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ENVIRONMENT - There are over 700 Executive Directive No. 1 units, so far, in the works within the noise contours and the dirtiest air pollution zone of LAX, the second busiest airport in the country. These units are to house people of low income under or very close to the landing path for incoming jets.
As a retired plaintiff’s attorney, my first inclination is to take a look at pending litigation. Last year, a major law firm filed a lawsuit on behalf of plaintiffs within a five-mile radius of SeaTac Airport in Seattle. The plaintiffs allege that a five-mile radius around Sea-Tac is a “Contamination Zone,” and that the pollution is linked to hundreds of deaths and premature births each year. The plaintiffs claim that soot-like sediment would build up on residents’ roofs, yards and cars within the communities.
Westchester residents who live a mile or more away from LAX are quite familiar with that soot-like sediment building up on our roofs, in our yards, and on our cars. Of note, the law firm states on its website as follows: “The Los Angeles studies in particular found elevated concentrations of UFP [ultrafine particles] underneath the aircraft landing paths of the LAX airport, and that concentrations of UFP at ground level near the airport runway tend to consist of smaller 10 – 20 nm size fractions.” This is hazardous to human health.
This law firm recognizes that “vulnerable populations pay the steepest price.” The complaint alleges that residents of the “Contamination Zone” suffer from shorter life expectancies and higher risk of cancer and other serious illnesses. They are more likely to be immigrants than residents of surrounding areas, and the majority are Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, in a county where only a third of the overall population belongs to these groups. The complaint further alleges that more than 30% of Zone residents have total household incomes under 200% of the federal poverty level, and that it is unlikely the defendants would have allowed pollution to continue unchecked if the neighborhoods surrounding the airport were more affluent.
According to the lead attorney in the lawsuit, “[t]his is an issue of environmental justice, and we’re going to bat for our friends and neighbors on this one.” This law firm is actively seeking plaintiffs to join the class action lawsuit, and I’m sure this firm or another firm would eagerly take on additional lawsuits.
Why is this proximity of ED 1 projects to LAX and all the noise and air pollution being ignored by Councilwoman Traci Park and Mayor Karen Bass? We know that exemptions from ED 1 projects were granted for most of the Palisades, Brentwood, Venice, and Playa Del Rey because they are in the coastal zones and fire zones. In addition to that, there are ED 1 exemptions for areas within 500 feet of freeways and within 3,200 feet of active oil and gas refineries because of the pollution and the deleterious effects on human health. “Environmentally sensitive” areas such as wetlands and flood zones are also exempted. Why no exemption for this contamination zone so close to LAX where people of low income will live?
“I’m not there so I don’t care” is one of my husband’s favorite sayings. What it means is that if you care, you are there. And if you don’t care, you aren’t there. Which brings us to Councilwoman Traci Park, because this is her district and she knows it well. She has a planning deputy and LAWA liaison on her staff. She knows the area. The mayor counts on the councilwoman to know her area and provide information to the mayor.
The first thing city officials and employees ask me when I talk to them about ED 1 projects into this contamination zone is: “What is your councilwoman’s position?“ Even the mayor’s staff asks, “what is your councilwoman’s position on this?”
We don’t know our councilwoman’s position. Councilwoman Park’s position seems to be “hands off.” Her council staff report they do not know much about ED 1 projects because that is the mayor’s program.
We know Councilwoman Park knows how to take a position. She took a strong position in opposition to the Venice-Dell affordable housing project in Venice, which would provide housing units for unhoused individuals and people of low income. City taxpayers are footing the bill to defend the city for that position. She took a position to get exemptions from state affordable housing mandates for coastal zones, and “unconditional exemptions” for fire zones, by authoring a motion in city council asking the City Council to appeal to the state legislature to allow for such exemptions from state affordable housing requirements. Somehow, coastal and fire zones were exempted from ED 1 so it is fair to assume Traci Park took a position with the mayor on that.
“No position” is unacceptable, Councilwoman Park, because that means you don’t care what happens to families, seniors, children or anyone else of low income who is housed there. It means that you have no problem putting them in harm’s way by housing them in an area within the same noise contour of LAX that was so unsafe and harmful to health that over 4,000 Westchester homes had to be taken from the owners by eminent domain because of noise pollution. Air pollution and other pollution justifies ED 1 exemptions near freeways and industrial areas, so why not LAX?
Naturally, a lack of position makes one wonder if there is some reason the councilwoman wants people of low income from her district to be contained as much as possible in this polluted area?
Councilwoman Park, you have taken positions regarding affordable housing being located in the whitest and most affluent areas of your district. We are going to need you to take a position on this because people’s health and lives are at stake, and those people matter every bit as much as people living in your coastal zone and fire zone area.
(Rosa Padilla is a retired trial attorney and lifelong Los Angeles resident who has been a vocal advocate for her Westchester community, challenging city upzoning plans that threaten local neighborhoods with overdevelopment and environmental risks.)
