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IMMEDIATE RELEASE

San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) passes the most equitable, environmentally just Regional Transportation Plan to date.

Today, SANDAG’s Board of Directors approved the 2021 Regional Plan (RTP), which will determine San Diego County’s transportation future for decades to come. The newly passed RTP provides a pathway to modernize San Diego’s transit system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, decrease lung-damaging air pollution, and meet the needs of the low-income communities of color who have been hit hardest by the pandemic.

“The planet is burning and our current transportation system is heavily contributing to the fire, damaging our lungs, and failing the low-income communities of color who depend on it the most,” said Carolina Martinez, Climate Justice Director, Environmental Health Coalition. “93% of San Diego’s low-income residents do not have access to fast and frequent transit and the 2021 Regional Plan provides critical lifelines to change that.”

Led by the San Diego Transportation Equity Working Group, residents at the frontlines of the climate crisis in Barrio Logan, City Heights, and National City identified 10 priorities to improve the transit system- the 10 Transit Lifelines. These lifelines reflect a vision to advance affordable and frequent transit solutions that will benefit all San Diegans. Transportation justice advocates have worked for decades to advance expanded transit with little success until the last few years with the SANDAG reforms instituted by AB 805.

“Throughout the planning process, SANDAG was proactive in including our communities, as a result, the 2021 Regional Plan is the most equitable and solution-driven regional plan to date,” said Diane Takvorian, co-founder and Executive Director, Environmental Health Coalition. “The Regional Plan paves a path to make the 10 Transit Lifelines a reality.”

The 10 Transit Lifelines are:

1. A Regional Plan that prioritizes environmental justice
2. Youth opportunity passes
3. Bus service every 10 minutes
4. Build a 24-hour Blue Line Express
5. 24 – hour service
6. Fund the Purple Line
7. An all-electric bus fleet by 2030
8. Anti-displacement strategies
9. Restroom access
10. Emergency-ready transit system

“I’ve lost countless moments with my family waiting at bus stops, running to catch the bus, coordinating my life around our inconvenient and unreliable transit system,” said Esperanza Gonzalez, a City Heights Resident who rides the bus to work. “I used my 30 years of experience riding the bus to help develop the 10 Transit Lifelines and it is so encouraging that SANDAG listened to us and passed a regional plan that will improve the lives of working people like me.“

To learn more about Esperanza and the 10 Transit Lifelines, visit enviromentalhealth.org/transitjustice.

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ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH COALITION

Founded in 1980, Environmental Health Coalition (EHC) builds grassroots campaigns to confront the unjust consequences of toxic pollution, discriminatory land use, and climate change. Visit www.environmentalhealth.org to learn more.

Barrio Logan Finally Gets A Community Plan That Protects Residents

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

After more than four decades and a devastating industry-led referendum, San Diego City Council approved an update to Barrio Logan’s community plan.

Today, the San Diego City Council voted unanimously to approve a Community Plan Update for Barrio Logan that will prioritize resident’s health, air quality, and culture, while slowing gentrification. This update is more than 40 years in the making. The previous Barrio Logan Community Plan allowed polluting businesses to operate right next to homes and schools.

“Barrio Logan residents have fought for a community plan update since the 1970s,” said Diane Takvorian, Executive Director of the Environmental Health Coalition. “This update is long overdue and will help put an end to the environmental racism residents have faced for generations.”

One of only 14 California Cultural Districts designated by the state, Barrio Logan is one of the most Latino/a/x communities in San Diego and has some of the lowest median income in the City. This vibrant cultural gem also suffers from some of the worst air quality in the State. Polluting highways and industries surround it. These same industries ran a referendum in 2013 that crushed a council-approved update to Barrio Logan’s community plan, which would have separated residential areas from industry.

“I know some neighbors that have asthma, in particular children,” said Barrio Logan resident Elizabeth Chavez speaking in support of the Community Plan Update during the City Council meeting. “With this plan in place, future generations’ health won’t be at high risk for developing even worse health issues.” She was one of the more than 20 residents who spoke in support of the plan.

