Residents in environmental justice (EJ) communities are the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System’s (MTS) number one customers, but the transit service doesn’t serve them the way it should. EJ community residents are at higher risk of disease due to transportation-related air pollution emissions and the current transit system doesn’t get them to their jobs. Seventy-percent of jobs are unreachable within 90 minutes by public transit. 

That’s why, we proudly stood with the San Diego Transportation Equity Working Group at the MTS board meeting to demand a 2020 MTS ballot measure that leads with transportation equity which: 

✔️Connects EJ communities to jobs
✔️Makes it affordable to ride the bus and trolley
✔️Ensures San Diego meets regional climate goals
✔️Includes meaningful community engagement

Read our full MTS 2020 ballot measure fact sheet here. 

Want more? See our media coverage from Televisa or read about our Transportation Justice work here.

We know that our families suffer first and worst from the harmful impacts of climate change due to discriminatory  transportation planning that comes at the expense of historically neglected communities.

We also know that environmental justice is the right of all people to live, work and play in a healthy and safe environment. 

That's why EHC works on transportation justice to bring more accesible, affordable and safe pedestrian, bike and transit improvements to the neighborhoods that need them most.

We know we deserve climate justice and #healthyhoods and less asthma hospitalizations for our children. 

Our community leaders traveled to Riverside to tell the Air Resources Board we deserve better from SANDAG - our region's transportation planning agency.

That's why we asked for the Air Resources Board to require SANDAG cut its emissions by 25 percent by the year 2035.

 Our Executive Director Diane Takvorian, who also sits on the Air Resources Board, proposed a higher emissions-reduction target for SANDAG. Board members Dean Florez and John Gioia supported her amendment before the 19-percent target was finalized.

“The lack of strong statewide leadership behind SB 375 simply means local, grassroots organizations have more work to do,” says Ana Reynoso, EHC transportation justice policy advocate. “Residents who journeyed to Riverside for last night’s vote know first-hand that the effects of climate change disproportionately impact communities south of the I-8 freeway and that we needed at least a 25 percent reduction in pollution by 2035 to alleviate that.”

Moving forward, we promise to team up with local allies including Climate Action Campaign, San Diego 350 and more to ensure SANDAG meets the 19-percent reduction standard for San Diego in an equitable and transparent way.

“We intend to work very closely with the Air Resources Board to ensure it holds SANDAG accountable to implementing SB 375 in a way that prioritizes the communities that need the most immediate help,” says Reynoso.

Learn more about transportation justice here, and click here to get involved.

When our region provides affordable and accessible transportation options - such as walking, biking and transit – we can reduce the pollution that we breathe every day, reduce the harmful impacts of climate change and improve the quality of life in our communities.

We recently brought this intention to the California Air Resources Board, where we told state leaders that we need strong laws, like SB 375, to reduce pollution in our neighborhoods.

What Is SB 375?

SB 375 is Senate bill that holds our regional transportation-planning agency, SANDAG, accountable for reducing its pollution. Our communities demanded SANDAG reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by the year 2035.

Why SB 375 Matters to All of Us

For years, SANDAG’s transportation planning has long neglected to meet the needs of our families and neighborhoods. SB 375 would require SANDAG to ditch its current transportation plan in favor of one that significantly decreases greenhouse gas emissions and ensures our communities don’t continue to shoulder the burden of air pollution in the region and in the state.

Joined by a variety of organizations across the region, we submitted this letter to state leaders to explain why SANDAG’s operations and planning need to change.

Support a Strong SB 375 to Protect Our Communities

Many San Diego organizations have joined us to demand California decision makers hold SANDAG accountable. Learn more about SB 375 here.

Thank you for your commitment to transportation justice. We did it!

We signed petitions. We spoke at press conferences. We attended meetings. We talked to our neighbors about why our communities need AB805 -- the statewide bill to bring us one step closer to transportation justice in the neighborhoods that need access to transit and safe places to walk and bike most.

And when Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill into law this month, we cheered and rejoiced at our community-earned victory.

Thank you to Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez-Fletcher for championing this effort and bringing our communities one step closer to transportation justice. We look forward to a new SANDAG – one that creates an equitable transportation system that works for all people in San Diego.

