On Saturday, September 12, we hosted a community celebration to celebrate the community members, supporters, neighbors, friends and family that make 35 years of environmental and social justice possible. With great people, great food, great music and great weather we had the perfect day.
To view more photos from our celebration, visit us on Facebook.
We would also like to extend our gratitude to Cafe Moto for sponsoring our celebration and being a great supporter of the work EHC does. Thank you, Cafe Moto!
Old Town residents from National City are excited to work with the Port of San Diego to expand Pepper Park, the only public park in the area. Pepper Park currently represents less than two percent of the National City Marine Terminal and on Wednesday, September 23, residents proposed expanding the park by two acres to create more space for children and the community to play.
National City and the Port of San Diego have worked extensively to get us closer to a new vision for this precious park. Residents from Old Town National City have been participating in the planning process since 2010 and want to ensure that new vision will also provide meaningful public amenities beneficial to everyone, and on September 23 we achieved our goal of expanding the park by up to three acres.
Residents hoped to see Pepper Park grow enough to include a big enough area for pick-up games, just like the area in Cesar Chavez Park, and water fountains similar to those at the Waterfront Park in front of the San Diego County Administration Building. Residents wanted to ensure that open space available for public, active recreation opportunities isn’t compromised as maritime and tourism grow.
Now, we look forward to an active and playful future for children of Old Town National City.
City Heights and National City are diverse, low income communities in the San Diego/Tijuana region of Southern California, with residents that include refugees and immigrants from over 60 countries. It is a region that is facing the impacts of climate change, including wildfires, heat waves, and water issues, and in some communities, air pollution and higher asthma rates.
The Environmental Health Coalition (EHC) works in the region to address environmental justice issues, and partnered with La Maestra Community Health Centers on a Creating a Climate for Health pilot project funded by the Public Health Institute. EHC built upon its “deep energy education” model to train La Maestra clinic staff and Promotores about the connections between climate change and health. EHC provided materials to help Promotores and staff communicate with patients about the connections, and it laid the groundwork to link both clinic personnel and patients/community members to opportunities to influence and advocate for San Diego’s Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Plan (CMAP). You can read more about this partnership on our brochure here.
The EHC “deep education” approach starts by working from the concerns immediately relevant to community members, and showing how their actions make a difference for their families while also making a difference for the planet. In the case of energy, for example, Promotores showed families how they could save money by reducing their energy usage, teaching them to track kilowatts, turn lights off and change out light bulbs. Families saw immediate savings, while also knowing they were reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that cause “calentamiento global” [global warming]. “We put it like this to the communities we work with,” said EHC Campaign Director Leticia Ayala, “Do we want to do something? Or do we want to do nothing?”
On a sunny Saturday, we hosted our first-ever community bike ride for City Heights residents to pedal in support of the new bike infrastructure planned for City Heights. The area slated for improvements, 54th, University Avenue and Orange Avenue, is lined with schools and green space. The bike improvements offer the freedom of movement residents have advocated for since 2012. Residents were thrilled and ready to celebrate the over $17 million in dedicated funds for the North Park Mid-City Bikeways, and with the enthusiasm and dedication of organizers, sponsors and participants, the bike ride quickly transformed into something incredible.
More than 100 people attended this community bike ride in celebration and support of transportation justice. The ride raised awareness and support for bicycle and pedestrian improvements such as bike lanes, sidewalks, crosswalks and road diets to make the streets of City Heights safer. It also gave our allies a platform to share their stories and build new partnerships. Everyone was having so much fun, residents who hadn’t been on a bike in years decided to join, and many loved it so much they made plans to get back on their bikes regularly again.
The strength and enthusiasm of the ride showed SANDAG, the City of San Diego and elected officials how much we care about transportation and climate justice. The ride also highlighted the unsung heroes of climate justice who are living the goals of the Climate Action Plan in the City of San Diego by walking, biking, and taking public transit as their main mode of transportation. Most importantly, the ride became an opportunity to build a stronger community and reclaim our streets. The ride gave a face to the bicycle commuting community of City Heights.
In City Heights residents are 16 percent less likely to have access to a car than the average San Diegan and therefore, are walking, biking, and taking public transportation more. However, they’re 23 percent more likely to get hit by a car while biking and 80 percent more likely to get hit by a car while walking.
Thank you to everyone who participated, you made a difference. We’d like to give special thanks to the sponsors and organizers of the ride also.
Special thanks to DECO Bikes for bringing 25 free bikes for residents to use and toSuper Cocina for the amazing food and accommodating more than 100 hungry people. Special thanks to our community partners The Built Environment Team, City Heights Community Development Corporation, Community Leadership Association (ALC) and Bikes Del Pueblo. Also, thank you to Bridget Enderle of SANDAG for giving the residents an update on the North Park Mid-City Bikeway project.
