Kennedy Jr. takes Bush to task over environment policies, eg, mercury, asthma

[Guest guest]

Kennedy Jr. takes Bush to task

Noted environmentalist gives keynote speech for Neighborhood Law Corps

By Cecily Burt, STAFF WRITER

http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_2735058

OAKLAND — F. Kennedy Jr. ramped up the star-power quotient at the

annual benefit dinner for the Neighborhood Law Corps Foundation in

downtown Oakland.

It didn't matter that his fiery and sometimes funny keynote speech

Thursday night had little to do with Oakland and everything to do with

bashing President Bush, the president's environmental policies and the

president's penchant for installing polluting industry donors to lead

sensitive federal environmental agencies. Oh, and the press for ignoring

it all.

Still, what came through in Kennedy's speech was loud and clear: Get

involved, speak up and make a difference in your community, your state

and your world.

And that particular message fit in nicely with the mission of the

community law corps, brainchild of City Attorney Russo.

The corps sends three energetic new lawyers out into Oakland's

communities to work with neighbors and merchants to find creative ways

to resolve nagging problems that impact their quality of life, whether

it be blight, crime or environmentalcontamination.

Among other things, the corps persuaded 100 liquor store owners to sign

a " good neighbor " pledge to close earlier and stop selling fortified

malt liquor. Their actions have helped force a notorious slumlord in the

Fruitvale district to fix up a blighted apartment building.

They worked with neighbors and police to convince one liquor store owner

in East Oakland to stop selling booze and reopen as a neighborhood

market, and they worked with residents and police to close a West

Oakland liquor store whose clientele terrorized the neighbors.

Kennedy, president of Waterkeeper Alliance, environmental lawyer and

author who has successfully sued timber companies, mining companies and

chemical companies for polluting and decimating rivers, mountains and

forests, lauded the law corps' commitment to community, and the people

who support the effort.

" That's what we are here for, to try and build communities, " he said.

" It's America's historic mission to build communities that are models

.... for the rest of the world ... and to refine and fine-tune it to give

our children healthy (and dignified) places to live, " he said.

Kennedy said three of his children suffer from asthma, an affliction

that has hit children in poor areas, including in Oakland, particularly

hard.

But he also said that children throughout the country — rich and poor —

are suffering the ill effects of polluted rivers and bays, whether from

acid rain in the Adirondacks or mercury contamination in San Francisco

Bay, because the fish from both are not safe to eat.

" Every (person) in Oakland should have the right to go down to the bay

to fish ... for striped bass and come home and feed it to their family

with pride and with the security it's not poisoning them, " he said.

" Every one has the right to use those resources, and nobody can use them

in a way that will diminish or injure their use or enjoyment by others. "

Kennedy said he had himself tested for mercury and was told his body

contained double the amount considered safe.

" My doctor told me if a woman had that level her child would have

cognitive impairment, brain damage, " Kennedy said. The doctor told him

an exposed child could lose as much as 5 to 7 points from his IQ.

Although those problems did not happen overnight, Kennedy accused the

Bush administration of singlehandedly rolling back hard-fought

environmental laws designed to clean the air and water and protect

people from toxic contamination.

" The administration accuses us of being radical tree huggers, but there

is nothing radical about (wanting) clean air or water for our

communities, " he said.

Or safe streets free from blight and crime, all of which is the focus of

the law corps. The program has three active attorneys and a full-time

director, with a goal of growing to 14 attorneys, enough to place two in

each City Council district. The lawyers commit to a two-year term of

community service, at a very unlawyerly salary.

The program is administered by the City Attorney's office but is not

funded by the city and relies on sponsor support. Proceeds went to the

Neighborhood Law Corps. For more information, go to

http://www.oaklandcityattorney.org/neighbor.html.

*

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