Community Activists Have Wilmington on the March to Change

With placards, an array of demands and the fever of years of frustration, 60 Wilmington residents confronted officials at the gate of a local trucking company last spring, insisting that the firm curb its traffic and noise in their neighborhood.

The company’s manager was taken aback.

“No one’s ever complained before,” said George J. Michelback, regional manager of Express Intermodal Transport, who later granted most of the residents’ requests. “I was surprised when 60 people showed up and started making demands.”

He is not the only one.

Though Wilmington has faced problems for decades, residents have only recently begun fighting back. They have protested high-density apartment developments at zoning hearings; they have voiced opposition to toxic waste plants with state licensing agencies; they have called meetings with school officials to demand improved facilities.

“We are fed up with being the trash heap of the greater Los Angeles area,” said resident and organizer Amber Crooks.

Indeed, in the last three years, at least 10 activist efforts, each organized around a specific issue or goal, have been launched in the previously passive community. Many say these efforts represent the biggest effort for change ever launched in Wilmington, a mid- to low-income community of 40,000 near the southern tip of Los Angeles.

“The momentum is here now. I have never seen this much activity,” said Jo Ann Wysocki, a 42-year resident and community activist.

“Right now if you wanted to move a trucking firm into Wilmington, there would be a group to protest it,” said Ramon Madrigal, a Wilmington social service worker. “In earlier years, there was no one to protect the community.”

The efforts have reaped some successes. For example, residents prevented the opening of a halfway house for prison parolees and helped to eliminate the storage of sooty, dust-generating coke in residential areas of the harbor-front town. By filing a lawsuit, they also have blocked for two years the development of a major hazardous-waste treatment facility.

Many residents say Wilmington needs more.

The activism, many maintain, is diffused and narrowly focused around specific issues. They say Wilmington needs central leadership to surmount its longstanding problems.

“There is a lot more activity now,” said resident Abelardo de la Pena, “but each group has its issue. If these groups would get together, then their pull would be stronger.”

But recent activism has already attracted the attention of agencies from local government offices to the U.S. Department of Justice. Observed Ada Santiago Montare, a Justice Department conciliator: “Wilmington has become a squeaky wheel. It is wakening as a force. The residents are really coming together. In my view, this has political implications: Their elected officials are going to have to start answering to them.”

That is what it will take to solve Wilmington’s problems, residents say. They blame community problems on longstanding neglect by the city of Los Angeles, other government agencies and some of Wilmington’s 800 to 900 businesses and industries.

A community planted atop one of the nation’s most productive oil fields and in the heart of the country’s most profitable harbor, Wilmington should reflect some of its natural riches, residents argue. Instead, the nine-square-mile area has 13 closed dumps, 200 salvage yards, a withering business district, overcrowded schools, hundreds of junked automobiles and dozens of mounds of litter scattered along side streets and vacant lots. Lack of planning has positioned homes near toxic-waste plants and schools next to pollution-spewing factories. The already-sizable homeless population is growing.

Few Protests

But until recently, there was little rumble in this quiet town of tradition, save for the purr of its hundreds of oil pumps and the clunk of its numerous shipping industries.

At scattered times in the past, Wilmington did protest the siting of certain facilities deemed undesirable by the community. There was a ruckus about nine years ago, for example, over the proposed location of a major county garbage transfer station. The station was not placed in Wilmington.

Wilmington saw perhaps its biggest effort for change, residents say, about 15 years ago with the creation of the Citizens Council to Improve Wilmington, a group of about a dozen residents who for three years lobbied for community improvement with some success.

The group eventually died, however, of weariness and members’ time constraints, members said. Afterward, there was little widespread activism until three years ago, when three separate issues began rousing the community.

Halfway House

The activism began with the proposed halfway house for prison parolees. The facility was to be located near an apartment building beset by gang activity and vandalism, in a community that felt it was already facing a shortage of police protection.

The fuse was lit. Although residents found out about the proposal just three weeks before the facility was to open in November, 1982, they quickly called a rally to protest it. More than 400 residents crowded into a park recreation center.

“We have too many problems already in Wilmington,” said co-organizer Chris Shaw during the protest. “We just can’t take on the whole burden of society.”

