Pressure is mounting on Mayor Zohran Mamdani to revive a $650 million plan to reduce pollution at Hunts Point Produce Market in the South Bronx, where diesel-spewing refrigerated trailers contribute to some of the worst air quality in the city.
The wholesale produce market, which provides as much as 60% of the city’s fruits and vegetables, relies on as many as 1,000 refrigerated trailers running around the clock to keep food cold. Each trailer produces emissions equivalent to 330 truck trips on the Cross Bronx Expressway every day, according to a press release from Gov. Kathy Hohcul earlier this year.
After years of planning and negotiations, then-Mayor Eric Adams last year announced a plan to modernize the market, which is the largest of its kind in the country.
As part of the project, four warehouses would have been replaced by two modern facilities that would eliminate the need for the refrigerated trailers. Gothamist exclusively reported last week details on how the deal fell apart amid concerns from the cooperative of produce operators about the new facility’s design.
Mamdani has suggested the Adams administration’s plan – which was slated to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in state and federal funding – is now dead in the water. But some officials are urging him to take a second look.
City Comptroller Mark Levine described the project as “one of the most important economic development projects in New York City.”
Mamdani faces pressure to forge ahead with plan to fix polluting South Bronx market
