Five years ago, StudyIt was found that Santa Ana, California’s children were frequently exposed to soil contaminated with dangerous levels of lead. Santa Ana City Council now holds a detailed plan that will address this public safety hazard. It follows a second investigation, a new state law, and more than 150 resident comments. There have also been numerous community meetings.
Tuesday is the date for the city’s General Plan update. The blueprint, which updates the city’s 39-year old General Plan, includes environmental justice elements to address lead-tainted land and other land uses that have had a negative effect on public healthcare in the citys most disadvantaged areas.
A relatively recent law, known as SB1000Santa Ana community advocates were able to lobby city officials successfully thanks to the efforts of, Signed in 2016 by the governor and implemented in 2018, this law requires that cities or counties identify disadvantaged communities in order to incorporate environmental justice into their land use planning. This is done in an effort to reduce health risk. In October 2020, the state Attorney Generals office. Let me knowSanta Ana officials criticised the city’s General Plan Update draft for not meeting SB1000 requirements. They recommended that they consult “impacted communities” to get ideas on how to remediate lead pollution.
“We started this negotiation process in 2019, probably.” It was a hard battle for most,” Patricia Flores Yrarrzaval – Orange County Environmental Justice project director and Santa Ana resident – said.
According to Michael Mndez (who wrote “Climate Change from the Streets”: How Conflict and Collaboration Strengthen the Environmental Justice Movement, the law is the nation’s first to incorporate environmental justice in urban planning documents..”
Mndez, assistant professor of public policy and urban planning at University of California Irvine, stated that “urban planning generally has an uneasy relation with environmental justice.” “Poor planning decisions have historically increased environmental contamination in low income communities and communities of color, especially here in California.”
According to the California Environmental Protection Agency, 9.4 million Californians live in areas that are prone to high levels of pollution from different sources. These residents tend to live in low-income communities and are predominantly Latino and Black.
These residents have been left in poverty for decades by neglectful policies and policies that have left them in polluted areas with little recourse. Even though the environmental justice movement has been around for decades, new laws only recently forced policymakers to face the fact that placing Black and Latino people in danger has been due to racism policies and laws prioritizing white communities over other communities.
Although environmental justice was always an optional chapter in the General Plan, this law makes it a mandatory chapter or element.
Michael Mndez Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy, University of California, Irvine
Santa Ana is home for 330,000 people. The city’s demographics have changed drastically over the past 50 year, as a majority Latino population has taken over. The most vulnerable communities live near freeways, industrial zones (or formerlyindustrial) or pre-1978 lead-contaminated housing. A StudyResearchers at the University of California found that soils from census tracts with low incomes were more likely to have lead than soils from tracts with high incomes. Nearly half the soil samples from 500 locations also had lead levels exceeding 80 parts per Million (ppm), the safe limit recommended CalEPA.
The General Plan UpdateSanta Ana City Council will consider Tuesday’s proposal. It includes many provisions that community advocates recommend to correct and prevent environmental hazards in the city’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods, as required under SB1000. Advocates say these are the most important:
- Residents can have their blood tested for elevated levels of lead at community events that are being held in partnership with local organizations like Santa Ana Unified School district and Latino Health Access.
- Santa Ana residents may be trained to remove lead-based paint hazards from their homes. This will ensure that these jobs aren’t outsourced to other workers.
- Tenant protections to prevent residents from being evicted for seeking repairs to substandard housing or hazardous conditions.
- To reach residents, apply for grants, and coordinate with other government agencies, it is a good idea to hire an environmental justice coordinator.
Each provision outlines a time limit to ensure accountability.
The process of updating a general planning document is complicated, and SB1000 requirements make it even more complex.
Ashley Werner (Director of Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability) said, “It’s a slow moving process.” Her organization works with approximately 30 communities, including Tulare as well as the county of Fresno, on environmental justice issues. It is one of a few organizations in the state that helps ensure that cities and counties adhere to SB1000.
SB1000 was created to “ensure that communities across California consider the environmental and pollution effects on residents living in areas that may have been disproportionately exposed or to other contaminants that could cause harm to them or their family.” In 2016, state senator Connie Leyva wrote in support of her bill that residents in poorer areas often suffer from higher rates for asthma, cancer, and birth defects.
Cities and counties are required by SB1000 to address seven elements of their general plans: land-use, transportation, housing and conservation. SB1000 requires municipalities to either include an environmental justice element in their general plans or integrate environmental justice policies into the other elements. By using the following tools, municipalities can identify disadvantaged communities within their region. CalEnviroScreen,An online tool that compiles data based on environmental factors, population characteristics, and socioeconomic factors.
Mndez stated that environmental justice was always an optional chapter. However, this law now makes it a mandatory chapter or element of the General Plan.
Community advocates find that some municipalities are able to avoid certain provisions because they lack the specifics required by the law.
Jennifer Ganata is a senior staff attorney at Communities for a Better Environment. Her organization partnered up with other community groups to sue Huntington Park for failing to address environmental justice and housing issues in the General Plan Update. The lawsuit came after several attempts to get Huntington Park officials to follow SB1000, including letters sent by the state Attorney Generals.
“Huntington Park residents are more vulnerable to asthma, cardiovascular disease and low levels of education, linguistic isolation, poverty and high housing costs burdens.” Huntington Park is precisely what SB 1000 aims to protect by requiring counties and cities to adopt EJ policies as general plan revisions.” A March 4, 2021, statement stated. Let me know.
The vague language in SB1000 often means that communities and community advocates interpret the law differently.
Ganata said that it was difficult because the city of Los Angeles claims that they have done a lot, but her office would argue that they haven’t complied to SB1000.” Ganata spoke about her advocacy work in Los Angeles.
Attorneys stated that many cities are not engaging in meaningful community engagement, which is gathering input from residents of disadvantaged communities. Public officials often believe that public meetings are enough. However, they don’t realize that residents living in disadvantaged areas may require different communication and outreach methods.
Flores stated that Santa Ana community volunteers taught “elders how use Zoom and do public comments” to gather input. The General Plan Update was not approved by environmental justice advocates at the February 15th city council meeting. Santa Ana Mayor Vicente Sarmiento invited the environmental justice advocates at that meeting to suggest specific “bulletpoints” and “language”. Many of these items have now been added to the plan, which will be discussed at Tuesday’s meeting.
Flores stated that “This is your chance,” during public comment at February’s meeting. “Will you be remembered as the city council who knowingly allowed children in your Wards to be poisoned from the ground beneath their feet, or as the courageous leaders who took decisive action against this environmental health crisis?”