After years of fighting for better regulation of waste management industry in Pomona, Inland Communities Organizing Network (ICON) celebrated a unanimous City Council decision to ban new trash processing stations. The ban prohibits new businesses from moving into Pomona and prohibits any expansion of current establishments. ICON leader Reverend Julie Roberts-Fronk of First Christian Church testified that "since 2011, our leaders have come to the city council, planning commission and city staff. The overwhelming sentiment among residents was and continues to be 'enough, no mas! Fix this."

The effort initially grew out of an ICON "Don't Trash Pomona" campaign, begun by member congregation First Presbyterian Church, in which leaders succeeded in negotiating a 33% reduction of trash processed at the plant and conversion of company trucks to CNG alternative fuel.

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Pointing out that Pomona has had two significant fires this year that started at waste processing centers, ICON leader Lisa Engdahl testified before the Pomona City Council asserting that the CIty should develop an action plan that incorporates the concerns of neighborhood residents. Reverend Julie Roberts-Fronk argued that the City should establish greater oversight over recycling and waste management businesses.

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After months of battling for cleaner air, Pomona Valley leaders of the Inland Empire Sponsoring Committee leveraged multiple concessions on a waste transfer station agreement. A maximum of 50 trucks would be permitted on and off the site per day. All trucks would be required to operate on clean compressed natural gas or other alternative fuels. Tonnage limits (at 66% of the original proposal) will help prevent neighboring suburbs from shrugging off its processing responsibilities; the transfer station will accept trash almost singularly from Pomona. And a new code enforcement position has been created to monitor particulate standards and ensure that other stations in the region operates in complies with clean air standards.

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"Saturday morning, McClellan was one of 49 Inland Valley residents who participated in a jobs workshop organized by the Pomona Valley Cluster of the Inland Empire Sponsoring Committee, formerly known as One LA....

The workshop drew a diverse group of job seekers, among them recent high school graduates, people approaching retirement age, day laborers and out-of-work executives, said the Rev. Robert Linthicum, a retired minister who is a Sponsoring Committee leader.

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"Residents living near the proposed site of the transfer station and leaders of the Pomona Valley cluster of One LA, gathered the letters that call for City Council members to refrain from scheduling an appeal hearing for the proposed project....

Among those in the group who delivered the letters was Anselmo Olmos, a retired construction worker who lives about a block away from the site of the proposed transfer station...Among Olmos' concerns is the impact of the proposed project on the health of a 2-year-old grandson who is a heart transplant recipient living near the site...Olmos spent much of November and December talking with residents on neighborhood streets asking they sign the letters that were delivered to City Hall. 'I spoke with mothers, and the majority said their children have asthma,' Olmos said.

The majority of residents and business people he approached signed letters."

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"The Rev. Julie Roberts-Fronk, pastor at First Christian Church and a leader with One LA, said there are no proposed plans that would ensure careful oversight by outside agencies of the project. In the past, city residents opposed other waste facility proposals, Roberts-Fronk said.

'It was a bad idea then,' she said.

'It's a bad idea now!' ...the audience responded."

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After hundreds of leaders marched to City Hall to protest the expansion of a waste station in the poorest neighborhoods of Pomona, the Planning Commission postponed the vote two more weeks to give more time to review the proposal. Says Magdalena Uceda, "I think the commissioners realized that they needed to really do their job and examine what is being proposed."

This march follows One LA's submission of 400 signatures from neighborhoods surrounding the proposed transfer station, and a push from regional clergy and Bishops; 28 businesses also lined up against the waste station.

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"The public outcry against this project has been significant. The city has received over 1,000 letters… Large numbers of neighborhood people have gathered … Leaders within Pomona Unified School District have opposed the project… and an organizing effort which we greatly respect, the Pomona Valley Cluster of One LA, is working for justice with the people of Pomona in this matter."

-- Most Rev. Gabino Zavala, Auxiliary Bishop, San Gabriel Region, Archdiocese of LA, Roman Catholic Church

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"Since the beginning of this year, parishioners at St. Madeleine Church in Pomona have worked with fellow members of the community-based One L.A. to oppose the proposed Ninth Street Pomona Valley Waste Transfer Station. On Aug. 13, about 50 people,” comprised primarily of St. Madeline parishioners along with representatives from other local Christian churches and the Association of Pomona Teachers, "hit the sidewalks to rally support for their cause..."

St. Madeleine Rallies Against Pomona Waste Transfer Station, The Tidings: Southern California's Catholic Weekly

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In Pomona, hundreds of leaders assembled last spring to challenge a planned waste transfer station in a neighborhood already burdened with one. Leaders cited increased risks of cancer and other respiratory illnesses that exceed local regulatory standards. The Inland Empire Sponsoring Committee (locally known as the Pomona Valley Cluster of One LA) generated over 1,000 letters in opposition to the proposed project while proponents mustered only twelve.

This summer, the fight over trash escalated with a over 100 leaders hitting the streets in a neighborhood walk to inform residents of increased risks of cancer and other respiratory illnesses implicit in the planned expansion of a local waste transfer station. Press from miles afar picked up the story. Leaders await a decision from the City of Pomona Planning Commission.

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