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In 1999, Pomona resident Joe Hinojos took action, organizing neighbors in southeastern Pomona to fight against a wood products facility that was polluting the air and leaving sawdust in backyards. Residents of this predominantly Latino neighborhood had been battling the influx of waste facilities near their homes for years. The city council’s controversial approval of a waste transfer station in 2012 marked a turning point, sparking a wave of activism in Pomona.
Out of this activism, two environmental justice groups were born in 2012 – Clean and Green Pomona and United Voices of Pomona for Environmental Justice. Led by Linda Hinojos, the daughter of Joe Hinojos, these groups successfully advocated for a ban on new waste and recycling facilities in 2014. However, the underlying zoning that allowed industrial use near residential areas remained, and the rise of online shopping led to an increase in warehouses and diesel trucks emitting air pollutants.
The same groups that fought against waste facilities a decade ago are now combatting the pollution caused by warehouses in the same neighborhood. After 75 years, the city of Pomona is finally set to make significant changes to its zoning code for the first time since it was established in 1949. The new zoning code is expected to be finalized around April.
Lisa Engdahl, president of the board at Clean and Green Pomona, emphasized the importance of zoning in tackling pollution, stating, “While we’ve done various initiatives to try to reduce pollution, the zoning of how things are baked into the foundations of the city is quite important.”
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