JOIN US: Census 2020 Virtual Town Halls - June 11 and June 18

Have you received a letter in the mail asking you to complete the 2020 Census?

If so, please complete the Census right away! It only takes 5 -10 minutes. Each person not counted costs your community $2,000 each year in government services such as improved transportation, better parks and schools, healthcare and other services your community deserves. These services are more important now than ever.

Start now by opening the envelope from the Census Bureau to locate your unique Census ID number. Got it? Here are three ways you can complete the Census:

1. ONLINE: You can now complete your census online and for the first time, the Census form will be available in 13 languages, including Spanish and Vietnamese.
   
   
2. BY PHONE: The Census can also be completed in 13 languages over the phone. Simply call 1-844-330-2020 and follow the instructions.
   
   
3. BY MAIL: Request a paper form in English or Spanish that can be mailed back to the U.S. Census Bureau.

NOTE: You will be asked for your Census ID # when submitting your census in any of these three ways.

No Census ID? No Problem. Call the Census Hotline to request a form or complete the census over the phone using your address:

English 844-330-2020 or Spanish 844-468-2020

CENSUS 2020 RESOURCES

EHC is working with Count Me 2020 to encourage everyone to participate in Census 2020 and bring vital resources to our communities. Learn more by watching this video:

 
Take our pledge to complete the 2020 Census:

If you have any questions about Census 2020, you can always contact EHC by emailing Jorge Gonzalez at Esta dirección de correo electrónico está siendo protegida contra los robots de spam. Necesita tener JavaScript habilitado para poder verlo. for more information.

Julie Corrales, a poet, community activist, and mother of 2, lives in a historic home in the Barrio Logan community of San Diego. She settled her family in the cute blue house on a street close to Perkins elementary school, a street on which trucks over 5 tons are banned. Julie was startled to be awakened one night by trucks driving down her street and idling in the alley next to her house. Web cameras installed by EHC show trucks passing her home many times a day.

Barrio Logan and West National City are adjacent to Port cargo terminals, freeways, waterfront industry, and a BNSF railyard. Many businesses within these mixed-use communities generate truck traffic in the form of delivery trucks. All these sources of diesel pollution affect air quality and health in these communities.

Both communities also rank high on the CalEnviroScreen overall and for diesel. Barrio Logan, in fact, ranks in the top 5% statewide on the CalEnviroScreen diesel indicator and the asthma indicator as well.

(Heavy-duty truck parked in front of Perkins Elementary School in Barrio Logan)

EHC and our community leaders are doing everything we can locally to reduce truck impacts:

• Working with the City to establish and enforce truck routes
• Working with the Port to educate truck drivers on the new route
• Working through the Portside communities Clean Air Protection Program (AB 617) to incentivize cleaner trucks in our communities
• Pursuing a decades-long effort to reform the land use plans in these communities to better separate industrial from residential land uses

However, local efforts cannot compel a faster industrywide shift to electric trucks and away from diesel. We need action at the state level to require zero- emission trucks in California at the earliest possible date.

We join clean freight activists throughout California in asking the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to adopt an Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) rule that will result in 15% of heavy-duty trucks on the roads by 2030 being zero emission. The currently proposed rule will result in only 4% Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) trucks on the road by 2030. We need a stronger rule now!

We know a faster shift to ZEV is feasible. A large number of the truck traffic going through and around our portside communities consists of trucks visiting the Port’s cargo terminals. A Port estimate from a year ago is that about 28% of the total Port-related truck trips are 50 miles or less. Another large percentage travels routes of less than 200 miles, to the Los Angeles-Long Beach area or up to the San Bernardino area. Electric trucks that can drive these distances already exist, and are being deployed in demonstration projects today. It is important to make sure they are fully commercialized and available to truck fleets to purchase over the next decade.

Cleaner air, faster, will be good for the entire state of California – and for our ailing planet, in desperate need of reduced greenhouse gas assaults. It will be especially beneficial for Julie Corrales, her children, and other residents of communities most impacted by diesel pollution in California.

