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$44 MILLION IN FUNDING FOR SAN DIEGO’S ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COMMUNITIES

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT

Angelica Estrada
angelicae@environmentalhealth.org
562-708-3093

Lorena Nava Ruggero
lruggero@sdfoundation.org
619-814-1365

UNPRECEDENTED COALITION SEEKS $44 MILLION IN FUNDING FOR SAN DIEGO’S ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COMMUNITIES

Community, philanthropic, and government coalition calls on community members to help bring millions of state grant funding and matching funds to some of City of San Diego’s most polluted, climate-vulnerable and culturally rich communities – the Historic Barrios.

SAN DIEGO, CA, APRIL 17, 2023 – On Saturday, April 15, 2023, Mayor Todd Gloria, Councilmember Vivian Moreno, and a more than a dozen stakeholder coalition hosted a press conference to rally community support for a $44 million funding opportunity to fund climate-resilient projects in San Diego’s Historic Barrios – Barrio Logan, Logan Heights, Stockton, Grant Hill, Sherman, Southcrest and Shelltown. This opportunity includes a potential $29.5 million from the state’s Transformative Climate Communities Program (TCC), and $14.75 million in additional matching funds from municipal and private sources.

The Historic Barrios are some of San Diego’s communities most vulnerable to climate impacts such as extreme heat and poor air quality. Considered cultural gems, these majority-minority neighborhoods have suffered from environmental racism and rezoning that has led to decades of toxic pollution, chronic diseases, like asthma, and a higher risk of cancer.

“Air pollution and climate change are interlinked – the same diesel pollution that is exacerbating climate change, is damaging our lungs and making people more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as heat waves and smoke from wildfires,” said Jose Franco Garcia, Executive Director, Environmental Health Coalition.

With high levels of poverty and rising rents, residents are at risk of eviction and displacement as their community is gentrified. Focusing on affordable housing, green spaces, and environmental health, projects funded by the grant will lead to a healthier, more vibrant, and resilient community. 

“People move out of the neighborhood because of the cost of living,” said Elizabeth Chavez, Logan Heights resident and community activist. “And those who can’t afford end up in their vehicles. You need two sources of income – three if you want to live comfortably – to live here.”

The state grant and matching funds could be used to develop a Community Land Trust to secure land, create housing opportunities, keep families in their homes and slow gentrification. Other potential projects include community-wide home improvements such as solar, planting 800 trees to reduce pollution and more frequent transit stops.

“The plan that our coalition is putting together is a visionary, community-driven approach that will serve as a model that we can share with other cities to empower local communities,” said Mark Stuart, president and CEO of San Diego Foundation, the lead applicant on the Transformative Climate Communities proposal that is working with partners to secure municipal and private matching funds for this grant opportunity.

This unprecedented coalition is calling on residents from the Historic Barrios to join its upcoming workshop on June 17, 2023, or fill out its survey (bit.ly/Hist-Barrios-Survey) to help decide how the millions should be spent on parks, housing, and transportation projects.

The coalition members include Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center, City of San Diego, CoPlace, Environmental Health Coalition, GRID Alternatives, Groundwork, MAAC, MTS, San Diego Foundation and Urban Corps of San Diego County.

TO LEARN MORE:

Visit https://bit.ly/HistoricBarriosApp

Download our factsheet at https://bit.ly/TCCFactsheet-4-10

Download video sound bites and remarks from the April 15 press conference at https://bit.ly/tcc-presser

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ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH COALITION

Founded in 1980, Environmental Health Coalition (EHC) builds grassroots campaigns to confront the unjust consequences of toxic pollution, discriminatory land use, and climate change. Visit www.environmentalhealth.org to learn more.

What’s Really Going On With The Weighted Vote?

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Weighted voting makes sure all communities are fairly represented.

EV bus driving under Barrio Logan sign.

What is weighted voting?

Weighted voting makes sure the needs of all communities are fairly represented. It is when each member’s vote is weighted to reflect the size of the population they represent. For example, since the City of San Diego has 1.3 million people its vote counts more than the City of Del Mar whose population is less than 4,000. If Del Mar’s vote counted the same as San Diego’s one of its residents would have about 350 times the voting power of a San Diego resident (more on this below). That is not fair.

How does the weighted vote works at the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG)?

SANDAG uses both tally votes (one vote per member) and weighted votes. When SANDAG takes a weighted vote, it is out of a total of 100 votes that are given out to the board members based on the size of the community they represent. When the votes of all the members are counted, they should equal 100*. For example, City of San Diego gets 42 and Chula Vista gets 8.

Each voting member gets at least one vote even if their community is less than 1% of San Diego County’s population. For instance, Del Mar gets one vote, even though it is only 0.12% of the entire county. That means it is currently getting more than their fair share of voting power – about eight times its population size in voting power.

*there are some exceptions see San Diego Association of Governments Bylaws, page 6, subdivision (H)

Weighted voting is fair, so why are some cities against it?

Some smaller and mostly wealthier cities on the SANDAG board don’t like the weighted vote because they think their residents matter more than residents in other cities. The cities that are against the weighted vote are Coronado, Del Mar, El Cajon, Escondido, Oceanside, Poway, San Marcos, Santee and Vista.

Before the weighted vote.

In 2017, Governor Newsom signed AB 805 into law. It reformed San Diego’s transportation agencies including SANDAG to ensure fair representation of all San Diego’s communities. Prior to 2017,the voting structure of SANDAG gave more influence to smaller and affluent cities like Del Mar, which led to the neglect of transit-dependent communities and they were further impacted by pollution and continuous lack of accessible transportation.

How has the weighted vote helped San Diego communities?

The weighted vote ensures San Diego’s transit communities are fairly represented, and helped shift SANDAG’s focus to prioritize improving public transit for all San Diegans.

We Won’t Allow Mitsubishi Cement Corporation (MCC) to Poison Our Lungs

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On Tuesday, December 13, 2022, we made our voices heard! Community activists, residents, faith leaders, doctors, and educators rallied at the Port of San Diego’s Administrative Building. We made it loud and clear we won’t allow Mitsubishi Cement Corporation to poison our lungs by adding up to 10,500 deadly diesel-polluting truck trips past our homes, schools, and parks.

Watch the rally here!

After the rally we packed the Port’s hearing room. More than 30 people provided public testimony against MCC’s proposed project. In the week’s leading up to the rally Port Commissioners received close to 300 emails in opposition to the project, and our partners at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church gathered around 500 letters in opposition.

We showed up strong and made an impact. Still, MCC is not giving up and neither are we. MCC has NO plan to transition to pollution-free heavy-duty trucks – despite the Port asking them to make one two years ago. They have made little to no effort to engage the community in the five years they’ve been developing this project. MCC does NOT care about our community, our schools, our parks, our health, or our children.

In the coming weeks and months, we will continue to raise our voices to defeat MCC. We kept them out in 2020, we kept them out in 2022, and we will continue to do so in 2023!

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