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Exide contamination is top concern at community meeting on environmental justice

Exide contamination is top concern at community meeting on environmental justice

With pastries and cups of cafe de olla in hand, nearly three-dozen Boyle Heights community members took their seats at the Boyle Heights Beat office Saturday morning to learn more about some of the biggest environmental stressors affecting their daily lives on the Eastside. 

In partnership with Self Help Graphics & Art and Vision y Compromiso, Boyle Heights Beat organized the event built on community feedback around environmental health.   

Environmental-focused panelists representing East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, Climate Resolve, Vision y Compromiso and a researcher from Occidental College engaged with the community, eager to hear their concerns about the environment they live in. Boyle Heights Beat student reporters moderated the event and welcomed discussion about the community’s history of environmental setbacks. 

Before the event, Candy Chavez, 26, said that her home’s proximity to freeways in Boyle Heights likely meant she was exposed to unhealthy levels of noise and air pollution. 

“We live super close to the L.A. river and there are fireworks popping off all the time, not to mention all of the traffic on the freeway and crashes,” she said. Her husband, Jose Gomez, 29, was also concerned with the constant police helicopters flying over Boyle Heights and felt the exhaust from the helicopters was adding to the cocktail of pollutants of the neighborhood. 

The duo was interested in learning about the history of environmental impacts the Eastside neighborhood has endured over the years during the discussion. 

The Wall, South Coast AQMD and BHB offer resources to event attendees. Photo by Kathryn Mora.

As a way to help address the poor air quality in the community, representatives from the Air Quality Management District (AQMD) supplied residents with free air purifiers outside of the event. 

During the panel, community members repeatedly brought up the lack of city infrastructure and tree coverage to mitigate extreme heat. The audience repeatedly returned to Exide, the former battery recycling plant in Vernon, and the long-lasting effects of the soil and air contamination that followed its closure.

Joe Gonzalez, a 68-year-old Boyle Heights resident, claims the toxic fallout of the plant has given him, family members and his pets cancer, and urged the panel and audience to mobilize and demand justice from a company he called Boyle Heights’ “biggest enemy.”

“We really need to organize, not for ourselves or our kids, but for the entire community,” Gonzalez said.

One panelist, Francisca Castro, a research coordinator on urban and environmental policy at Occidental College, agreed that the toxic contamination’s cleanup was subpar and said it had contributed to developmental issues in children.

Other audience members wanted to know how they could get youth more involved in climate action, as well as updates about Exide’s latest eligibility to be classified a Superfund site.

Lourdes Silva, a promotora comunitaria for Vision y Compromiso, encouraged the community to be proactive, stressing the collaboration between community residents and leaders to motivate local governments to alleviate environmental issues locally.

“We need to raise awareness, more than anything, and be responsible for ourselves,” Silva said. She suggested that change comes from individuals working together, little by little. 

Audience members voiced their concerns about the environment at the Boyle Heights Beat office Saturday, July 20 2024. Photo by Andrew Lopez.

At the end of the presentation, Mark Lopez, a community organizer at East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, talked with residents. He said he was happy to see folks respond well to the youth activism and engagement as fighting to protect the environment has been at the center of his life for as long as he could remember.

“My family has a long legacy of fighting pollution here in Boyle Heights. From fighting [against] the prison they wanted to build in Boyle Heights, to fighting the oil pipeline they wanted to put under Hollenbeck Park and Hollenbeck Middle School, to fighting toxic incinerators… It’s a big part of my life,” Lopez said. 

Carlos Agredano, who came to Boyle Heights from Los Feliz for the event, said he was moved to hear about the history of environmental racism that has impacted Boyle Heights but is hopeful for the health of future generations.

“It’s important to stay informed about the environmental issues that affect us in our homes,” Agredano said. “It’s important for future generations that we preserve and honor ourselves and our environment so we can have healthy and equitable lives just like people do in other parts of the city.”

Attendees left the meeting with information to help protect their families as well as resource lists on how to get involved. Following the panel discussion, Self Help Graphics hosted a free screen-printing workshop for participants to design their own colorful environmental justice prints.

Youth reporter Anakin Rivera contributed to the reporting of this article.

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