Who will be San Diego's next great City Councilmember? 

San Diego City Council District 9 is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the city. There are multiple candidates in the running to succeed Councilmember Marti Emerald and it's up to us to ensure that the next Councilperson is another champion for progressive values. We need a candidate who will stand up for working families, bring good jobs and housing to our neighborhoods and protect our health, government and right. 

That's why we're joining Engage San Diego and other local organizations to host a District 9 Candidate Forum on Wednesday, October 14 from 5 - 7:30 p.m., at Ly's Chinese Restaurant (4350 54th St, San Diego, 92115). Please join us. 

We've already told you what 35 years of EHC means to us. But we wanted to show you.

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!

SOMAH Drives Climate Resiliency in Environmental Justice Communities 

The need for bold action on energy justice was made devastatingly clear through the recent Texas energy crisis, which exposed tens of millions of people to the chill of a historic winter storm. This climate disaster was made even more dangerous by failures in the state’s isolated energy network and insufficient weatherization that left vulnerable families across the state without heat, clean water, or power for days after centralized power plants went offline.

What happened in Texas is all too familiar to us in California, as worsening climate disasters disproportionately impact the most marginalized communities as a result of historic divestment in community resources and resilience. Just last summer, we also saw failures in old, fossil fuel dependent energy systems, causing rolling blackouts through dangerous heat and wildfire air pollution. We need new solutions to put us on the pathway towards building energy resilient communities with decentralized, local energy production. That starts with investing in renewables, like rooftop solar, for populations who have often not been able to benefit from solar.

From the wildfires in California to the winter storms in Texas, we’ve seen community based organizations directly serving the needs of those communities by organizing relief funds, distributing masks, offering multilingual outreach, and more. CBOs have deep roots in the communities that we serve, which is why our voice in shaping policy and implementation is vital to ensuring that programs - like the Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) program -  continue to serve the needs of environmental justice communities, and in particular renters in disadvantaged communities, who bear disproportionate pollution burdens. The SOMAH program has an annual budget of up to $100 million for ten years to bring the economic and environmental benefits of solar to California’s low-income renters, and provide an entry point for careers in clean energy.

SOMAH serves as an implementation blueprint for all policies and programs that aim to address disparities in under-resourced communities to ensure that even in the face of disasters, there is not only immediate support for our communities but also long-term community-lead solutions for resilience. SOMAH is the first of its kind to resource and develop strong relationships with CBOs as critical partners in the implementation of a program that is aimed to directly serve environmental justice communities.

EHC’s work on the implementation of this program, alongside the California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA), Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), and Self Help Enterprises (SHE) has helped low-income renters access solar, putting our communities on the path to developing clean energy resilience in the face of a changing climate. To date, the SOMAH program has 386 active applications with an overall capacity of 68 MW AC (production capacity in megawatts). These applications account for 32,049 affordable housing units with an average 90% allocation of solar energy to tenant units.

We’re proud of the first couple of years of SOMAH implementation, but we know there’s still so much work to do to build the resilience our communities need. Especially now, as we mark a full year of the pandemic’s devastation and utility bill debt mounts to new highs, the need for energy bill relief and locally generated, abundant, sustainable energy is urgent.

Climate disasters like the deep freeze southerners experienced this winter and the heatwaves we endured locally are predicted to increase in frequency and severity in coming years. EHC will continue to drive investments in climate resilient clean energy through SOMAH and other advocacy efforts, and we’re looking for EJ champions from the community to get involved. If you are a renter and you want the benefits of renewable energy sourced at your building, please contact SOMAH coordinator Monica de la Cruz at Esta dirección de correo electrónico está siendo protegida contra los robots de spam. Necesita tener JavaScript habilitado para poder verlo..

Environmental Health Coalition's statement on California State Auditor report on the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District.

Environmental Health Coalition appreciates the leadership of Assembly member Gloria to request this investigation and thanks the Auditor’s office for its comprehensive research. Read full press release from Assembly member Gloria.

This report validates the experiences of residents who live in the communities most impacted by poor air quality.  Their voices have not been heard as complaints languish for months, monies have not been spent appropriately to reduce pollution and San Diego’s air quality is worsening.  EHC looks forward to working with the new Air Pollution Control Board to rectify these problems.

We are dismayed by the corporate subsidies of nearly $4 million that have been provided to industrial polluters.  The permit program should be a ‘full cost recovery’ system with permit holders paying for the total cost of regulating them.  We are concerned that permit fees have been kept low to accommodate demands from industry.  The public’s vehicle registration funds were used to subsidize these companies. Those funds should have been used for programs to reduce air pollution throughout the region and particularly in those communities that are most impacted.

Lack of public participation has been an ongoing and decades long concern.  APCD has improved its community involvement with the Community Air Protection Program but the lack of authentic participation in the advisory board and at APCD board meetings is stunningly poor.  Most board decisions are on consent with only 3 public commenters in 3 years.  The APCD website is not user-friendly and lack transparency.  These are issues that are required to be managed by the passage of AB 423 that creates a new board structure and requirements for improvement.

This March, our lives were completely changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Public transit ridership plummeted and unemployment skyrocketed. The pandemic spread, and by April 20, nearly 100 transit workers in the US had died from the coronavirus due to the lack of basic safety measures. The world came to an abrupt stop and we all pivoted to adjust to our new reality.

EHC’s transportation justice work had to pivot as well. Along with community members and partner organizations, we had worked tirelessly for the past two years advocating for MTS to prioritize equity and environmental justice (EJ) communities as it shaped the Elevate SD 2020 ballot measure. Then in April, MTS took Elevate SD 2020 off of the November ballot in response to the pandemic. The potential for an infusion of $24 billion in transit funding over the next 50 years – gone!

