by Keyera Gordon

In her novel, “Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood,” Fatema Marnissi writes, “Nature is a woman’s best friend.” There has never been a time in my life where this statement has resonated with me more than it does now.

Since childhood, I have had a love for the outdoors. I frequented my backyard, as our green, grassy space was more than some other houses near mine had. I was grateful for what I had and worked with it. What I didn’t know was that there were beaches, salt marshes, and beautiful marine sites within the very city that I had lived in all my life.

Hudson Park, Davenport Park, and Five Islands Park are just a few of the green spaces that the City of New Rochelle has to offer. While all on the water, each of these parks offers a different ambiance and set of public resources like beaches, large grass fields, and pavilions. However, they all have one thing in common: price. During specific times of the year (the most popular times such as summer days and days of public events), there is a $5 fee to enter these parks. While patrons can walk in free of charge, these green spaces have historically been purposely placed, making them inconvenient walking distances for a large majority of New Rochelle’s population. This leaves me with the pressing question: who were these parks made for?

My current participation as an intern in the Ecology Ambassadors program has given me a summer experience different than any I have ever had. As opposed to sitting in my home, going days without leaving the house, I am outdoors by 9:00 am daily, digging through sand or wafting through water in search of organisms within Five Islands Park. It was the first time in my life that I discovered all of the fascinating aspects of this park. One afternoon, as opposed to the 30-minute commute home by a combination of walking and two buses, my mother picked me up. On our way home she told me, “One day I should come into the park to really check it out.” My mother, who spent her childhood in New Rochelle ,had also never discovered the entirety of this park. I realized that this was an issue that stretched back before my time.

Five Islands Park was opened in 1981 and Davenport Park was built in 1929, both with the same intention to create recreational and comfortable spaces for the citizens of New Rochelle. Today in 2024, one of the most recent new developments in New Rochelle has been a Starbucks drive-thru location on the corner of Huguenot Street and Echo Avenue, a historically poor and Black neighborhood. This Starbucks location comes as an addition to the Taco Bell and McDonald’s drive-thrus that are already in this neighborhood and becomes the third free-standing Starbucks in the city of New Rochelle. There are prioritized communities when it comes to environmental safety and exposure within the city.

The combination of carbon emissions from cars, increased traffic, and heightened noise pollution creates a disadvantaged quality of life for the New Rochelle citizens living in the neighborhood commonly known as “The Hollow.” Aside from the fact that these apartment buildings are only a short drive away from the waterfront, the conditions in which they live differ greatly from the neighborhoods directly on the water. Asthma cases have been reported at much higher rates in this neighborhood and others nearby because of the greater levels of air pollution. The contributing factors are numerous and quite blatant. In an article about an “Environmental Racism Tour” that occurred in New Rochelle in 2021, New Rochelle Against Racism (New RoAR) spokesperson Lisa Burton said, “We cannot continue to value and protect commercial interests while ignoring asthma clusters and other health concerns.”

On my daily drive to work at Five Islands Park, I pass multiple construction sites, a train station, and many fast food restaurants with drive-thrus and often sit through extreme traffic jams. All to end up in Five Islands Park, which is conveniently just far enough to escape the loud traffic and greasy fast food smells. As much as I love entering this park, I can only imagine how different my childhood would have been if a park like this was practically in my backyard, instead of my grassy patch near construction and surrounded by traffic. While my patch seemed endless in childhood, we do tend to accept what we believe we deserve. And I, along with all other community members in my neighborhood and others like it, deserve much more than what we are given. We deserve nearby parks and beaches, free of cost.

This summer, I have learned so much from Five Islands Park. My fascination with salt marshes has expanded upon my realization that there is one within the park. I have seen the peak high tide and low tide and discovered organisms that I didn’t even know I had access to, from invasive Asian Shore Crabs to different species of macroalgae to Eastern Oysters. I have seen the importance and abundance of these fascinating organisms. I have been able to see what environmental exposure can do for a teenager, not only for me but for those I’ve been working with as well. One has an innate connection to nature, and when given the opportunity, that connection and exposure can benefit one’s physical and mental health.

I will be devoting my college education to studying Environmental Science at Spelman College. This experience has given me partial insight into what I can expect my next four years to look like, and I couldn’t be more secure in my decision. I have seen firsthand the importance of parks like the one that we have worked in. There is so much that can be learned from hands-on education and research right here in New Rochelle. I have also seen how much of a privilege it is to have access to a park like Five Islands and the exclusive nature that this park, and others in New Rochelle, still unfortunately present for some citizens of New Rochelle. I hope that through the research that I do throughout my college years, I can equip myself with the necessary education and resources to not only make public parks more accessible, but also to make them more abundant throughout cities like the one that I grew up in. No person deserves natural exposure more than another, and there is so much nature to be shared and expanded. I hope to restore green spaces within the neighborhoods that have been stricken with construction and air pollution. Environmental racism is very prevalent in complex cities like New Rochelle and is something that has endured for far too long. There needs to be a social shift that sheds light on these issues and their reality.

Furthermore, through my college education, I want to not only maintain, but increase, my love of the outdoors. No one should have to live in fear of the quality and state of their environment and I want a future where I never have to. The quote from Marnissi’s novel concludes, “If you’re having troubles, you just swim in the water, stretch out in a field, or look up at the stars. That’s how a woman cures her fears.”  Looking forward to my future work, I foresee a future in which I can help make the environment a safe space instead of one that brings about insecurity and fear–a brighter, greener future.