STREAMING AUDIO - Greening Cities: An Interview with Jerilyn Lopez Mendoza

Posted: 15-Feb-2001; Updated: 16-Jan-2004

Environmental Defense Attorney Jerilyn Lopez Mendoza works to alleviate environmental problems that affect minority and low-income communities in Los Angeles. She works in partnership with community-based organizations and environmental groups, focusing on improving transportation equity for the working poor, increasing green space in the urban core, and decreasing exposure to toxins. She recently raised concerns about the Bush Administration's plan to speed-up the expansion of LAX airport.

Q: The Bush Administration's plan would speed up airport construction nationwide by expediting environmental impact reviews. What are the downsides of the LAX expansion plan?

A: Right now, there are a number of environmental burdens that are being borne by the populations that live adjacent to LAX. Those populations that are in Inglewood and Lennox are predominantly low-income and minority groups, and the communities there have expressed significant concerns about both the noise and the air quality aspects of current airport operations. We believe that those issues should be studied much more seriously before the proposed expansion goes forward. So, expediting by shortening the time for environmental review will certainly not assist those communities in determining what environmental burdens they're already suffering, much less what they may suffer with the proposed expansion.

Q: In what ways are those communities suffering already? How is the pollution affecting them?

A: Well, take for example, the noise. Airplanes start flying out of LAX very early in the morning, at about 6 or 6:30 am. And they are flying pretty much non-stop throughout the day and into the evening, every 4 or 5 minutes. In certain parts of those communities, Inglewood and Lennox, which include schools and hospitals and other service providers, the noise from the airplanes is a constant irritant. It often causes windows to rattle and shake, people worry about their houses being thrown off their foundations, they are unable to carry on basic day-to-day activities such as telephone conversations with their families, and it really has an impact on their lives. That's just the noise issue.

The issue of air quality is of serious concern, because a number of the children who live in the area report asthma problems. A number of the community groups have started to document those asthma problems and other bronchial problems that both children and elderly are suffering in the area, as an effort to try to quantify themselves what impacts they're feeling as a result of the air quality issues near LAX.

Q: Are there other environmental problems that adversely affect communities of color and low income communities in Los Angeles?

A: There are a wide variety of environmental issues that affect all of the people who live in Los Angeles. The air quality in Los Angeles is one of the worst in the nation, we very rarely are in compliance with national standards in terms of smog and air quality. Water quality is an issue, which, ironically enough, was brought to the forefront by the recent "Erin Brockovich" movie. In terms of what is particularly impacting low income communities, what we've noticed, and this has been documented by our local air quality management district, is the issue of diesel emissions and diesel exhaust. People who live near freeways and other major arteries tend to be low income or minority populations. Something we learned in a study that was released in March of 2000 is that the people most impacted by diesel emissions, which are carcinogens, are low income and minority populations.

One of the other things that we believe is an urban environmental issue is access to green space. A number of low income and minority populations in the central LA area don't have access to parks and open space the way that other communities do in higher income areas of Los Angeles. And as a result, we believe it has detrimental effects in terms of children not being able to have safe places to play, families not having places where they can congregate and enjoy a park.

Q: What measures is Environmental Defense taking to prevent or correct these problems?

A: We have a number of programmatic priorities that are moving forward at this time. For example, we are working with a coalition called the Verde Coalition, which means the Green Coalition, to try to help communities in Los Angeles advocate for more green space and for more parks in their areas. There is a state pool of money from Proposition 12, which was passed last year, which is being distributed by the state, and we're hoping to try to get low income and minority groups to apply for those funds and actually get some money to build new parks in their areas.

We're also doing significant work on transportation planning in Los Angeles, and trying to get both our local transportation agency, as well as the regional transportation agency to address the issues that are particularly affecting low income and minority populations who are transit dependent and do not have access to cars.

Finally, probably the largest issue that we're dealing with is the proposed 4 million square foot expansion of the Staples Center. That is scheduled to go forward over the next 8-10 years and we're very concerned about the environmental impacts of that expansion and the numbers of people that would bring to the central LA area. The population that lives immediately adjacent to the Staples Center is a low income, predominantly immigrant population. We have significant concerns about the construction environmental impacts, as well as transportation impacts of all the thousands of cars that will be coming through the area. There are also concerns about surface water and storm water being distributed properly, green sources of energy, and a number of other environmental issues that we're trying to address in that area. One of the things that we'd like to note is that among the 4 million square foot plans, there is no plan adding additional green space. That's a no-brainer, that area definitely needs more green space.