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Eastwick Revisited--the story has yet to be resolved.

Two years ago we produced a documentary called Toxic Waters which aired on two PBS-TV stations and one independent station.
In the process of working on the film, we began to think of the people from this Southwest Philadelphia community of Eastwick as our friends, much like our own neighbors, even though we live outside the city. We felt their frustration in trying to deal with government officials, including Philadelphia Mayor John Street, who turned a blind eye to the community's health concerns and appeals for resolution.

This predominantly African American middle class community, is dying from cancer. The cancer mortality rate in Colwyn, Sharon Hill, Darby Borough, and Darby Township, all of which are located near the Clearview Landfill, is 22 percent higher than the national and state rates.

President Bush's 2003 budget proposes to slash the Superfund's primary source of income, a tax aimed at industrial polluters that generated about $1 billion a year, and advocates curtailing the roster of sites covered by the fund.
According to Attorney Rhonda Hill Wilson, Eastwick organizer and homeowner whose residence was built on the east side of the landfill, the Superfund cutbacks would create an immediate decline in the number of sites approved for Superfund status. The future of Eastwick looks bleak while the number of cancer deaths continues to rise.

We believe the story needs to be retold. We, along with the community, want this contamination problem resolved once and for all.

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Posted on July 18, 2003 in General News by jmichl