| Comment |
My name is LaDonna Williams, I’m
sending this letter in response to a recent comment
letter regarding the People’s AB 617 Blueprint. The letter
was signed by Mauro Libre.
After reading the letter,
I decided to lend my voice. What is
described in the letter, and the accompanying video,
is “redlining in the
United States. Redlining is a discriminatory
practice in which services (financial and otherwise) are withheld
from potential customers who reside in neighborhoods classified as
'hazardous' to investment; these neighborhoods have significant
numbers of racial and ethnic minorities, and low-income residents.
While the most well-known examples involve denial of credit and
insurance, also sometimes attributed to redlining in many instances
are: denial of healthcare and the development of food deserts in
minority neighborhoods.”
It's no stretch to say
that denying the people (in the
video) who live a quarter mile from the AB 617 boundaries
the resources that AB 617 was intended to provide them, is
tantamount to the description of redlining provided in the previous
paragraph. However, the area is not only hazardous to investment;
the letter mentions an industrial park and Title V facility
adjacent to the residents, making it hazardous to the
community’s health as well. Industrial parks are
generally managed by the county and Board of Supervisors; the
letter indicated the CARB Board deferred to them, through their
colleague. This raises serious concerns about CARB’s
commitment to real equity
and real justice and paints a
picture of politics as usual.
Given the described
injustices, and systemic racism to the people
of South Sacramento and the mention of CARB political capital
possibly being distributed unequally amongst AB 617 communities, I
would like to request that you publish a list of every AB 617
community along with the names of your Board and Executive Officers
that have attended or participated in a tour
of each. I believe that looking at communities
supported overwhelmingly by CARB, as models for future AB 617
communities, sets future communities up for failure unless you can
commit the same support and resources to those
that have received the most. I
support the suggestion in the letter to look at communities that
aren’t models of success and find solutions to the problems
there, before moving forward with new communities. Being complicit
in redlining a community is something worthy of reflection and
correction, or redress as stated in Mauro’s letter. I
encourage you to look at South Sacramento for solutions, and then
talk about successful models using their example as
well.
I’ve been told that
you should expect another letter with metrics and suggestions
regarding the recommendation for agencies and community-based
organizations to continuously strive for outreach and community
engagement throughout the AB 617 process. Without this
requirement, its easy to get lax about hearing from a wide array of
community residents. As a scientific agency, you know very
well that the very small amount of people regularly informing you
about the plight of EJ communities can’t possibly be
representative of all EJ communities or ethnicities in the State.
You wouldn’t accept this level of data for anything else
besides equity and justice work; and I could show you communities
like South Vallejo and Bayo Vista in Rodeo both that are
majority Black American residents that are facing as
many if not more cumulative impacts as any,
and have not been advocated for, or
supported to any noticeable degree, for inclusion in AB
617 by your EJ advisors or your staff, with
the exception of Jose Saldana our previous staff community
support person who displayed what real environmental justice,
equity and inclusion should be in historically disadvantaged long
term highest exposed communities being impacted by the highest
health burdens, outcomes, and compounding hits from source
pollution.
I hope you took note of
the public comments during the recent Los Angeles City Council
meeting to address the vile racist
comments of Council member Nury Martinez, complicit
Council members Kevin De Leon, and Gil Cedillo towards
black people by these members. In addition,
leader Ron Herrera was included as well with these City Leaders on
how the City’s council district boundaries should be redrawn
to further disenfranchise American Blacks in LA. As you may or may
not recall I’ve previously complained in 2019 (and prior)
during your Board hearings about similar actions taken by
Sacramento air district, their coveted Latino organizations, and
some CARB staff who’ve silenced, and disenfranchised American
Blacks particularly Black women by firing, and or removing them
from jobs, and committees preventing their involvement and voices
being heard and included. This prompted a CARB inter-agency
anonymous 18 page letter outlining the deeply engrained racism
existing within CARB. Although CARB responded with Resolution
20-33, A COMMITMENT TO RACIAL EQUITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE, on October
22, 2020, the recently attended tours in LA areas supporting Latino
communities, while bypassing the previously repeated requests mad
in 2021 and 2022 from Black Americans in Bay View Hunters Point in
the Bay Area were put on the back burner forcing the Black
community to jump through hoops to date for a CARB tour of their
community. This in addition to the Legislative 2021 audit report
labeling CARB poverty pimps is proof much has not changed for
historically disadvantaged long term highest risk communities
particularly Black American communities and neighborhoods least
supported or overlooked by CARB.
I am requesting info on
the funding amounts spent on each AB 617 communities to date, and
if applicable projected in the future.
Although the letter from Mauro doesn’t accuse you of
racist comments, it does reflect the same frustrations with your
decisions as those that the community shared in their public
comments during the Los Angeles City Council meeting.
Community
Advocate/Resident
|
|---|