In the South Bronx, the fight over a former waterfront printing plant is about more than one vacant property.

Residents see a chance to create a clean energy hub where families could reach the Harlem River and find room to breathe.

South Bronx Unite and its partners want the site redeveloped with solar power, recreational space and a connection to the Randall’s Island connector.

Their vision reflects years of work on waterfront redevelopment shaped by the people who live nearby.

But advocates fear the property could instead become a last-mile warehouse, bringing more truck traffic to an area already burdened by freight activity.

That possibility has sharpened a familiar question in Bronx County: who gets to decide what a neighborhood needs?

At a rally outside the former plant, residents and environmental justice advocates urged officials to reject a warehouse deal and hear the community’s plan.

They also called for further feasibility work and environmental review before any decision to lease, sell or transfer the land.

For households in Mott Haven and Port Morris, access to the river is part of what is at stake.

Industrial uses have long separated nearby blocks from a shoreline that could offer public space and a different relationship with the waterfront.

A community-led plan would put those everyday needs ahead of another freight operation.

Solar panels alone would not resolve the neighborhood’s environmental challenges, and the proposal still needs careful study.

Yet residents argue that planning for cleaner energy and usable open space is a better starting point than accepting additional trucks.

They want state transportation officials to give the proposal a fair review before the site’s future is settled.

The request is straightforward, even if the land-use questions are not: involve neighbors before making a lasting commitment.

For a community that has spent years imagining a different waterfront, another decision made without them would carry its own cost.

The outcome could show whether environmental justice means giving South Bronx residents a meaningful say in what comes next.