The first thing I noticed in South Park was an odd smell in the air, a metallic kick in the back of the throat that reminded me of something that I just couldn't quite put my finger on. Something I had smelled before somewhere . . . Strolling down the sidewalks on a sunny July morning, we saw well-kept houses and gardens. Representatives from the Dept of Ecology, the Seattle/King County Public Health Dept., the EPA, and I were on a "Toxic Tour" of South Park, a low-income neighborhood of Seattle, led by Yolanda Sinde of the Community Coalition for Environmental Justice (CCEJ). The community borders the very polluted Duwamish River. Despite warning signs, children still play in the river on hot days.

Long Painting Company moved in to its South Park facility in 1972. There is no buffer, no green belt, between the Long Painting facility and peoples' homes. Soon after the painting facility opened, residents started complaining of noise, odors, itching, headaches, a metallic taste in the mouth upon wakening, sinus, and other problems typically caused by prolonged exposure to toxic chemicals found in paints. Doctors advised some people to leave and move elsewhere. Yolanda told us that residents begged the corporation and City Hall to do something about this for decades, to no avail. Even though the area is zoned "residential", the company did what it wanted. For five years, CCEJ has led a campaign of letterwriting and testimony at public hearings. In 2001, activists finally convinced the city to enforce its own zoning laws. Long Painting announced that due to constant public pressure, it would move. CCEJ is now working with a group called Home Site to build low-income housing here after demolition of the facility is completed.

"But when a community is cleared up, property values go up. Is this going to force out the poor who you're trying to help?" somebody asked. Yolanda said CCEJ is working for a provision that will assess real property value increases at no more than 10%, which should help keep rents affordable.

Then we walked over to the Interstate Coatings facility. Semis lumber down the street, bump over potholes, and stir up dust. Kids play on this street. I couldn't help but get the feeling that an accident is waiting to happen here. Then it struck me. I remembered I had smelled this odor around Tijuana and Nogales. It was the sour, solvent, exhausty smell of a maquiladora. Contaminants of concern at the Interstate Coatings site include lead, arsenic, chromium, and benzene in the air and soil.

Then we walked past the Basin Oil Facility. Even though industry is legally prohibited from buying residential property for industrial use, it still happens. That's why Basin Oil can be sit right next door to senior citizens' homes. Chemicals of concern from this activity include an array of VOCs in the air and soil. There are rumors of a cancer cluster in South Park, but so far CCEJ hasn't been able to substantiate this. This will require some coordination with the King County Health Department.

How did CCEJ get involved?

"Our organizing starts by going door-to-door and making personal contact with residents. We ask them what their biggest environmental concerns are. Organizing is not about coming in with an agenda and solutions. It's about listening. That's the most important part of being an organizer: listening. You are a vehicle, an assistant, not the leader. You are an enabler. You need the stay-at-home Moms, who live in the impacted community. You need to enable people to be the leaders. You need to provide the copying machines, the FAX machines, the places where people can meet, discuss, and work out their own solutions. At best, you are a guide."

CCEJ depends on volunteers who work the bucket brigades. A "bucket" is an air-sampling device consisting of a cleaned-out paint bucket, a bag, and some tubes. It takes about $250 to put one of these together. Trained volunteers show residents how to use them, and then the bag is then sent to a lab for air sample analysis. One of the main principles of the group is that working class people, indigenous peoples and people of color must be in the leadership.

CCEJ was formed in 1994 to examine environmental racism in Seattle. Hazel Wolf, a veteran environmental activist and leader right up to her 100th birthday, helped get this organization going. The mission of CCEJ is to help people who are affected by environmental problems to work out community-based solutions and to empower low-income people to make decisions on environmental issues which directly affect them. CCEJ's first victory in Seattle was in 1998, when they stopped the Veteran's Hospital from burning PVC plastics, a source of dioxins.

CCEJ is currently working for an "Our Space" ordinance to prohibit the future siting and construction of high-impact industrial facilities from locating in low-income residential areas like South Park and Georgetown. For more information on CCEJ, go to www.ccej.org

The Washington Free Press
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