Claremont to Kids: "Breathe This!"

Affordable Housing EIR

The Daily Bulletin's Will Bigham has a story about Claremont's affordable housing project at Base Line Rd. and Towne Ave. on the north side of the 210 Freeway.

The FC Blog also offered up some commentary on the project.

The project has been pushed (shoved) along by such Claremont dilettantes as former Police Commission Chair Helaine Goldwater and her friend Mayor Pro Tem Ellen Taylor, who seem to be saying, "Put it anywhere but in the Village, at any cost."

The costs are now becoming clear. The environmental impact report (EIR) for the project is now in. You can see it here on the city's website (see how easy that is?).


Sensitive Receptors

The most interesting section of the EIR is AIR QUALITY (Section 3.2). It turns out that for so-called "sensitive receptors" - consultant-speak for structures that house people who are especially sensitive to air pollution, mainly kids and the elderly - living continuously next to a freeway is a bad thing.

The EIR mentions the results of a ten-year study by USC School of Medicine that found that living within 500 meters of a freeway can significantly impair the development of children's lungs.

The report also cites a California Air Quality Board land-use handbook that says states that officials should "Avoid siting new sensitive land uses [like affordable housing projects] within 500 feet of a freeway." The project EIR also notes that the entire Base Line Rd. project falls within 500 feet of the 210 Freeway.

Page 3.2-20 of the EIR's Air Quality section tells us:

A growing body of scientific evidence shows that living or going to school near roadways with heavy traffic volumes is associated with a number adverse effects. These include increased respiratory symptoms, increased risk of heart and lung disease, and elevated mortality rates.

Okay, kids, you're going to have to take one for the Claremont 400. At least we're teaching self-sacrifice and team play.

The EIR goes on to list three possible mitigations that would allow the city to go forward with the project:

1. Requiring HVAC units with special filters.
   Question: What happens when the developer stops maintaining the filters?
   


2. Requiring dense plantings along the south-side of the project bordering the freeway.
   Question: How do the plantings stop air flowing over, around, and between the plants?
   


3. Requiring tenants to be given a legal notice informing them of the risks associated with the project.
   Observation: This seems to say, "Affordable housing folks, your kids get what they deserve, don't blame us."
   
   
   

The Claremont Solution

Pictured above:
Proposed city of Claremont mitigation absolving it of any legal or moral responsibility for lung damage to children living the the city's new affordable housing project. No word on whether or not the city has contracted with the legal department at tobacco company R. J. Reynolds for legal defense services.

* * *

As you might be thinking, there's really not much the city can do to seriously mitigate the problems they have with the site. And, as you might also be thinking, Claremont and the Claremont 400, remain as inflexible and uncreative their problem-solving as ever. You would be right on both counts.

Will Bigham's article reported:

Supporters of the project appeared poised to move forward despite the health concerns, citing several other residential projects adjacent to the freeway that have been recently approved by the City Council.

"We have a number of housing projects along the freeway, and this is not going to be any better or worse than any of the other housing developments," Mayor Peter Yao said.

"The EIR is to make us understand what areas where we can mitigate the negative impacts, but from my perspective it's not going to kill the project."

Mayor Yao seems to be saying the purpose of the EIR is not to identify significant impacts of the project but to find ways of getting around those impacts.

Fair enough. Only, let's not hear any more about what a kid-friendly town Claremont is. When Claremonters Against Strip Mining (CASM) and city staff were fighting Vulcan Materials' proposed gravel mining project in Northeast Claremont one of the things they claimed was that pollution would be damaging to kids' lungs.

And now it's okay or at least can be mitigated by decree. So goes the absurdist logic of Claremont.

* * *

The Base Line Rd. project EIR identifies a couple alternative sites in other parts of town that would not have the problems this site has, but the 400 refuses to budge, even in the face of their own EIR.

This is precisely why the EIR process, as utilized by the city of Claremont, is defunct. It's not about building the best project or identifying all the possible alternatives. It's about finding the legal loopholes through which to jam faulty projects pushed by a Claremont 400 incapable of a course correction (stay the course, stay the course).

It is no different for this project than it is for any other project in town. The 400 decides what it wants, usually before all the available information is at hand, then staff is charged with pushing that project through. And staff, including the city attorney, can be counted on to manipulate, twist, and ignore facts to get whatever result they want.

Pictured at right:
Mitigation proposed by Claremont city staff and Mayor Yao: Personal kiddie "Mr. Air" units. Very low-income kids to share units, hold breaths until their turn comes up.