Congratulations. We could not have done this without you.

On August 15, residents of Old Town National City joined us to demand National City Council prohibit pollution from local auto body shop Perry Ford.

Perry Ford has been operating without permits and against zoning requirements established by National City’s Westside Specific Plan, which passed in 2010.

Residents of the Paradise Creek Park Apartments approached City Council one by one to express frustration about Perry Ford operating close to homes and schools in the neighborhood.

Alicia Sanchez, a longtime community member who was initially involved in drafting the Westside Specific Plan, took a moment to remind everyone how imperative it is to prohibit pollution in communities if we truly want #healthyhoods.

Thank you to National City Councilmembers Alejandra Sotelo-Solis, Mona Rios, Jerry Cano and Albert Mendivil made the right decision to uphold the Old Town National City Westside Specific Plan and prevent toxic businesses from contaminating where we live, work and play.

Thank you to every community member who made this victory a possibility and put us one step closer to achieving our vision of environmental justice in National City.

To join our movement, please click here.

Last month, our staff celebrated the introduction of their very own bikeshare program to promote transportation justice and healthy living in the workplace.

Now, you may spot EHC staff pedaling around National City for meals, meetings – or maybe just for fun.

By installing bike racks and working with the San Diego County Bike Coalition to teach safe biking to our team, we hope to slowly but surely reduce the number of cars the streets in our neighborhood and encourage our community to use alternative modes of transportation. Now, we’re talking the talk and biking the bike.

Want to learn what you can do to bring transportation justice to your community? Click here.

Freeways can wait - people can't. Sign here to demand transportation justice, and read more below.

San Diego lags behind most major regions in California for an accessible, affordable and comprehensive transportation system. San Diego’s Transportation Planning Agency – SANDAG – has ignored the demands of the public for an effective system. SANDAG needs to be reformed.

Sign this petition to tell your legislator to support AB 805 (Gonzalez-Fletcher) to authorize the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) and the North County Transit Agency to raise revenue to create an equitable system that achieves:

• Transportation justice: Investments in transit, bicycling, and pedestrian infrastructure in San Diego’s most impacted neighborhoods first.
• Democracy: Voting authority based on population size to ensure fair representation.
• Reduced air pollution and climate change resilience: Protect public health and the environment from toxic air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
• Accessibility: Better and more abundant transportation options and increased affordability give community member's greater access to jobs, housing and services.

Click here to learn more about AB 805 and how it make our communities healthier and safer places to live, work and play.

On November 8, we're voting no on Measure A to protect our children’s health. Executive Director Diane Takvorian explained in the San Diego Free Press why San Diego should say no to a deceptive 40-year tax increase that pays for freeway expansion and air pollution.

Click here to read her full article on the environmental justice argument against Measure A. 

Measure A is More Bad News for Low-Income Communities

Voters Should Reject Measure A – This year San Diego voters have an opportunity to take a critical first step towards bringing San Diego into the 21st century. Right now, San Diego has an outdated and obsolete transportation system. Measure A will perpetuate that system for another 40 years!

Two generations of San Diegans will be stuck with this backward system instead of clean and just transportation if voters don’t give a resounding NO to Measure A on November 8.

While all San Diegans suffer from this outdated and ineffective system, some people are much more affected than others. Measure A doesn’t do much good for anyone in the region but it is particularly bad for those communities that are already inundated by pollution and surrounded by freeways.

Measure A is Bad for South Bay Communities

More Pollution/More Disease – National City, for instance, is one of San Diego’s poorest cities, with a per capita income under $17,000 per year. Over 90% of the residents are persons of color. The community is highly polluted by heavy freeway traffic on I-5, I-15, SR 54, I-805 and its residents suffer multiple health problems caused by vehicle and truck emissions. As a result, CalEnviroScreen, the state’s tracking tool for pollution impacts, includes the west side of National City, Old Town, among the 10% most polluted communities in the state.

San Diego County remains among the top major urban counties in California for poor air quality. The countywide rate of asthma hospitalizations increased from 9 to 10.3 per 10,000 residents aged 0-17. The rate for National City children is twice as high as the county average.

