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1/29/2014 An LA Housing Project Could Be Giving Its Residents Lead Poisoning | VICE United States
http://www.vice.com/print/an-la-housing-project-might-be-giving-its-residents-lead-poisoning-miserable 1/7
NEWS
AN LA HOUSING PROJECT COULD BE GIVING ITSRESIDENTS LEAD POISONINGBy Daniel Ross
Eleazer Acevedo and her children in their home inside the Jordan Downs housing project
It’s not necessarily the patchy linoleum flooring, the eggwhite cinder block walls, or the barsagainst all the windows that gave Eleazer Acevedo’s unit at Jordan Downs in Watts, Los Angeles,its penitential quality—it’s more the sparsely furnished rooms, noticeably bare save a few scantfurnishings that look as though they’ve been plucked from a dozen different roadsides and yardsales.
“Sit, sit,” Acevedo insisted, pointing towards two foldaway picnic chairs and a narrow stool in herliving room—any more than three visitors and those holding the short straws have to sit on thefloor. Acevedo perched on the edge of the stool and leaned forward. With her hands cupped
1/29/2014 An LA Housing Project Could Be Giving Its Residents Lead Poisoning | VICE United States
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between her knees as though in wideeyed prayer, she began her story.
Acevedo, 29, and her four children—ages 13, 11, five, and three—lived in Downtown LA for 12years. After losing her job selling clothes, she was forced to relocate three months ago to a muchcheaper unit at Jordan Downs—or what was purported to be a cheaper unit. The $600 that shecurrently pays was supposed to be $400, and three months in, she’s still trying get her rentreduced to something manageable for an unemployed single mother of four.
Acevedo does get food stamps, but in order to pay for rent, electricity, extra food for her children,clothes, gas for her car, and a spreadsheet's worth of daily expenses, she turns to her friends forfinancial support—all her family live in Mexico. There’s no spare cash for furnishings. She’sexhausted with worry; the dark shadows haunting her face betray countless sleepless nights. ButAcevedo’s concerns extend beyond the immediate. An even greater worry to her is that she hasbeen forced to relocate somewhere that potentially poses a major health risk to her and herchildren. “When I came here, they never said anything about the development project or thecontamination," she said. "They kept their mouths closed… and I’m worried for my kids becauselead is very dangerous.”
The Jordan Downs urban redevelopment project has been decades in the imagination, years inthe works, and months under the glow of a green light—a major landmark for a community long
1/29/2014 An LA Housing Project Could Be Giving Its Residents Lead Poisoning | VICE United States
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bedeviled by crime, poverty, and unemployment. Last August, the Los Angeles City Councilunanimously approved plans to raze the current 700 units and replace them withapproximately 1,800 mixedincome apartments along with chain stores and new streetscapesin order create “a vibrant urban village and model for public housing developments throughout thecountry,” according to the city's fiveyear plan for South Los Angeles. This urban village wasgoing to cost around $1 billion. Current government subsidized tenants have been promised oneforone rehousing, as long as they remain in good standing with the Housing Authority. The fullscope of the project hinges on a $30 million Choice Neighborhood Initiative Grant—a soughtafter federal grant likely to be awarded in May.
At the center of Jordan Downs is a 21acre Lshaped industrial site called the “Factory.” Nowvacant, adorned mostly with rubble and weeds, the Factory abuts the residential complex; the twoare separated by an eightfoothigh brick wall with holes large enough for a child to crawl through.This is the source of everyone's fears.
A 2011 Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) concluded that the site contains elevatedlevels of lead, arsenic, trichloroethylene (TCE), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs),
1/29/2014 An LA Housing Project Could Be Giving Its Residents Lead Poisoning | VICE United States
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stating that the “results indicate that lead does pose an unacceptable hazard to children in aresidential scenario.” All the contaminants listed pose major health risks, according to the Centerfor Disease Control and Prevention, including cancer and autoimmune and neurological diseases.A Housing Authority interoffice memo from 2009 said, “Jordan Downs revitalization efforts willinclude development of other parcels including the parcel on which the 700 units are currentlylocated. It is quite possible that these properties might also suffer from environmentalcontamination and therefore might require remediation.”
As a result of the HHRA’s findings, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA)commissioned a Remedial Action Plan. While HACLA agreed to excavate and move 33,600 cubicyards of soil from the Factory—at a cost of around $8 million—the residential land remainsunmentioned. Even after a recent ExxonMobil pipeline groundwater investigation in which theDepartment of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC) sent a letter to the Housing Authority thatconcluded that “groundwater sampling conducted as part of the M145/M8 Pipeline investigationand remediation by EXXONMobil Corporation has indicated that groundwater adjacent to the sitehas been impacted by petroleum hydrocarbons and volatile organic compounds,” the DTSC hasrecommended further evaluation only on the northeastern edge of the Factory—not beyond thewall. The DTSC has yet to sign off on the Remedial Action Plan.
