was so great to hear from you and hear the wide range of questions and concerns that you have," Cash told the group. "Everything's tied together whether it's food, or safety, or jobs, or the environment...It's all tied together."

That was the point of the tour of the South Central neighborhood, according to OBVDC Executive Director John "Buddy" Andrade.

Environmental Justice

The focal point of the tour was the site of the now defunct Morse Cutting Tools Factory — the city's first Brownfield site, which has been slated for cleanup since 1990.

"We're asking that the [cleanup] be a community-driven project," Andrade told Cash.

The parcel is a grass field surrounded by Purchase, Pleasant, Bedford and Wing streets on each of its sides, and one small shed once used by Viacom that now lies empty.

The plant was demolished in 1997 and is currently owned by the City of New Bedford.

But it left its mark on the area. Along the Purchase Street side, according to Andrade, there once sat a wall — referred to locally as "The Weeping Wall" — where industrial solvents and oils would often go through its cracks.

That is why, he added, there is very little vegetation on the site today.

Local sports: Vote for the Standard-Times High School Baseball Player of the Week for May 2-8

'Nothing new'

As the group of about a dozen activists came upon the corner of Acushnet Avenue and Russell Street, an older woman came out of a building with a sign reading "Sunshine's Place Daycare Center" over head.

Jackie Ramos, the daycare's owner since its founding 22 years ago, has lived in the neighborhood her whole life and says "I turned out OK."

She recalled the days when her grandfather — a man known among locals as "Sunshine" — used to walk with her to work in a community garden.

Cast a vote: Who should be the Standard-Times High School Boys Player of the Week for May 2-8?

According to lifelong resident Ramos, the solutions to many of the neighborhood's issues — including violence, drug trafficking, and more — can be found in the past.

"I would walk down the hill with [my grandfather], all the way down to Route 18," she said, "which was where all the farms were. All the immigrants; Portuguese, Cape Verdean, and whoever else was blessed to be here had their own little plots.

"Victory Gardens!" she continued, "there's nothing new about that!"

Yet the factory even managed to end her grandfather's life though he never worked there, she said.

"I grew up a block away from [Morse]," she said. "He didn't work there, he came in on a whaling ship...he got asbestos poisoning from there."

Cash did acknowledge that the demise of Ramos' grandfather continues to be a common one for many residents in low-income communities.

"Research shows that low-income communities are where you see the highest levels of pollution," Cash said. "The Biden Administration is committed to righting those wrongs."

For Ramos though, the neighborhood is home.

"My staying here is my commitment to the community that raised me," she said. "It's a beautiful community. It's a vibrant community.

"We need more support."

Contact Kevin G. Andrade at kandrade@s-t.com and follow him on Twitter: @KevinGAndrade. Support local journalism and subscribe to the Standard-Times today!

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: 'We Need More Support': New EPA Director Visits NB Neighborhood