Barrio Logan, a largely Latino neighborhood, sits next to multiple freeways and the Port of San Diego.
Big ships, trucks, and heavy machinery emit diesel fumes, which pollute the climate and the air people in the community breathe.
And the city’s zoning has long permitted industrial development in Barrio Logan.
Corrales: “So you can have warehouses and welding shops and auto body repair shops next to homes. … This all compounds to a highly polluted community with very disproportionate health hazards and impacts.”
Julie Corrales lives in Barrio Logan and works at the Environmental Health Coalition, a local nonprofit.
Data shows that residents of the community are exposed to very high rates of air pollutants that are known to increase cancer risk and worsen asthma.
So residents have been fighting for protection.
Last year, they received government approval of a new community plan that will prohibit new industrial development within about two blocks of residential areas.
Corrales: “When the vote passed unanimously, there were tears and there was rounds of applause. … I mean, this was the culmination of decades of work.”
The plan does not affect existing businesses. So to protect Barrio Logan, Corrales says more needs to be done. But she says it’s a step in the right direction.
Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy / ChavoBart Digital Media
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