SANDAG’s freeway expansion obsession doesn’t work! – Instead of using this data to inform transportation planning, SANDAG is ignoring it. Our region’s goal should be to avoid adding more pollution to San Diego overall but particularly in the most impacted communities. But no, despite the already high level of traffic pollution, SANDAG will use Measure A funds to expand the I-5 corridor through National City with four new lanes, one general purpose and one express lane in each direction. The agency’s forecast is that this will result in an average of 238,000 vehicle trips per day. While there are different data for current traffic levels, that is an increase of between 17 and 30%.

Moreover, freeway expansion doesn’t relieve congestion or reduce driving – two oft-cited goals of the regional transportation plan. In October 2015 UC Davis’ National Center for Sustainable Transportation reported that “Increased roadway capacity induces additional vehicle miles traveled in the short-run and even more in the long-run.” More roads mean more traffic in both the short- and long-term. Adding 10 percent more road capacity leads to up to 10% more vehicle miles over many years.

Local Infrastructure – Residents living in a low-income neighborhood in the City of San Diego are ten times more likely to be hit by a car than those that live in most other neighborhoods. Southern San Diego residents not only suffer from high levels of air pollution and correspondingly high rates of respiratory disease, these communities, including Barrio Logan, City Heights, National City, Chula Vista and Imperial Beach, live with crumbling infrastructure like broken or nonexistent sidewalks, a lack of crosswalks to safely navigate traffic and a lack of bike lanes common in many traditionally funded communities.

Well-maintained local infrastructure is a key component to an effective transportation system and should be included in transportation funding.

Finally – To be clear, transit and infrastructure funding are included in Measure A. That funding is badly needed and could benefit the most impacted communities and the entire region. But the price is way too high. Miles of freeways will be built in the worst locations before affordable and accessible transit becomes a reality. Measure A forces lower income San Diegans to subsidize use of our roads with higher taxes and damaged lungs. Measure A will increase disease, air and water pollution and traffic congestion.

Don’t support a tax measure that builds on a flawed plan that will not bring San Diego into the 21st century and will make climate change worse. We have come to the decisive moment when scientific reality must trump politics. We are out of time for half measures.

Our communities deserve better, our children deserve better – smart transportation investments that will ease traffic, address climate change, and reduce disease should come first.

Vote No on Measure A.

This fall, the Governor of California said yes to #healthyhoods and signed four climate justice bills into laws. That’s four incredible reasons to dance.

With these victories, we’re transforming our communities into #healthyhoods by:

• Fighting climate change
  With SB-32, we set an unprecedented goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in California – 40 percent below 1990 levels.

• Better air quality and transparent leadership
  With AB-197, we increased transparency for the California Air Resources Board and required it to publish more data about air pollution.

• Creating #healthyhoods
  With AB-1550, we put our neighborhoods first in line to receive more funding to become healthy, thriving communities.

• Planning for environmental justice
  With SB-1000, all general plans must prioritize communities hit first and worst by climate change.

Celebrate justice

We’re proud of our community leaders and our partners at the California Environmental Justice Alliance who mobilize and empower our communities throughout California. These statewide victories prove that when we raise our voices together, we can create lasting change for justice. 

We know our communities are hit first and worst by the impacts of climate change and air pollution, and today the fight for climate justice has never been more urgent. 

Together, we're making incredible progress for climate justice in our communities. Click here to learn more about our goals and visions for climate justice in the region for the next few years.

Here are three ways EHC proudly leads this effort in the San Diego/Tijuana region.

Our focus is unique.

EHC is the only binational environmental justice organization in a cross-border region with a population of nearly five million people. This gives us a responsibility to speak up for climate issues in our communities.

Our communities deserve better.
Everyone has a right to live, work and play in a healthy and safe environment. With grassroots advocacy, we lift up the community voice and, together, urge our leaders to prioritize social equity in their response to climate change.

We are setting a precedent.
We have worked directly on energy and climate issues for more than a decade, and on air pollution issues for more than 30 years. In 2008, we launched a new campaign to focus specifically on climate justice. Thanks to the momentum we’ve built, our grassroots advocacy efforts have secured local, regional and state policies that protect the most impacted communities from the effects of climate change. We hope these policies can serve as models for similar regions throughout the country.

Learn more.
Click here to learn more about our progress to address dangerous impacts of climate change in our communities.