FIGHT NOT OVER FOR BARRIO LOGAN COMMUNITY PLAN UPDATE

Under a barrage of corporate opposition, the Barrio Logan Community Plan was rejected by voters on Tuesday – Environmental Health Coalition fights on to protect the community.

The clash between housing and industry that has defined the debate over Barrio Logan's future is seen here at the intersection of 27th Street and Boston Avenue.
Source: U-T San Diego

FIGHT NOT OVER FOR BARRIO LOGAN COMMUNITY PLAN UPDATE

Environmental Health Coalition, Barrio Logan residents will continue to protect children’s health
SAN DIEGO – June 4, 2014 – Left to a citywide vote, the Barrio Logan Community Plan Update in the form of propositions B and C was repealed. Despite this outcome, Environmental Health Coalition (EHC) and plan supporters insist the community will ultimately prevail in implementing the plan it needs to improve children’s health.
“Barrio Logan is my home and my district, and I will immediately begin working on a new plan to protect it,” says Councilmember David Alvarez, who has long been a supporter of the community plan update.
According to Alvarez and EHC, the deceptive No on B & C campaign confused and misled voters into thinking that jobs would be lost and that small changes to the adopted plan would reconcile issues between the opposing sides. EHC Executive Director Diane Takvorian says that time will tell whether the opponents, led by the shipyard industry and Mayor Kevin Faulconer, will put their money where their mouth is and advance a “better” community plan.
“Barrio Logan has been through decades of abuse and discrimination, and we are dismayed that the lies and misinformation of the corporation campaign were successful,” says Takvorian. “Every neighborhood deserves a healthy and safe community, and Barrio Logan is no exception. The community’s goals, at the end of it all, will undoubtedly be triumphant, and we will work with City Council to ensure Barrio Logan gets the long overdue justice it deserves.”
With the support of the majority of the San Diego City Council, California Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, San Diego Planning Commission, Barrio Logan residents, business leaders, healthcare workers, schoolteachers and more, the proposed Community Plan Updatewould have put Barrio Logan on track to becoming a healthy and safe community with proper land-use zoning, just like other communities in San Diego.
Now Barrio Logan remains a neighborhood operating under a community plan from 1978. Organizers warn every community in San Diego to be concerned about their own community planning if it’s not in the best interest of those with money and power. Many elected officials agree that this process has set a dangerous precedent, exposing the community voice and democratic process to exploitation citywide.
“It concerns me very much that individuals with financial resources can seek different outcomes after the elected representatives were democratically chosen by the voters have weighed in, and they’ve chosen to do so,” said City Council President Todd Gloria in San Diego CityBeat. “To take this extraordinary step is concerning because it’s not available to everybody. That’s problematic, and it troubles me a lot.”
City Council cannot reapprove the same Barrio Logan Community Plan Update, or one of similar nature, for at least twelve months. It can, however, immediately review a substantially different plan.
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ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH COALITION: Founded in 1980, Environmental Health Coalition (EHC) builds grassroots campaigns to confront the unjust consequences of toxic pollution, discriminatory land use and unsustainable energy policies. Visit us online at https://www.environmentalhealth.org.