Lenny Siegel, executive director of the Center for Public Environmental Oversight (CPEO), a
1/29/2014 An LA Housing Project Could Be Giving Its Residents Lead Poisoning | VICE United States
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nonprofit, said he has advocated for months that testing be extended beyond the Factory’sboundary. He believes that from the limited data produced thus far, further testing for TCE vaporintrusion (a carcinogen) should be conducted in residential areas at least beyond the north andsouth boundary of the wall.
“It’s strange to me that you would have indications of TCE with so little sampling… and you don’thave a reading that high and contamination stop at the property line [of the Factory],” Siegel toldme. “A property boundary does not define the catchment area of groundwater contamination.”
David Pettit, a senior attorney of the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), anenvironmental advocacy group, thinks along similar lines. In fall of last year, the Housing Authoritycirculated a leaflet among the residents designed to allay fears of contaminationrelated healthrisks. The flyer says outright, “There is currently no risk to residents.” The leaflet also states that“collections of soil vapor revealed that Volatile Organic Compounds [an umbrella term underwhich TCE falls] do not pose a risk for future residents.” Pettit believes that contrary to what theleaflet states, thorough testing on the residential properties needs to be conducted before suchassertions can be made.
“The concern, in essence, is that there’s nothing [that’s] been done to investigate soil conditionsor soil vapor conditions in the [residential] site,” said Pettit. “The reason I have concerns is, giventhe neighborhood where this is, I would think you’d want to know whether the people living on theexisting units are at risk. And that analysis just hasn’t been done. The thing is, if they build this[development] and people are getting sick because of pollutants that the Housing Authority knowsabout now, there’s tremendous liability for them down the road.”
1/29/2014 An LA Housing Project Could Be Giving Its Residents Lead Poisoning | VICE United States
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Decades of heavy industrialization in and around Jordan Downs means that there are reasonsbeyond the environmental report’s findings to think that residents are at high risk of contamination,according Pettit. A disused smelting plant from the 1960s sits vacant not far from the housingproject. In 2004, 1,250 tons of soil were excavated from the David Starr Jordan High Schoolfootball field after elevated levels of lead and PCBs were discovered—a result of an explosionat the nearby S&W Atlas Iron and Metal Company recycling facility two years prior. Another leadcleanup operation is currently being conducted at the high school.
Pettit believes that the Remedial Plan falls short of safeguarding residents from lead exposure.“Lead is a neurotoxin that affects brain development. What you see are communities affected bylead that have lower IQs than surrounding communities," he said. "Once a kid takes it in, theeffects are irreversible. Let’s not forget, this is a multifamily project. There’s going to be lots ofkids around, and I do know that there is no safe level for lead. I felt the cleanup plan that theDTSC came up with was not healthprotective enough.”
In an email, the DTSC stated that using the environmental evaluations conducted followingUSEPA’s methodology, the highest concentrations of contaminants found in soils onsite would notpose a risk to offsite residents or the school from windblown dust. “However, DTSC cannotcomment on the impacts of past operations at the site or the surrounding neighborhood, as DTSCdid not oversee these processes. It should be noted that testing for contaminants in the
1/29/2014 An LA Housing Project Could Be Giving Its Residents Lead Poisoning | VICE United States
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surrounding communities will not answer the question as to the source of the contaminants itself.For example, leadbased paint and leaded gasoline were routinely used until the 1970s. Leadbased paint is still part of many of the older buildings. Therefore, finding lead in the surroundingproperties would not automatically mean that the site was the source.”
According to Doug Guthrie, the Housing Authority’s president and CEO, officials knew when theyacquired the site that a cleanup process would be necessary, and the Housing Authority anddevelopers have complied with all demands made by the DTSC. “We’ve always been very openwith all the testing that we’ve done there," he said. "We entered into a voluntary agreement withthe DTSC. We’ve been very cooperative and open when it comes to ensuring that we’re doing theright thing by the residents. At this point in time, we will do whatever the DTSC tells us to do toclean the site."
Undeterred, community activists have promised to keep pushing for testing beyond the wall’sboundaries. Thelmy Perez, the Housing Collective coordinator at Los Angeles Community ActionNetwork, has worked for months bringing together a collective of residents, advocates, andactivists, all of whom she says are concerned for the immediate health of people living at JordanDowns.
“Where you have a Housing Authority that isn’t being accountable to the residents and is notbeing transparent about the threat of toxins in the area, it obviously generates a lot of fear in thecommunity,” said Perez. “There are 700 families who live at Jordan Downs and their health is apriority—or it should be a priority.”
@1danross
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