State Takes Action to Prevent Fullerton Water Contamination
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COMMUNITY Fullerton bsCeALErNDAvR Peage 1r 3-15 O EAR FULLERTON’S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS • Est.1978 (printed on 20% recycled paper) • Y 39 #12 • JULY 2017 Submissions: [email protected] • Contact: (714) 525-6402 • Read Online at : www.fullertonobserver.com Homeowners & Renters Clash Over Parking Despite poor noticing to the public, (with the exception of June 7th letters to property owners) it was standing room only at the Transportation Circulation Commission's 4pm Monday, June 13th five-hour special session, with about 100 renters and homeowners showing up. The meet - ing, held in the library, was: 1) To present data collected by the commission's ad hoc committee on resident opinions of the early morning parking ban between 2am and 5am citywide, and 2) To make a recommendation for a 90-day trial period of lifting the overnight ban in the neighborhood of Porter Ave. and Citrus, while also imposing a 2-hour daytime parking limit. The Overnight Parking Report was a "read and file" with no action taken as data will continue to be collected until June 30 and is then tentatively sched - uled to be heard by council at the July 18 session. continued on page 11 ADVOCATES FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING : Above is part of a group of students who came to the OC Board of Supervisors meet - ing to advocate for housing for the homeless. They and most of the audience at the session made a moving case to supervisors to put afford - able housing in the current budget to aide those already homeless and to prevent further homelessness. Story on page 18. PHOTO BY JANE RANDS 7 proposed National Priority Listing for the . A 7 S D . 5 C I North Basin site will allow the beginning D 1 U State Takes Action to Prevent A E . N P of a multi-year clean-up process. T D O O E R R N T According to a May 25th memo sent by G A O R T A S Fullerton Water Contamination D I E the OCWD to elected officials, the plume T E L N S M R by Jesse La Tour L A (aka a “Superfund” site). impacts the cities of Anaheim and O P R T U P E S F The Orange County groundwater basin At the June 20th Fullerton City Fullerton, and has already caused the P provides 2.4 million people with water. Council meeting, at the request of both destruction of five water wells in the area. Nineteen cities and agencies draw approxi - the public works department and Orange If no action is taken, the plume will con - mately 75 percent of their water supply from County Water District, council voted 4-1 tinue to spread, threatening the closure of our local basin. (Jennifer Fitzgerald “no”) to send a letter more wells, and the long-term quality of Unfortunately, due largely to local manu - to Governor Jerry Brown, asking that he our local groundwater. facturing (past and present) from companies concur with the EPA’s proposal to place Monitoring of this site began nearly 30 like Northrop Grumman, there is a growing the North Basin site on the National years ago by the OCWD and other agen - five-mile “plume” of contamination (mainly Priorities List, a required step in obtaining cies, and this process has involved lengthy T industrial solvents) in the shallow portion of federal funding and resources. legal battles with companies whose pollu - N our groundwater known as the “North And in a letter received June 28 from tion has contributed to the problem. E L L Basin”—located beneath the cities of the CalEPA on behalf of the governor, the Following a recent court ruling, only D A I Fullerton, Anaheim, and Placentia. request to list as a Superfund site was hon - Northrop Grumman remains as a defen - C S 2 E S E 0 R While local drinking water is carefully ored. The letter indicated the governor dant, while other potentially responsible I E 4 R T monitored by the Orange County Water concurred with the urgency to remediate companies were released from the litiga - V 6 R - R T E District (OCWD) and is currently deemed the North Basin and with the principle tion. E 5 V S N 2 D safe to drink, this contamination has led the that polluters must pay. Because the situation is reaching dire B E 5 A - “Listing the site will provide the parties R United States Environmental Protection consequences in the eastern plume area, O 4 O R E 1 Agency (EPA) to determine that the North responsible for the contamination in the OCWD has devised an interim action by T 7 U H Basin Groundwater Contamination Plume North Basin with added incentive to installing an extraction well