Lessons Learned from
the West Coast:
The CARE 2010 Workshop,
San Diego, CA
Adam Cutler
Director, Public Health and Environmental Justice Project
Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia
Our CARE Level 1 Project
• Chester Environmental Partnership –
Project Goals
– Strengthen existing group and build membership by filling in gaps
– Hire full time administrator to lead day to day operations
– Build capacity within the organization (incorporation, website) and in the
community (outreach to youth, seniors, and other residents)
– Engage in the CARE Process – convene multi-sector discussions on
Chester’s environmental risks; engage community stakeholders to rank
those risks; and develop consensus on 3-5 risk reduction strategies to
carry forward to implementation in Level 2.
Lessons Learned – San Diego
San Diego's
Barrio Logan
Low-income Latino neighborhood
struggling with mixed-use zoning.
Located between interstate
highway and San Diego's port and
waterfront industries.
Metal plating company with100+
environmental violations
(Chromium-6), located next door to
homes.
The facility was closed, cleaned up,
and now houses a non-polluting
business.
Lessons Learned – San Diego
San Diego's
Barrio Logan
Succeeded in advocating for new
park to be built, reconnecting Barrio
Logan with its former waterfront
ties.
Preserved historic Chicano Park,
built by residents in protest under
pilings of interstate/bridge to
affluent Coronado Island.
Lessons Learned – San Diego
Old Town National City
Latino community overburdened by auto body
shops, creating air pollution, toxic releases, and
runoff.
One body shop is directly across street from
elementary school. Asthma rates among children
are 14%, double the CA state average.
Successfully advocated for passage of
"amortization ordinance" to phase out body shops
near the most sensitive uses. Implementation
coming soon.
Restored algae choked stream to natural contours;
wildlife soon returned and school uses as
educational experience.
Lessons Learned – Los Angeles
Green Zones and the City Project
• Green Zones
– City Council just passed
– Create special districts to attract clean industries through incentives,
including help obtaining permits and tax and utility rebates.
– Polluters, meanwhile, would be targeted with tougher inspection and
enforcement protocols.
– Using municipal planning and enforcement to address cumulative
impacts (metal plating, body shops, freeways, heavy industry, etc.)
– Seeking to create sustainable and healthy communities rather than
fighting one facility after another.
• City Project – Access to Parks
–
–
–
–
Mapping park locations and income levels, minority populations
Advocacy for new parks near/in underserved communities
Broke ground on new park, construction still in progress
Now bringing lessons learned in L.A. to San Diego
Lessons Learned - Brooklyn
• UPROSE – United Puerto Rican
Organization of Sunset Park
• Elizabeth Yeampierre, Executive Director,
spoke to us about the importance of
intergenerational programs in UPROSE’s
Environmental Justice work
• Engage youth in the community, both to
help accomplish short-term goals and to
build leadership talent for the future.
Lessons on the West Coast
A presentation for the Consortium for Community-Based Science
A report from T.H.E. Impact Conference on
Trade, Health and the
Environment
T.H.E. Impact Project
On Trade, Health and Environment
• Collaboration of community and university partners
• Focused on reducing the impacts of trade, ports and
goods movement activities on health and community life
• Community-organizing approach to science
New Scientific Findings
Frank Gilliland, MD, PhD.
Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine,
Keck School of Medicine, USC
Director, Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center
2010 Clean Air Hero
“By enhancing understanding of preventable
public health impacts from polluted air, Dr.
Gilliland’s work has helped provide a clearer
assessment of the significant public health
benefits that can be achieved in the greater South
Coast region through cleaner goods movement
operations, reduced vehicle miles traveled, and
low-emission transportation investments.”
New Scientific Findings
Goods Movement:
A Gateway for Health or Harm?
A National Landscape Study of Freight Transport, Health,
Organizing , Advocacy and Policy
Los Angeles
Riverside
Kansas
Detroit
Community Outreach and
Education,
Southern California Environmental
Health Sciences Center
University of Southern California
Trends in the Goods Movement Industry
Trends in the Goods Movement Industry
Trends in the Goods Movement Industry
Trends in the Goods Movement Industry
Openings and Challenges for Change
• Federal Transportation
Reauthorization
Bill/SAFETEA-LU. The
Freight Act of 2010 and
the Clean Ports Act of
2010.
• National Environmental
Justice Advisory
Committee Report
• Interagency Task Force
on Environmental Justice
Recommendations
• Connect Local Organizing to Regional Organizing
• Strengthen National network
• Community-university partnerships.
• Incorporate health and environmental assessment
into goods movement planning and project
approval.
• Increase local government capacity to regulate and
plan
• Build the movement
Cumulative Impacts, Planning and Policy
Decisions
o Consider cumulative impacts
o Take into account social vulnerability
o Promote community participation
o Take meaningful action
Using the Clean Air Act
• EPA is "for the first time
ever… working to
prevent short-term
exposures in high-risk
NO2 zones like urban
communities and areas
near roadways."
Thank you for listening – Any
questions?