Residents of East
Oakland are dying for a breath of fresh air.
�Our Air is a nightmare,� said Claudia Meza, PUEBLO Member/
Speaker
Community Targets East Oakland Factories for Clean
up and Initiates Effort to Get a Citywide �Good Neighbor� Agreement Passed.
Picture a landscape where large factories, small auto shops, and
plating facilities co-exist with family homes, schools, and recreation
centers. Picture a community where
there are over 120 toxic sites that contaminate the air, water, and land. Picture walking your child to the
school across the street from a metal foundry and amidst the revolting fumes
and vacant lots of the surrounding neighborhood, wondering every day what that
acrid, nauseating smell is and where it comes from. This is the landscape of the Elmhurst neighborhood of East
Oakland.
Residents
have been voicing growing concerns about the industrial reality in this
neighborhood, questioning the location of many polluting facilities, like
K&L metal plating facility and Fleischmann�s Yeast Inc. K&L Metal Plating Company is a
state superfund site located just 3 blocks from another state superfund site (see www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/index.htm
for more info on superfund). Fleischmann�s
Yeast Inc. was a yeast production facility that emitted approximately 50,000
pounds of carcinogens (carcinogens
are cancer-causing toxins) a year before it was finally shut down. As a result of community pressure, both
of these sites are now closed and going through the clean-up process. However, these are just two of too many
polluting facilities that dot the landscape of the community much like trees do
in more affluent neighborhoods.
There
is now a large body of evidence showing that environmental pollution causes and
exacerbates environmental sickness (check out the list of websites at the end of this
statement for links to this research). This
pollution makes people sick. It
can cause respiratory illnesses and even cancer. The facilities in Elmhurst are no exception, spewing many
harmful chemicals like benzene, sulfur dioxide and even dioxins, into our
air. As a result, children in the
community have to go to the hospital for treatment of respiratory problems like
asthma twice as often as in other parts of Alameda County. As stated in the 2002 seminal West
Oakland Environmental Indicators Project Report, �Asthma is more than just
difficulty breathing: This chronic
inflammation of the lungs harms the quality of life for the neighborhood�s most
vulnerable residents and can lead to serious health problems and even death
(pg. 7).� Residents of Elmhurst have decided that
enough is enough.
The PUEBLO Environmental Justice Committee
has joined with the concerned residents of Elmhurst to find a solution to
the pollution
that plagues the community. We
will write and advocate for the passage of a highly innovative, city-wide �good
neighbor� agreement between community members, local government, and air
polluting industries. We launched our campaign with a press conference on
Thursday October 30th, 2003 in front of American Brass and Iron Foundry. We had a mini �toxic tour�, a candle
lit community march with children carrying large masks and puppets that they
made as statements about the neighborhood air pollution, and a Day of the Dead
Altar ceremony. The kick-off for
PUEBLO's new air quality campaign in East Oakland was a great success. Over 80
PUEBLO members, allies and community members participated in our loud and
colorful march and toxic tour through East Oakland.
Participants wore
costumes, carried masks, signs and noise-makers and stopped at three locations
- 2 local industry sites and lastly at ACORN Woodland School. Community members spoke out about the
impact on themselves and their families to living, working, worshipping and
playing right next to the numerous industrial facilities in the area. Speakers described the asthma and
allergies their families suffer and demanded that the city do more to mitigate
these conditions.
Joining
us that day were members of AYPAL, APEN, Center for Environmental Health,
Alameda County Public Health Department, GreenAction, ACORN Woodland School
administration and others. Ethnic and mainstream media were present to
cover the event. PUEBLO
thanks everyone for supporting us in making the event successful.
PUEBLO
and community members will be engaged in a series of intensive discussions in
the next two months or so to finalize the language for the city-wide
environmental policy that will protect the environment, community residents,
and facility workers in Oakland.
We want industry
in Oakland to be a �good neighbor�.
Our campaign is
about gaining power for the community over the decisions that get made, gaining
control of the community�s health, and ensuring that our children will have
every opportunity to succeed in life free from environmental sickness and
disease. During our summer
outreach drive we found that these are issues resonate deeply in the Elmhurst
community. As a result of our
summer outreach drive several community members are now leaders of our clean
air campaign. Gladys Ottey, Alicia
Ramirez, Claudia Meza, Maria Preciado, Manuel Plata, Van Ottis, Bunny Ottis,
Margie Bell Moore, Cecilia Madrigal and Martina Hardaway have stepped up to be
the driving force for clean air in Elmhurst. In addition to these outstanding new leaders, we also now
have 33 new members on the environmental justice committee. Overall, we knocked on nearly 1000
doors and talked to over 800 community members. Through our basebuilding efforts in the community, there is
now an even stronger organized voice for environmental justice in Elmhurst.
To
date, our committee has been very active:
