Incoming Calif. Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon sees himself as bridge between East and Westside on environment concerns

Rendon: We still have one of the few steel plants left. In addition to the manufacturing presence that we have here, we are also bisected by the 710, the 105 and the 91 freeways. The Alameda Corridor project goes by the district as well. We are exceptionally close to the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles. So a lot of the attendant environmental problems related to the proximity to all those things very much impacts the district, and the residents of the district.

I ran a series of nonprofit organizations here in the district that I now represent. We found that a lot of the problems that we had, whether they were problems relating to health or even problems relating to learning and education, were linked to the environment. Some problems relating to groundwater contamination, a tremendous amount of problems relating to asthma and air pollution. So those types of environmental problems led to problems that I had to address as a nonprofit executive director.

Rendon: Yes, certainly. Environmental issues, environmental justice were things I was interested in. But I also spent about 15 years in early-childhood education, so that was important. I think what is important is the intersection between all these issues, and how they all relate.

Rendon: I like to think of myself as a bridge between a lot of the Westside environmental organizations and the Eastside or Southeast Los Angeles County environmental justice folks, and environmental justice groups.

What's interesting about that perception is that if you look at public opinion polls, for example, the recent PPIC (Public Policy Institute of California) poll on climate change, you find that communities of color are more concerned about these issues that the general public is, statistically speaking. So there is a disconnect between the formal environmental organizations and the communities on the Eastside. But the people themselves on the Eastside are very much affected by these issues, and very much concerned about that.

Rendon: We have a much higher than usual asthma rate for children, particularly children zero to five. Overall asthma rates are higher than the rest of the state as well in my district. We have had problems with groundwater contamination, perhaps most famously in the city Maywood, but also in Cudahy and Bell as well.

Rendon: They are being impacted on a daily basis. Right here down the street, you turn on the tap water in Maywood – it’s brown. People understand that. There is nothing abstract about the drinking water quality crisis for folks in Maywood.  If your child has asthma and you live along the freeway in Bell, there is nothing abstract about that. You understand the link between bad air quality and you child’s asthma.

Rendon: In terms of perspective, what’s interesting about my district is that if you talk to folks in the Central Valley, those experiences are similar. The experience of not having the same amount of resources that other parts of the state get. The problems of air quality are the same. The problems of drinking water quality are the same. So I think to the extent that my experiences here in the district help to mimic what folks in the Central Valley experience, what folks even in Imperial County experience as well, I think that will be helpful.  

Rendon: In the same way that we, as a state, are not monolithic, the Latino community is not monolithic, either. We come from very different backgrounds. We certainly don’t have a monolithic political identity. We don’t even have monolithic ethnicities. I think what binds the community together and what informs our leadership, to a large extent, is having that immigrant experience. Either as firsthand experience, as some of my colleagues have had, or through one’s family lineage. And I think that takes on a certain subjectivity that informs what we do as leaders.

Rendon: I represent nine cities. Five of those cities have have former public officials in prison. I won my primary with 6,100 votes. There was someone in West Los Angeles who received 41,000 votes – and finished fourth. My communities are not engaged, have traditionally not been engaged.

The key to engagement...is involving people where they live through their own institutions. It’s also really important as someone who is a state elected official to make sure I am engaged with the local officials here in the district. We spent all of last week meeting with the local city managers. We met with the city managers from Paramount, South Gate, and from Lynwood last week. To continue to be engaged with those folks is important.

I think the media is important as well. Bell was able to happen because people weren’t paying attention.