Members of greenRELAY decided to attend the Goods Movement Toxic Tour led by East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice last week.  The tour, which focused primarily on the cities of Commerce and Bell Gardens, highlighted the environmental justice implications of international trade and the expansion of the Long Beach Freeway, Interstate 710.

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On Saturday, August 1st I held a workshop that dealt with the Labor/Community Strategy Center’s Community Rights Campaign. The workshop discussed in great detail the campaign itself, the demands on LAUSD, and how we want to change pre-prison conditions in high schools. I was able to present to the group the background and tools needed to recruit other folks around the work we are doing to stop the pre-prisoning of our youth. It is imperative that we stand against the racial profiling, excessive police force and ticketing of our youth. Because of these conditions, students are discouraged to go to school. This isn’t so shocking with LAUSD’s 50% graduation rate and California’s spending on education being 47th out of 50 states and 1st in prison/police spending out of 50 states. When students are discouraged to go to school the lack the skills to be successful citizens and therefore resort to committing crimes of poverty to survive. When in prison, 80% of prisoners do not have a high school diploma. This is not surprising when students are differed from school because of  the constant police harassment in their high schools and neighborhoods. There is an imparitive need for students to have adequate resources in high school to assist with their needs and police do not help to solve the root cause of any situation.

With this Campaign’s demands, we hope to gradate more students!!!

Graduating more students is important to the neighborhoods and communities because that means we have politically conscious young people that are fighting for changes within their communities that not only affect them but will also affect the next generation. It is important to train leaders and organizers that will take the initiative to create a self-sustaining community. The environmental aspects of these young people having leadership and organizing skills means that our community is on its way to improvement.

Hundreds marched to stop the E-verify system.

Workers from Overhills Farm, American Apparel, Farmer Johns and others joined to march in order to stop the rampant I-9 audits and E-verify. E-verify is system that makes sure whether someone can legally work in the US. Whenever someone applies for a job, the person’s information is put in the system and in a matter of seconds the system determines whether the person can legally work. American Apparel, the biggest company to have undocumented people working, is going to fire many hard working people because of E-verify. The company is definitely feeling the loss of those workers therefore they are supporting the workers. E-verify is also affecting people who can legally work in the US. The E-verify system has a 10% error rate, which means that the system is likely to make errors on verifying who can legally work in the US. Already many undocumented people are being fired for not having legal authorization to work in the US. Documented workers are also being fired because of the 10% error rate. The system puts a lot of stress on people who are trying to get a job and those who alread have one. 

The decision to stop E-verify is in the hands of our president, Barack Obama. If the E-verify continues to be implemented, many people are going to lose their job. These are innocent people who came to this country chasing the “American Dream” but really it has all been a nightmare. These are hard working people looking to have a better opportunity. They work hard to bring food to their tables and keep a roof above their heads. They should be able to work in the US.

The meeting will discuss the funding of a Greener Los Angeles.  The meeting will cover how a Green jobs could help the Los Angeles community. It will also be a great opportunity if anyone has any ideas or anything to say to come and let your voice be heard.

Where: Los Angeles  City Hall

When: Wednesday August 5, 2009

Time: 10:00 am – 1:00 pm

I will be blogging on this event so look out for it…….

On Wednesday August 5, 2009 at 6pm, The Port of Los Angles and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will hold a Public Scoping Meeting to discuss “the redevelopment and expansion of the existing container terminal [at Berths 302-306] by 56 acres.” The public comment period lasts until Aug 24th, but anyone who intends to speak in person, instead of in writing, must attend this Public Scoping Meeting.

The Port of LA, or the LA Harbor is the busiest port in the United States and creates excessive pollution for its surrounding communities, such as Wilmington and San Pedro, which are majority minority. Expansion would likely bring more pollution from the ports and on land from the probable increase in diesel trucks that will accompany any container expansion. Organizations throughout LA, such as Communities for a Better Environment are working with those communities to help empower them to fight large polluting industries in the Port that contribute to their higher asthma and cancer rates. Please attend the meeting if you can!

Last Wednesday, the Transit Riders for Public Transportation campaign took action all over the United States. Big cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, Portland, Chicago and Atlanta participated in the rally. The motivation for the day of action was to get Congress Representatives to co-sponsor H.R. 2746 which is a bill introduced by Representative Russ Carnahan that would provide funding from the federal government for public transit operations.  The day of action was to inform congress that public transportation is a huge necessity for cities all around the country and if it is not funded then mass transit will not be able to operate, affecting millions of public transit users and commuters who travel via bus or rail.

The Carnahan bill is an important issue. It can either make or break the infrastructure of public transportation, it can be a decision on whether or not transportation can can be operational or whether or not it can only be an exhibit of buses and trains that will not be able to run. This is the biggest gamble, and it would mean that if funding is not provided then public transportation could become obsolete. The hugest cities in the U.S. need this bill to survive these harsh economic times and  it is not an issue of whether or not the federal government has enough money to pass the Carnahan bill, its whether or not the government wants to, but it shouldn’t even be an issue of wanting to or not it needs to be passed. You cannot have a sustainable system of transportation without mass public transportation. If it does not pass, it will soon become an issue of whether or not the working poor will have to decide to buy a car, over buying groceries for their families. It will become an issue of whether or not a 50 mile commuter will have to make a decision to drive their high fuel emission cars to work along a high populated freeway.

H.R. 2746 needs to pass, it can only bring positive and more possible ideas for a better tomorrow, if the government can bail out corporations that have been irresponsible and contributed to the largest global economic crisis,  then they can bail out mass transit.

Damien Newton from LA Streetsblog announced a Parking Day Ride on the blog on July 27th, 09. Park(ing) Day LA is an annual event in which people ‘rent’ parking spots throughout the city and create open space and temporary parks. The 2009 day will take place on Friday, Sept 18th. The Park(ing) Day LA Website explains something all Angelinos know too well:

Los Angeles significantly lacks adequate & accessible open space, urban parks, plazas and civic centers.

On Park(ing) Day,  LA residents will see how much space we use for our cars instead of for recreational areas like parks that could promote physical and community health and reduce heat island and global warming effects, reminding us of the impact that our car addiction has on our environmental and social welfare.

Please consider joining Damien Newton on Sept. 18th – more people, more impact! If you would like to create an open space, click here for instructions, and spread the word about Park(ing) Day LA!

Ara Najarian leading an MTA Board Meeting as chair for the first time

On July 23rd, 2009, the MTA held its monthly board meeting, and a hot ticket item – the 2009 Long Range Transportation Plan – was on the agenda.  There were so many supporters that the new chair, Ara J. Najarian, asked supporters to skip the speeches, acknowledge their support and sit down to keep to meeting moving.

The most controversial part of the LRTP concerned the rail plans funded by Measure R. The bulk of the rail money will be spent on the subway to the sea or The Westside Subway Corridor with other funds for a Crenshaw Corridor, Gold and Green Line extensions and a Regional connector. The subway to the sea would run entirely underground. The Crenshaw corridor would either be a Rapid Bus or a Light rail, both of which are at grade (street level), and the Regional connector would come above ground in Little Tokyo. As underground trains cost significantly more to install and run and are faster and eventually less disruptive than light rail and buses, I don’t think it unreasonable to question the motives behind the discrepant plans, especially when one looks at the racial composition of each neighborhood. The Westside is White; Crenshaw is Black and Hispanic; Downtown is becoming more diverse, but is still mostly minority. I personally have no doubt that race played an important role in the decision to use the much more expensive, more convenient and less socially impacting strategy in white neighborhoods.

The most intriguing part of the meeting for me was the glaring discrepancy between the opinions of the white commenters and the minority commenters, particularly Japanese-Americans and African-Americans. Japanese Americans stressed the detriment that the downtown connector would have on the most vital part of Little Tokyo. Blacks made clear that the differences in grade separation and funding for rail plans in white and minority neighborhoods was not only blatantly racist, but also illegal because it violated various civil rights laws. White commenters wanted the Westside subway and the downtown connecter, and they wanted it immediately. They had only positive things to say because, for Westsiders, the benefits of the plan far outweigh the negatives. One or two white people mentioned that the Little Tokyo problem should be addressed, but not one non-black commenter disscussed or appeared to care at all about, for lack of a better term, the Black portion of the LRTP.

