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To whom it may concern:

Our town council submitted a letter of support to the Association
of Rural Town Councils, located in the Antelope Valley, to seek a
small portion of the grant monies offered by CARB, through the
Community Air Protection Program.  We were dismayed and
disappointed when the selection of worthy program areas did not
include ours, especially since metrics evaluated met or exceeded
those of communities that were chosen.  Antelope Valley's residents
experience the worst health outcomes for cardiopulmonary and
respiratory illnesses, and childhood asthma across Los Angeles
County.  Moreover, Antelope Valley residents are nine times more
likely than other county residents to contract Valley Fever--whose
fungal spores are carried on fugitive dust. 

It is crucially important to be able to assess particulates in our
air, since there is no evidence that our area even complies with
state or federal air quality standards for PM 2.5.  We have one air
quality monitoring station for 2,200 square miles.  To address this
problem, we need more monitors to actually classify air quality,
locate the areas worst affected, and apply solutions to reduce
particulates there, and ultimately, across the whole of our
Antelope Valley Community.  

We seek your assistance in learning how grant proposals are
evaluated and what information we can provide that was perhaps
overlooked, so we can ultimately help our valley provide healthier
places to live, work, and play.