The pandemic is still with us. Clean and safe transit is still a critical need. So despite the loss, EHC and the San Diego Transportation Equity Working Group (SDTEWG) have continued our work for transit justice.

And, we are making progress!

On June 18, MTS strengthened its commitment to zero-emission buses by unanimously approving our recommendations to improve its transition plan, which lay out how the agency will move from dirty to clean buses:

• Prioritize environmental justice communities to get zero-emission buses first
• Provide a meaningful community engagement process
• Include workforce training and safety for transit workers
• Develop more optional scenarios that accelerate the transition
• Develop greenhouse gas emission reduction analyses to meet state goals

Our communities need and deserve a just recovery. They cannot afford a “return to normal” that locks in decades of toxic pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, which will lead us into another health crisis from worsened air pollution and climate change. EHC stands ready to work with MTS and our transportation justice allies to ensure a just recovery for all communities.

Image credit: MTS

Below please find the text of a letter sent to Governor Gavin Newsom from members of the State Legislature regarding environmental and health regulations amidst the COVID-19 pandemic (Download the PDF).

April 27, 2020

The Honorable Gavin Newsom Governor,
State of California State Capitol, First Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814

RE: Urgent Need to Defend Environmental and Health Regulations

Dear Governor Newsom:

Our state is facing an unprecedented public health crisis and many of our residents are experiencing extreme health and economic hardships due to COVID-19. We know firsthand how this crisis is impacting our communities that are complying with the shelter-in-place mandate in Executive Order N-33-20. Additionally, we know this is forcing the Administration and its Agencies to continue to implement regulations and programs that safeguard and protect public health, our environment, and natural resources. We are concerned by recent accounts in the press, as well as letters that the Legislature has received from regulated industries, that are using this public health emergency as an attempt to stop, delay, or otherwise weaken California’s environmental and public health protections. In light of this emergency, it is imperative that we resist efforts to roll back any current protections, and that we instead focus on raising awareness on the importance of healthy lungs, healthy immune systems and maintaining safeguards and health protections in place.

The health of millions of Californians -- many of whom already bear the greatest burdens by living in our state’s most polluted cities -- relies on you maintaining momentum in implementation and defense of clean air and climate protections, including those recently passed by the Legislature and signed into law. Our disadvantaged communities in particular, which would most benefit from regulations to clean up our air, are more at risk from COVID-19 due to harms from consistent air pollution exposure to their respiratory systems. We know that maintaining these safeguards will be important as our state is likely to experience more unpredictable and unforeseen events in the future. Maintaining resilient government institutions must continue to be a hallmark of California public policy, even as we are acutely challenged by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

We have taken a leading role in addressing air pollution and the climate crisis by setting model standards for the rest of the world. We cannot stop. Undoing or delaying these regulations would not only damage our health but also our economy. Scientists warned of a pandemic and the climate crisis -- it is critical that we move towards combating and protecting people from both. Our agencies must resist attempts by polluting industries to exploit our current crisis to loosen, rollback or delay the adoption of vital environmental regulations that protect the health and safety of Californians. We ask that you continue to move forward on critical rulemakings with an emphasis on maximizing equitable and meaningful public participation and community-based feedback. Now more than ever, even as the Federal Administration works to dismantle fundamental regulations, we must uphold our commitment to safeguard Californians’ wellbeing.

We appreciate your continued hard work during these times, and we look forward to working with your agencies to defend California’s life-saving regulations.

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

Health inequities are strongly related to issues such as unemployment, poverty, underfunded schools, and a lack of affordable housing. The Healthy Cities, Healthy Residents (HCHR) project was launched to address these inequities, notably in terms of community-driven policies on healthy food systems, safe streets, active transportation, and active living.

On September 12, 2019 EHC, Circulate San Diego, the County of San Diego, and community partners hosted a pop-up event to celebrate the conclusion of the three-year HCHR grant funded by the County of San Diego and managed by EHC. The event focused on engaging and educating National City community members on important issues related to sustainable changes in city planning, policies, and neighborhood environments.

National City Mayor Sotelo-Solisand Councilmember Ron Morrison attended the community event where community partners, SANDAG and other agencies showcased their work. The event coincided with a half-day at Kimball Elementary so that students and their parents could participate together.

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.

Last week, more than 100 community members joined a public workshop in Barrio Logan to tell the California Air Resources Board how climate change and air pollution impact everyday life in our neighborhoods.

Mary Rose, a local resident, said, “Our friends in Sacremento don’t live in our neighborhoods, and they don’t understand what’s going on here. That’s why we’re having this meeting – so everyone can hear what it’s like to live here.”

At a series of table discussions, we told the California Air Resources Board that our communities need improved transit options and better air quality. We described how our neighborhoods are hit first and worst by the impacts of climate change. We shared stories and brainstormed solutions. Now, our voices will be used to guide an update to statewide climate change policy.

Thank you for joining us on July 14. We are powerful when we come together to share, listen to each other and offer solutions to prioritize neighborhoods that need help the most.

To continue making your voice heard, join us to thank the Air Resources Board for visiting Barrio Logan and other low-income communities of color to build policy that we can depend on for #healthyhoods. 

If you use Twitter, please click here to thank our leaders.

Want to learn more? Watch, read and listen to Executive Director Diane Takvorian discuss the harmful impacts of climate change in our communities with KPBS and San Diego Union-Tribune.