at S. State T C meets EPA hazard ranking eligibility for develop and fund a cleanup plan for the College north of Kimberly and south of N I R placement on the National Priorities List site.” The governor’s concurrence with the E. Valencia continued on page 5 O LOCAL FILMMAKER PROPOSES “C LEAN AND GREEN ” R ESOLUTION At the recent Fullerton City Council meet - tics is better served locally, and there are want to support the economy and create ings, local filmmaker Ahmad Zahra present - more chances for improving our lives at the jobs (conservative view), OR do you want ed a petition and a resolution to make local level if we pay attention. By investing to protect the environment (liberal view)? Fullerton a “Clean and Green” city. We sat in green energy, I think we will all save It sounds like what you’re saying is that down with Zahra to discuss his vision for the money, whether at the city level, in busi - supporting green energy doesn’t have to future of Fullerton. ness, or even in our own homes. And, as a be a partisan, either/or choice. bonus, we get clean air to breathe and less AZ: Exactly, I don’t think this is a con - 4 Fullerton Observer (FO): Can you 3 pollution. Every new thing needs a coura - servative vs. liberal or Republican vs. 8 N 2 explain, in a nutshell, what your proposed R 9 1 geous first step, and I was hoping that our Democrat issue. I think this is both. In O 5 E resolution entails? A 0 fact, I think it’s more of a conservative T city would take that step. V 7 C Ahmad Zahra (AZ): The resolution is an R R X issue than a liberal one. Whereas liberals N FO: Right now, we face lots of political E E O announcement by the city saying to its res - O may be fighting for clean air and for the L S division in this country and in our commu - B T idents, “We are moving toward green ener - R L B O nity—conservatives vs. liberals. environment, conservatives should be E P U gy.” This came as an instinctual reaction L O fighting for this because it’s fiscally L Specifically, on the issue of clean energy, it’s F after we withdrew from the Paris Climate U often framed as an either/or choice: Do you responsible. F Agreement. I’ve always believed that poli - continued on page 7 Page 2FULLERTON OBSERVER COMMUNITY OPINIONS CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 JULY 2017 Fireworks Driving My Fullerton OUT OF MY MIND by Jon Dobrer © 2017 [email protected] Dog and Myself Nuts Observer Last night in particular (but many nights before) from about 9.30pm until The Fullerton Observer Community RACIAL DOUBLE STANDARDS about 11pm, numerous cherry bombs Newspaper, founded by Ralph and Natalie were set off close enough so that my 11- Kennedy and a group of friends in 1978, is IN HEARTS , M INDS & M EDIA staffed by local citizen volunteers who create, year-old dog (even though sedated) start - publish, and distribute the paper throughout The tragic death of Otto Warmbier every encounter with authority is being ed shaking, panting and drooling. our community. rightly commands the headlines. The put on trial without legal counsel, a right After hearing so many fireworks since This venture is a not-for-profit one with all capricious and cruel injustice perpetrated to due process, or a presumption of inno - Memorial Day, I realize it is only going to ad and subscription revenues plowed back into by North Korea is terrible and does call cence. get worse before July 4th! The police maintaining and improving our independent, for our attention, our sympathy and our Defenders of our unequal justice system non-partisan, non-sectarian community news - can't do much to prevent the fireworks paper. indignation. We see the pictures of him often point out that there is more killing here in town. They may be illegal, but so Our purpose is to inform Fullerton residents and view the tape of him in happy times BY black on black violence than blue on is driving drunk and we know that hasn't about the institutions and other societal forces and then humiliated in the black. True, but this does stopped people from doing it. People set which most impact their lives, so that they may North Korean Kangaroo Court. People of color not take away from the off the fireworks and then they and the be empowered to participate in constructive Then he is brought home in a unequal protection of law ways to keep and make these private and public share the echo are long gone by the time the cops entities serve all residents in lawful, open, just, coma, with irreversible brain condition of given to whites and denied arrive; so how do you prove it? damage and is soon dead.