The 2021 Barrio Logan Community Plan Update provides even stronger environmental protections for residents than the 2013 Draft. The new update that the City Council approved will:

• Put a buffer zone between industrial and residential areas of the neighborhood
• Promote more green spaces, like parks, and tree canopy
• Preserve community culture and history
• Improve walkability and increased opportunities for safe, accessible public transit
• Require more affordable housing and prevent displacement of residents in new developments

“On top of pollution residents live with daily, they are now threatened by gentrification,” said Julie Corrales, Barrio Logan resident and Policy Advocate at Environmental Health Coalition. “Although this plan provides unprecedented gentrification and displacement protections, the community still needs more. It must be this Council’s most pressing priority in the coming year to adopt an update of the City’s Tenant’s Right to Know Ordinance that will provide more tenant protections.”

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ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH COALITION

Founded in 1980, Environmental Health Coalition (EHC) builds grassroots campaigns to confront the unjust consequences of toxic pollution, discriminatory land use, and climate change. Visit www.environmentalhealth.org to learn more.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, July 16, 2021

Contact:
Angelica Estrada
562-708-3093
AngelicaE@environmentalhealth.org

Clean Air Plan Aims to Reduce Cancer Risk for Portside Communities

San Diego Air Pollution Control District adopts ambitious plan to reduce cancer-causing pollution in San Diego’s portside communities.

SAN DIEGO, July 16, 2021 –  A newly reformed and more diverse SDAPCD board distinguished itself on Friday from its predecessors by approving an ambitious public health-centered Community Emission Reduction Plan (CERP). In addition to reducing air pollution, the newly approved plan establishes strategies to decrease the cancer risk for communities neighboring the Port of San Diego. These portside communities – Barrio Logan, Logan Heights, Sherman Heights, and West National City – are exposed to vastly disproportionate amounts of cancer-causing air toxins.

Portside community cancer risks are as follows:

• According to EPA’s National Air Toxics Assessment, residents in the portside area have a higher risk of developing cancer from air toxins than 93% of the nation.
• Portside communities are exposed to more diesel particulate matter pollution – which is known to cause cancer – than 95% of California.
• Diesel pollution causes 84 percent of the cancer risk from air pollution in Barrio Logan and National City communities, according to the California Air Resources Board.

“Many families, including my own, have suffered both physically and financially from health complications due to the air pollution we breathe. My grandfather who lived in Barrio Logan the majority of his life passed away from lung cancer, and my mother has had to undergo two surgeries to address her respiratory problems,” said Maritza Garcia, a third-generation Barrio Logan resident. “The SDAPCD’s vote to approve the Community Emission Reduction Plan (CERP) shows that they are listening to the community and prioritizing our health. We deserve clean air just like everyone else.”

Currently, the San Diego APCD cancer risk reduction threshold is 100 per million, which – along with San Joaquin Valley – is the highest for the five large air districts in California. This means that in the San Diego region each permitted business can emit enough toxic air contaminants to put 100 people in a million at risk of developing cancer. The recently adopted CERP will work to reduce this risk down to 10 people per million people in portside communities by 2026. This is just one of 11 community health-centered goals in the plan.

“The new SD APCD board has shown great leadership and a deep commitment to environmental justice by voting to approve this aspirational CERP,” said Joy Williams, who represents the Environmental Health Coalition on the Portside Community Steering Committee, also known as the AB 617 Steering Committee. “The CERP addresses the community’s highest priorities to reduce health risks due to air pollution, such as diesel and other toxins, and increase trees and green spaces in their neighborhoods.”

The CERP includes goals to lower diesel pollution from 2018 levels by 2031 and transition medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks from diesel to 100% zero-emission vehicles five years ahead of the state requirements. Diesel pollution does not just cause cancer. It aggravates respiratory diseases like asthma and is associated with low-birth weight. Children in portside communities, like Logan Heights and National City, have more than double the rate of asthma emergency rooms visit than the county average, and triple the rate of La Jolla.

To read the entire CERP in English, click here.

To read the entire CERP in Spanish, click here.

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ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH COALITION

Founded in 1980, Environmental Health Coalition (EHC) builds grassroots campaigns to confront the unjust consequences of toxic pollution, discriminatory land use, and climate change. Visit online at http://www.environmentalhealth.org.