Sandy Fox: Amazon warehouses are sacrifice zones

An article published Dec. 9 in The Guardian has been circulating among Churchill residents. The title of the story rings true: “Warehouses in their backyards: When Amazon expands, these communities pay the price.”

Churchill is a 2.5-square-mile suburban community of 3,000 people 10 miles east of Pittsburgh. Residents remain steadfast in their opposition to a proposal by Hillwood Development for a 3-million-square-foot Amazon distribution center on the former site of the 133-acre Westinghouse Research and Technology Park. This property, which is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, contains 100 acres of green space and 1,400 mature trees that would be destroyed with the development, along with the demolition of the mid-century buildings.

There are 450 homes within 1,000 feet of the property and two schools — Woodland Hills Junior-Senior High School and Pace School — directly across the street. If built, the distribution center would bring hundreds of diesel tractor-trailer trucks in and out of the site daily, every 2 minutes, 24/7, 365 days a year, and create hazardous air pollution as well as unremitting noise, light and vibrations; cause storm water contamination and flooding; and produce nightmarish traffic, both on local roads and Interstate 376, all of which would greatly endanger the health, safety and welfare of residents and students, while bringing major headaches to anyone traveling the Parkway.

The Guardian story cites a Consumer Reports investigation showing that a majority of these warehouses are being developed in communities of color and in low-income neighborhoods. In contrast, Churchill is 71% white, 21% Black, 4% two or more races, 3% Asian, less than 1% Hispanic, and largely middle class.

Unlike Churchill Borough’s racial and economic composition, Woodland Hills Junior-Senior High School has a majority Black population of 63%, 30% white, 4% two or more races, 2% Hispanic, and 1% Asian, with 92% of students eligible for free lunches. Many students come to the high school from EPA-designated Environmental Justice Communities, including Braddock, Rankin and Turtle Creek, meaning the health of these students would be further compromised by coming to school in Churchill.

Proponents of the proposal cite job opportunities. However, it is well known that there is a current labor shortage and that warehouses, like many employers, are competing for workers. It is also well documented that Amazon has engaged in union-busting tactics and hire-to-fire management practices, has the highest injury rate of any national warehouse (more than double that of Walmart), racial disparities in promotions and firing, and a 150% annual turnover rate. Most recently and tragically, six Amazon workers in Illinois died when a tornado swept through the area and the warehouse collapsed, while workers were reportedly not allowed to leave and no clear safety protocols were in place.

Our Woodland Hills students, as do our residents, deserve every protection, including keeping them safe from harm. In a Nov. 1 Churchill council workshop meeting, Jamie Glasser, then president of the Woodland Hills School Board, reported that the board met with the developer, as well as Amazon, and discussed a number of issues, including tax revenue and “potential partnerships and benefits to the district in relation to this project,” in particular job opportunities. In prefacing her remarks, Glasser disclosed that since April 2021 her brother has been employed by Amazon’s corporate division

Woodland Hills students are potentially being groomed for Amazon, and the school board may be facilitating this exchange along with others, which is horrifying and reeks of racism and classism. In an Aug. 13 KDKA radio interview state Sen. Jay Costa, spoke about the Amazon proposal, stating, “the relationship that they intend to build with Woodland Hills School District as a feeder system sort of speak for young kids coming out of high school and being able to go to work … at the location, looking at the STEM program that they’re coordinating with and allowing these kids to go to work and go to college and pay for that.” However, few Amazon warehouse workers last long enough to reap the benefit of college tuition assistance, given the working conditions and the physical and psychological toll these jobs take. You would not see this arrangement for an Amazon warehouse job taking place at Fox Chapel High School, and it reflects how far we have to go to achieve economic and racial justice in this country.

Churchill Borough Council has an opportunity to protect or harm when they vote to deny or approve the conditional use permit for this development at 6 p.m. Dec. 21 at a (virtual) public meeting, accessible via a Zoom link on the borough website.

These warehouses do not belong near any homes or schools, given the hazards to health, safety and welfare. Furthermore, in the midst of a climate crisis, we should not allow for development that destroys green space and mature trees.

Warehouses belong in industrial parks, and neither lives nor the environment should be sacrificed at the altar of Amazon, or any other corporate entity.

Sandy Fox is a Churchill resident.