We call on CARB to adopt a strong ACT rule.

Your voice is important in planning the future of transit in San Diego.

MTS wants to know how YOU would invest in San Diego’s transit. They have launched a public outreach tool called Vision Builder to collect feedback on the type of projects that should be funded by a new tax measure. The tool mimics an online shopping experience. Users can add projects to their cart and spend up to 1,000 coins.

Tell MTS to prioritize Transportation Justice by selecting a mix of the following projects for up to 1,000 coins:

Download our Transportation Justice Shoppers Guide for more information.

LEARN HOW THE VISION BUILDER TOOL WORKS

• Spanish Instructions and Video
• English Instructions and Video

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

Environmental justice (EJ) communities are the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System’s (MTS) number one customers, but the system does not serve them the way it should. In 2020, MTS will have a tax measure that can fund the transformation of San Diego’s inequitable, car-centric transportation model into an equitable public transit network that:

• Connects EJ communities to jobs
• Makes it affordable to ride the bus and trolley
• Ensures the region meets regional climate goals

On December 10, 2018, San Diego City Council unanimously passed a resolution prohibiting heavy-duty commercial truck traffic on Barrio Logan residential streets. The resolution resulted in some new signage installations but there has been little enforcement by the San Diego Police Department (SDPD).

Prohibited truck traffic continues unabated on residential streets in Barrio Logan, putting families and residents in harm’s way. On August 9, 2019, a non-compliant heavy-duty truck traveling on Main Street lost control crashing into power lines and fire hydrants.  The truck burst into flames and came to rest just a few feet from a home with children sleeping inside.

As of October 23, 2019, SDPD has only issued 49 citations to non-complaint trucks this year.  EHC and Barrio Logan residents are discouraged and outraged by the lack of truck route enforcement. EHC representatives and residents voiced their concerns and demands at the October 16, 2019 Barrio Logan Planning Group meeting, and again at the October 23, 2019 Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee meeting. At both meetings, EHC staff shared recent video footage of non-complaint trucks on residential streets and presented specific enforcement actions the SDPD can take. 

EHC has written a formal letter to San Diego City Councilmember Vivian Moreno asking for three specific actions:

• Provide consistent monitoring
• Educate truckers
• Issue citations

Councilmembers Moreno and Montgomery expressed strong concerns at the Council Committee meeting.  CM Moreno asked SDPD to make monthly reports on citations issued to the planning group and to use the locations and times provided by EHC to develop a monitoring program.

 MEDIA COVERAGE

• San Diego Union Tribune
• NoticiasYa San Diego (Spanish)

 WHAT CAN YOU DO?

• Report Violations
• Sign our Petition

Send signed petitions to Jorge Gonzales:Esta dirección de correo electrónico está siendo protegida contra los robots de spam. Necesita tener JavaScript habilitado para poder verlo. or contact him at (510) 559-0978 for more information.

On August 9, 2019, a heavy-duty diesel truck crashed in Barrio Logan on a block with homes and businesses.

It burst into flames directly in front of a home!

The truck was not following the approved route (see reverse) in violation of the 2018 resolution passed by the San Diego City Council. Violations of the resolution happen every day putting families and children in harms way. These trucks don’t belong on our streets!

READ OUR PRESS RELEASE

DOWNLOAD OUR PETITION

DOWNLOAD INFORMATIONAL HANDOUT

REPORT A VIOLATION

When you see a prohibited truck violating the law, call the SDPD non-emergency line at (619) 531-2000 and provide the following information:

• Date and time of violation
• Location (cross streets or address)
• License plate number and state
• Company name and other details

For more information contact Jorge at (510) 559-0978 or Esta dirección de correo electrónico está siendo protegida contra los robots de spam. Necesita tener JavaScript habilitado para poder verlo.

UPDATE: Join Jorge this week to take action! Click the link below to learn more.

WHERE:
Por Vida Cafe
2146 Logan Ave
San Diego, CA 92113