Petition: Reject Polluting Sweatshops in South Central Los Angeles

South LA Sweatshops will have long term detrimental health impact on the residents of South Central Los Angeles

The Los Angeles City Planning Department has announced its intention to allow 4 warehouses to be built with a substandard Draft Environmental Impact Report (Case Number: ENV-2012-920-EIR, AA-2012-919-PMLA, DIR-2013-887-SPR), a move South Central Farm representatives and the community say will have long term detrimental health impacts for local South LA residents. Plans call for 4 warehouse facilities that will draw some 75 diesel big rigs into the area every day, creating an intolerable concentration of diesel fumes and particulate matter in a neighborhood in a warehousing district already saturated with such exhaust, posing the danger of increased risks of cancer, emphysema, asthma, and increased hospitalizations to poor people of color who live in the district. South Central Farm representative Tezozomoc said, “This is an unmistakable and undeniable threat to the health and well being of the people who live here, and that the City Planning Department has accepted a substandard Draft Environmental Impact Report on behalf of PIMA is a clear cut example of environmental racism.”

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Regional Air Quality

The air quality in Southern California does not meet the state and federal standards. The American Lung Association consistently gives Los Angeles County failing grades in the amount of ozone and particulate pollution in the air. Although smog levels are impacted by seasons and weather patterns, smog is visible in the air on most days.

This is an unmistakable and undeniable threat to the health and wellbeing of the people who live here, and that the City Planning Department has accepted a substandard Draft Environmental Impact Report is a clear cut example of environmental racism. – Tezozomoc, South Central Farm

To see how the city of Los Angeles evicted community gardeners of South Central Farm, see the trailer for the documentary film The Garden below.

Petition Language

I call on the city, “ to unconditionally reject the DEIR and return the land to the community to anchor an environmental justice project to begin to clean up the community”. It is clear that Los Angeles City has failed the residents of South LA by considering a substandard DEIR. In 2008 the City of Los Angeles reviewed a project submitted by Horowitz to do one warehouse that encompassed 437,196 sq. ft. (see Case No. ENV-2008-799-MND, VTT-61482, DIR-2008-841-SPR, aka 41st and Alameda Warehouse Project) and at that time there would be 264 truck trips per day. In the recent DEIR PIMA will be developing 481,022 sq. ft. of warehouse space; comprised of 4 buildings and over 2000 car trips per day. In PIMA’s proposal they claim a mere 75 trip trucks a day. There is a difference of 189 truck trips per days for a warehouse space that is 10% larger. There is a difference of 70% in truck trips. What is problematic with this assumption is that all further analysis will be based on the underspecified 75 truck trips per day. While this under estimation of the truck trips may get the project approved by the City; the city under Jan Perry has supported this project, it will have long negative impact on the residents of South Los Angeles. In the realm of Air Quality Health Risk Assessment the truck trips are further down estimated to 31 diesel fueled trucks per day. The Kleinfelder’s Health Risk Analysis is faulty because it also assumes a degraded amount of truck trips per day; 75 truck trips per day.

Online location of the 2015 DEIR: http://cityplanning.lacity.org/eir/4051SoAlamedaStProj/Index.pdf
2008 MND by Horowitz http://1drv.ms/1BiXQ2k, http://1drv.ms/1BiY6OM

I reject the PIMA Warehouses! Let the City of Los Angeles know how you feel about the PIMA Warehouses!

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