You may have read our articles about the terrible way Altadena has been treated before, during and after the Eaton Fire. Long story short, the people with power dropped the ball - with dreadful, and even deadly, consequences in the short term. As things stand now, things don't look great for the long term, either. Aside from the scale of the awful consequences in Altadena (which is way, way up there), though, the overall story there isn't much different from other unincorporated communities across the state, who all suffer from lack of local control. In most cases, the tale is one of benign neglect of the unincorporated community by the powers that be. It is unusual for an entire community to feel anger, despair, frustration or other intense emotions over benign neglect. Unfortunately, in Altadena's case, the failings are beginning to appear more than just unmindful. Some people there are wondering if the lack of concern has been deliberate. 

East Los Angeles is another unincorporated community in Los Angeles County. With nearly 120,000 residents, it is the largest unincorporated community in the state and in the country. It is surrounded by incorporated munincipalities, including the behemoth that is the City of Los Angeles. East L.A., being unincorporated and largely poulated by minorities, has been habitually taken advantage of by the regional Power Elite. The lack of attention to  the community there, however intentional, has not risen to the galvanizing level of enraged public concern, as might emerge from a disasterous fire. Until now, that is.

As dominant cities often do, L.A. has sometimes sited unwanted land uses on its extremities such that the city may enjoy the benefits (e.g. tax revenues, employment, solution of a problem) while minimizing the burden to the vast majority of its voting residents. Yet such projects often DO cause problems, with the recipients of the problematic aspects being the residents of an adjacent unincorporated community. Consider the massive Lineage food warehouse in the City of Los Angeles across the street from East Los Angeles. It caught fire, sending a cloud of toxic smoke over East Los Angeles for a week. Then the stench of rotting food took over. The people of East L.A. were told to stay indoors and keep windows closed. For days on end. During the hot summer.  The County arranged for some air purifiers to be distributed, but the demand far exceeded the supply. The burned-out building has been wrapped in plastic. It now stands as a reminder to the community that their concerns, though they may have been heard, have resulted in insignificant responses.

The LA Times recently reported on the community's frustration, demonstrated at a July 9th Town Hall meeting. The reporter wrote that the 700 or so people attending were there to "Give flailing politicians righteous hell". The report did not mince words: impacted local residents are furious with their elected officials. To be clear, the public health problems from the fire and rotting smells have been impactful on both city and unincorporated area residents. But the fact remains that those problems do not observe political boundaries. That has given elected leaders excuses to avoid blame and shirk leadership. They are, apparently, hoping the furor will abate over time.

The public, though, doesn't care which politician dropped the ball. Impacted people want action, not blame-shifting. Ah, but when it comes to action on behalf of unincorporated East L.A., it has been somewhat helpful to the current municipal leader that this is an election yeaer for which she is on her way out and appears headed to Congress. So who, then, will be left to care for the residents and businesses of East L.A.? That won't be clear until after the November election. Environmental Justice will just have to wait, it seems. How is that fair to the impacted people of East Los Angeles? How long will they have to wait for "someone else" to be in charge and will that make any difference? Answers: too long and no, unless they can somehow acquire local control.