To
whom it may concern,
I own a
small business here in California restoring classic cars. I
restore and customize cars from the 1920's through the 1960's, all
of which have many chrome pieces. We restore these cars to an
extremely high level, and they have been shown around the country,
and some around the world. We compete for awards, which is a
big part of our business, and the finish and texture of the chrome
on these cars is a detrimental component of our ability to compete
at a high level. I know that there are many shops here in
California (the epicenter of custom and classic car culture) that
share the same experience and produce the same level of quality as
we do. We absolutely cannot use any other method or quality
of chrome plating than hexavalent chromium to complement the
quality of our builds.
I
understand that if Hex Chrome is banned in CA, we could potentially
send our parts out of state to be chromed. First, we
currently do not ship any parts to chrome; we personally deliver
all parts so as not to damage or lose any of these valuable
pieces. Many of the parts are hand-made from scratch and have
countless hours into their fabrication and manufacture. And
many of the parts are very rare, very valuable original pieces that
cannot be duplicated or replaced. For this reason, we cannot
take the risk of shipping parts and having them damaged or
lost. And second, it is typically California's intention to
set precedent by example; if other states follow suit and hex
chrome is banned in America for good, it would seriously affect the
entire industry of classic and custom car building and
restoration. This could mean job losses in both the
chrome industry AND the classic and custom car industry, which I
think you will find is a very large industry (just look at the
number of car events and TV shows currently).
All of
this said, the amount of pollution caused by the hex chrome process
is miniscule compared to the large-scale production of
mass-produced commodities. We are building one to three cars
per year, which means our collective use of the chrome process is
very small. It is an essential part of these builds, yet a
very small portion of the overall output of chrome shops in
general. But there are chrome shops that specialize in our
specific, very high standard requirements, and they would be
devastated by this ban. They are all upstanding businesses
(the ones we deal with) that already comply with state and federal
laws, and some of which would already comply with proposed laws, as
they want to stay ahead of the curve and curtail pollution and
emissions.
Please
consider amending your proposed legislation to allow for
concessions for my industry. If this might mean allowing
small production numbers, while banning production over a certain
limit, I am positive that the businesses in my industry would fall
well below any threshold of significant pollution. Car
culture, while not appreciated by everyone, is an integral and
important element of Californian and American popular
culture. It is part of our history that we are trying to
maintain and carry on, and it represents a huge industry that
affects multitudes of businesses that contribute to the
craft.
Thank you
for your consideration,
--
South City Rod & Custom
22432
Thunderbird Place
Hayward, CA
94545
(510)
783-6300
|