Comment Log Display

April 6, 2017

Mr. Mark Williams
Mailstop 3E Air Resources Board
P.O. Box 2815
Sacramento, California 95812

RE: Los Angeles Volkswagen Green Funding

Dear Mr. Williams:

On behalf of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, I would like
to express our support for Los Angeles to receive one of
Volkswagen’s two Green City designations in this first funding
round.

The lawsuit that brought forth the settlement with Volkswagen
stemmed from air pollution, and no place in the nation has been hit
harder from diesel pollution than Los Angeles. When you combine the
disproportionate impact felt within our communities from air
pollution with other CalEnviroScreen factors, LA County represents
over half of the state’s disadvantaged communities.

Not only does Los Angeles have significant air quality needs, but
the City also represents a market opportunity for the future of
transportation electrification and the next iteration of urban
mobility. The investments made by Volkswagen with the first round
of funding, potentially accumulating to over $44 million as they do
in currently-slated Sacramento, can make a tremendous difference to
propelling the region in this direction.

We recognize CARB’s concern about having this investment be
“transformative” by choosing a location small enough for effective
impact, and it is for this reason that LA submitted a proposal that
would concentrate investment within specific LA communities that
need it most: Downtown, South LA, Boyle Heights, Wilmington,
Pacoima, and LAX. By focusing on specific areas within a large
city, the investment can achieve such goals as: leveraging a large
market with existing investment to achieve a smaller subarea impact
in parts of the city that could be transformative for ZEV
deployment and infrastructure.
While we appreciate the opportunity to be one of the five metro
areas selected for infrastructure investment in the VW plan, we
believe an investment in LA should be more significant than
infrastructure alone and seek to reduce, in the long term, the
fuel-related problems and inefficiencies that lead to calls for
improved infrastructure. Selecting Los Angeles as one of the first
Green Cities will enable VW to achieve maximum impact by leveraging
hundreds of millions in public and private funding (more than any
other single location in the state) and mitigating emissions in
communities that need it the most through accelerated ZEV
deployment and infrastructure buildout.

We urge you to include Los Angeles as one of the two Green Cities
as part of the ZEV investment. Please feel free to contact Sarah
Rascon at SRascon@lachamber.com if you have any questions.

Sincerely,
Gary Toebben
President & CEO