From those meetings, Baptista and fellow students Justin Huxol '01 and Matthew Amengual '01 were assigned topics to research for the booklet. J udging from the discussion at the October summit, the project was a success, Ward says. All the workshops were filled, with 75 to 100 people attending at any one time. Particularly noteworthy are the booklet's maps, which plotted where in the city it faces such problems as asthma, noise, litter, graffiti, lead poisoning and vacant lots. The maps are a wonderful way to get people talking.
People start to see patterns.
A theme that emerged was the concentration of environmental problems in low-income areas, Ward said. It's a real environmental justice issue. In the end, the maps got rave reviews. The police got some of the maps. Then they were all excited to give us more data.