WATERLOO, IA: RAILYARD RELOCATION
Posted September 12, 2024
Asthma rates in the Smokey Row neighborhood of Waterloo, IA, are in the 99th percentile nationally (1). The neighborhood, which is the core of the small city’s significant Black population (~20% of the total population), is also perennially filled with the grinding sound of diesel freight trains, reducing quality of life in the area (2). Both of these problems are largely the result of the railyard that separates the neighborhood from Downtown and spews diesel fumes into the area (3).
Since Waterloo’s growth in the early 20th c. as a freight rail logistics & meatpacking hub, the railyard has served as the dividing line between the historic heart of the city’s Black population and the commercial core. This was by design: for much of the 20th c., Black families in Waterloo were prohibited from living anywhere except the area immediately opposite the railyard from Downtown, which became known as Smokey Row due to pollution from the trains (first coal-fired steam, then diesel). The 1930s redlining map of the area noted simply, “This is the colored section” (4).
Today, the few routes across the tracks between Smokey Row and Downtown are blocked for multiple hours a day by long freight trains moving in and out of the yard. “This leaves pedestrians trapped and facing bad options on a daily basis,” writes the AP. “Wait for the trains to move, walk to an unblocked crossing that can be more than a mile away, or risk crossing between stopped cars that can start moving without warning” (5).
I am partnering with Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Local Infrastructure Hub to highlight recent successes from the Biden/Harris Administration’s “Reconnecting Communities & Neighborhoods Initiative” (RCN). With the Local Infrastructure Hub’s assistance, Waterloo has successfully applied for funds through the RCN to study relocating the railyard, which would alleviate many of the most pressing environmental and public safety issues facing the neighborhood. While a small step, the grant is nonetheless progress towards long-awaited justice.
The Local Infrastructure Hub is a national program guiding municipalities in how to navigate historic federal funding opportunities, develop competitive grant applications, and bring essential investment home to residents. Led by Bloomberg Philanthropies which galvanizes support from the Ballmer Group, Emerson Collective, Ford Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, Waverley Street Foundation, National League of Cities, The U.S. Conference of Mayors, Results for America, and Delivery Associates, the Local Infrastructure Hub is a first-of-its-kind initiative helping thousands of mostly small towns and mid-size cities improve their communities for generations to come.
The Local Infrastructure Hub seeks to address the lack of grant-writing capacity that short-staffed smaller cities like Waterloo face as a barrier to accessing federal awards. While this may seem like a small issue, it is crucial. Through programs like the RCN, the Administration has made billions of dollars available to local governments for potentially transformative infrastructure investments. “Historically, bigger cities with substantial budgets tend to corner grant opportunities,” writes Patrick Sisson for Citylab. “Local governments without the expertise or budget to apply could be left out of the action.”
"We don’t want the Infrastructure Law [that created the RCN] to compound our geographic inequalities. We wanted it to be an equalizing moment," said James Anderson, head of the Government Innovation Program at Bloomberg Philanthropies, in an interview with Streetsblog. "We are asking local governments to do more and more, but we haven’t made a commensurate investment to help them do it… This is an opportunity to reduce the number of places that have been left out and left behind.” (7).
Endnotes
“Places: Local Data for Better Health.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/places/ (accessed 8/15/2024). (@cdcgov).
“National Transportation Noise Map in the US.” United States Department of Transportation. https://maps.dot.gov/BTS/NationalTransportationNoiseMap/ (accessed 8/15/2024). (@USDOT).
“EJScreen.” United States Environmental Protection Agency. https://ejscreen.epa.gov/mapper/ (accessed 9/12/2024). (@epagov).
Nelson, R. K., Winling, L, et al. (2023). Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America. Digital Scholarship Lab. https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining (accessed 9/1/2024).
Foley, Ryan J. “US Amputees Sue CN Rail, Saying it Creates Danger.” The Associated Press, 2018. https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/may/17/amputees-sue-railroad-in-iowa-saying-it-creates-da/ (accessed 9/12/2024).
“City of Waterloo Awarded $750,000 Railyard Relocation Grant.” City of Waterloo, 2024. https://www.cityofwaterlooiowa.com/news_detail_T17_R661.php (accessed 9/12/2024).
Wilson, Kea. “How a New Program is Helping Small Cities Transform Their Transportation Systems.” Streetsblog, 2024. https://usa.streetsblog.org/2023/08/21/how-a-new-program-is-helping-small-cities-transform-their-transportation-systems (accessed 8/31/2024). (@keareads).