Little Tokyo Stop on the Gold Line

I don’t believe that necessarily results from bigotry, but from the completely different experiences that most minorities and whites have with the public transportation system and with the physical and social environment in LA. Minorities have always borne the brunt of urban problems, particularly environmental, educational and economic ones, and the LRTP as is would uphold that tradition. Part of the train would run right by Dorsey High School, which would never be acceptable at a school in Santa Monica or Beverly Hills. The trains will run frequently only twenty feet from the school, which raises safety and noise pollution issues for students, and they will run slower than subways, change traffic patterns and be an eyesore. Even if the board determines that these problems are acceptable sacrifices for more mass transit, why is it that only minorities should have to endure it and not the Westside as well. It really scared me that no one seemed to care.

For me, the comment period was, above all, a testament to how segregated Los Angeles is, to how powerful physical separation can be. One comment from a White Westside resident who attempted to downplay oppositional comments stuck with me the most. To paraphrase, he asserted that you (non-Westside residents) consistently use our (Westside residents’) streets, our amenities, and contribute to our congestion, so the LRTP as is would benefit you as much as it would us. He was understandably frustrated that people would oppose a plan that could provide beneficial public transportation, but I’m not sure even he realized how his emphasis on pronouns, his need to distinguish between what belonged to whom, reinforced the Black commenters’ points: a huge difference exists between yours and ours, ours and yours, and the plan as is would help maintain that distinction, that distance, that uncommon experience.

Thankfully, the LRTP was postponed until the next Board meeting because Mark Ridley-Thomas and Michael Antonovich proposed amendments.  I hope they will honor the concerns of the Japanese and African American citizens’ complaints as much as they will the praise of the Anglo-Americans by making more equitable changes on both the Westside and Minority neighborhood lines. If they don’t, this plan will continue a pattern of segregative choices which have maintained the social vulnerability of LA minorities and allowed for significant environmental racism and injustice here for so long.

The working class in Los Angeles is being targeted by I-9 audits and by the use of E-Verify. March alongside \the workers of Overhill Farms, American Apparel, Farmer Johns and others call on all immigrant and human rights organizations and supporters to DEMAND THAT OBAMA STOP THE RAMPANT I-9 AUDITS AND E-VERIFY!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009: March – Meet at 4:00 pm at 7th and Alameda and March to the Downtown Federal Building, Temple and Los Angeles.

Check the Calendar for more info.

I will be writing a blog on the event……

I woke at 6:40 AM to attempt to attend a meeting that started at 9:30 PM. I just have to say that if public transportation was easier to use that I probably could have gotten up at 7:45.  If the MTA trip planner which I attempted to use was better I wouldn’t have wasted so much time taking the round about way to Union Station for this meeting.  During the meeting all one lady had to say was that it took her 65 minutes to get there.  I took about 150 minutes or so to get there.  I don’t mean to complain I just have to say that the public transportation is not always the easiest to use.

Today, I attended the MTA Board meeting. Upon arrival I did not expect such a large amount of people to attend this meeting. I knew that the MTA was important but I did not expect so many people to show an interest and come to the meeting. Before last month I had only taken public transportation a handful of times and now that I have used it more frequently I know the importance of the MTA and public transportation. Towards the beginning of the meeting there hardly and of the directors were present as it was time to begin the meeting. There was time for people to speak but I felt that it was sort of pointless because hardly anyone was there to listen to them. Anyone who has ever been to one of these meetings knows of John Walsh who is nearly unforgettable and speaks often. On my way to the meeting I entered a subway station at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Normandie and there were turnstiles.  I thought they were nice but I thought whats the point of having them if you can just walk right around them.  I know that the trains get checked to see if you have a ticket but if you used a tap card is there anyway to know whether or not you paid?  I’m not sure the answer to this question but would like to know the answer.  The Board of Directors voted to approve prices for use of HOV or carpool lanes by cars that do not meet the minimum occupancy requirement, mainly alternate fuel or hybrid vehicles. There was much discussion of the LRTP or Long Range Transportation Plan and a contract with a company that would build rail cars. In the end the vote for the LRTP was postponed until further study could be done and a company was chosen which left many workers there happy. What I found difficult about this meeting was how so much time was wasted during it. The directors have a big long discussion and then in one they decide to return to the original idea wasting a lot of time. Also, I am all for people having a voice but there a lot of what some people had to say got quite a bit repetitive for me. I must admit that not all of this was interesting to me but I have to say that parts of the meeting kept my attention. One of the directors had an article about how contrary to what the representative from this company stated that they were working in Iran. The funny thing is that they criticized another company for working there.  It was an event filled day with my first MTA board meeting as well as AJ Najarian’s first meeting as Chairman.