Los Angeles neighborhoods choked by pollution need California to extend clean transportation program

It’s impossible to be carless in Los Angeles. When you have to get up at 4 a.m. to catch a bus to catch a train just to get to work on time, our public transportation system – at least the one that services northeast to South Los Angeles – fails to meet commuter needs.

Now that I own a car, I’m part of the congestion and contributing to the pollution that permeates the neighborhoods where I live and work. The impact of that pollution – among many other factors – is making me sick and holding our community back.

My experience with our bad air started with what felt like a bad cold. It was a virus (no, not COVID) from which I never fully recovered. The dry and gritty air weighed on my chest. The heaviness prevented me from getting a full breath of air.

It got so bad that I went to see the doctor and was prescribed an inhaler, which I now use on an almost daily basis. It didn’t take me long to connect the air pollution to my breathing issues, and the data backs up my conclusion. According to state data, our community experiences some of the greatest burdens from pollution in California. On top of that, 85% of my neighbors in Lincoln Heights are also experiencing poverty.

This is not a coincidence.

The region crisscrossed by Interstate 5 and Highway 110 is home to mostly Black and Latino families. Air pollution contributes to higher rates of asthma, cancer, premature death and other illnesses in communities of color as opposed to their white counterparts, 43 and 39% higher for African Americans and Latinos, respectively.

This makes the state’s air pollution problem one of the clearest examples of environmental racism. Our lives are being cut short thanks to generations of systematic marginalization. 

As someone who works with children at a school located near a freeway in a highly trafficked area, I see youth impacted even more. New research shows that air pollution is harmful to the developing brain, even at levels that are considered “safe” by the government.

Our community lacks basic resources to be healthy and succeed – like clean air and food, since our community is also a food desert. I’m only 36, and I didn’t understand at first why someone as young as myself would need to use an inhaler. After connecting my breathing issues with the traffic congestion near my home and workplace, discovered we are considered a charging-station desert as well.

Even if someone from my community wanted to buy an electric car, there is one charging station in the entire area that’s publicly available. By comparison, there are three gas stations on one street alone. 

We need more and better solutions to eliminate the tailpipe pollution hurting our community. We need more and better investments to increase low-income access to clean vehicle technologies. I’m thankful for Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes and Sen. Lena Gonzalez for their leadership in passing Assembly Bill 126, which would deepen investments into the state’s clean transportation programs by more than $170 million. Gov. Gavin Newsom just needs to sign it now.

These programs are designed to put clean vehicles and charging infrastructure in communities like mine. Considering that we continue to suffer from bad air, many people were worried that the funds, which we so desperately need, might not be reauthorized this year.

The Legislature and governor need to commit to reauthorizing these funds as needed so we can continue the momentum toward environmental justice. I hope to one day be able to put down the inhaler and watch our children do more than just survive. We can do that by investing in the clean air we need to thrive for decades to come.