[CPEO-BIF] Los Angeles - schools near freeways

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

[Not all school contamination comes from below. - LS]


L.A. Unified continues to build near roads that spew pollution despite a 
state law and evidence of health hazards.

By Evelyn Larrubia
Los Angeles Times
September 24, 2007

Despite a state law that seeks to prevent schools from being built near 
freeways and mounting evidence that road pollutants harm children's 
lungs, the Los Angeles Unified School District is in the process of 
adding seven new schools to the more than 70 already located close to 
highways.

Last year, more than 60,000 L.A. Unified students attended school within 
500 feet of a freeway, records show.

A 2003 state law prohibits school districts from building campuses 
within 500 feet of a freeway, unless the district can mitigate the 
pollution or determines that space limitations are so severe that there 
are no other options. In Los Angeles, officials say their choices have 
become more and more limited.

As the district undertakes a $20-billion school construction and 
modernization program, officials have considered a number of sites close 
to freeways. The district is now building five schools on lots that are 
within 500 feet of them.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-freeways24sep24,0,7701117.story?coll=la-home-center

--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


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