TOSC assists community with Environmental Justice Complaint

The South Prescott Neighborhood Park.

For the past year and a half TOSC has worked with the Chester Street Block Club Association, a neighborhood organization in West Oakland, CA.

The community is concerned about the adequacy of cleanup at a neighborhood site, the South Prescott Neighborhood Park. They filed an environmental justice complaint with U.S. EPA against the State of California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). The complaint alleges that DTSC was discriminatory in its application of cleanup regulations at the Park site and a number of other contaminated sites in their neighborhood.

U.S. EPA Region 9 staff suggested resolving the complaint with alternative dispute resolution and suggested that TOSC might be able to assist the community during the process.

We met with community leaders, discussed the type of assistance we can provide, and wrote a "letter of agreement", our way of formally establishing a relationship with a community. For the Chester Street group, we agreed to review and comment on technical documents and attend mediation sessions. To date, we have reviewed site investigation and cleanup documents and participated in five mediation meetings. The next mediation session is scheduled for February 2003.

The Chester Street Block Club Association is a grassroots community group that focuses on social, economic and environmental justice issues affecting their low-income community, a community made up primarily of people of color. Chester Street members include current and former homeowners and residents of West Oakland, California and the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

If you would like additional information about TOSC's work with Downtown Southwest Neighborhood Association, contact Michael Fernandez at michael.fernandez@orst.edu or 541-737-4023.