Because of the reaction, the state Department of Corrections decided against opening the halfway house. But the community activism generated by the issue outlasted it.

Petroleum Coke Issue

Several months later, it resurfaced over the longtime storage of petroleum coke, a sooty material that blanketed Wilmington neighborhoods with black dust. Although residents had long been bothered by the soot, a sudden glut in the market for coke--a byproduct of the oil refining process used as industrial fuel in the Orient--resulted in more storage. Problems intensified.

The Wilmington Action Group was formed. It circulated petitions, garnering more than 500 signatures, held meetings and notified the South Coast Air Quality Management District and city officials.

“It got so bad that we wanted to seek some help,” recalled Cynthia Jones, a leader of the residents’ group. “If you swept the sidewalk, you would get soot in your nostrils. My son’s nose would just run and run. The dust would get all over curtains, the carpets. Even with the doors and windows closed, the soot still crept in.”

Complaints from the group to Wilmington’s representative on the Los Angeles City Council, Joan Milke Flores, led to a city moratorium in 1983 on coke stockpiling near homes. That moratorium was extended until similar, more stringent regulations imposed by the Air Quality Management District became effective in January, 1985.

Hazardous Waste

About the same time as coke storage became an issue, protest arose over BKK Corp.’s proposal to locate a major Southern California hazardous-waste treatment facility in Wilmington. The plan called for routing 87 truckloads of toxic waste a day through Wilmington and hauling off 16 truckloads of hazardous sludge.

BKK officials said at the time that they did not expect significant opposition from harbor-area residents. But after a series of community meetings--which gave birth to the still-active Harbor Coalition Against Toxic Waste--citizens filed suit over the facility, charging, among other things, that its environmental impact report was inadequate. Two years later, the project remains tied up in court.

The toxic-waste coalition has also drawn attention to treatment and storage of hazardous wastes in the community. For example, in December the group drew more than 200 residents for a state hearing on permits for two of the six hazardous-waste facilities in Wilmington and garnered more than 1,200 signatures opposing them.

Although the two plants are still operating, the community’s protest eventually spurred city officials to propose tightening the zoning laws that apply to hazardous-waste facilities. Since those three initial movements, the activist momentum has continued to build. The efforts include:

- Protest at Wilmington Park Elementary School: Parents have been fighting for improved facilities at the campus for the last 1 1/2 years, after what they call a “generation of neglect” by the Los Angeles Unified School District. At meetings that drew more than 200 parents, the group has demanded a cafeteria for the campus, where children eat outdoors in a schoolyard polluted by cement and sulfur dust. Parents have charged that the school has been discriminated against because it is 94% Latino and mostly low-income. School district officials deny that and say they do not have the money for improvements.

In April, the U.S. Department of Justice community relations service entered the dispute. The federal agency has been helping residents in an effort to avert race-related tension. “There is a real problem there and no one is negotiating,” said Montare, the Justice Department conciliator.

- Neighborhood demands in northeast Wilmington: About 60 residents, organized in April as the Northeast Wilmington Community Organization, have been fighting for improvements in their area, perhaps the most depressed enclave of Wilmington. Initiated in part by the statewide Citizens Action League, it is the group that won concessions from the trucking company.

- Involvement in zoning and planning issues: Residents have become active participants at hearings on zoning matters that affect Wilmington. Though largely unsuccessful, protests have evolved over proposed industrial expansion, apartment construction--even the location of a grocery store. A group of 20 city-appointed residents is also studying Wilmington’s community plan for possible rezoning of the area.

- Homeowners’ issues: About 200 residents organized in late August as the Wilmington Home Owners in an effort to voice community concerns on such issues as zoning, law enforcement, traffic, street cleanup and education.

- Business district improvement: A group of merchants organized last year as the Wilmington Assn. of Merchants to seek improved city services in their area and protest the siting of a hotel for the homeless. The group is currently inactive because of leadership problems, but it obtained new street markings and other improvements.

- Protest of a proposed nightclub for teen-agers: Longtime youth workers, backed by Councilwoman Flores’ citizens advisory committee, have voiced strong opposition to the nightclub because they believe it will strain law-enforcement resources. They filed several appeals of city decisions this spring, and the proponent of the project last week withdrew his proposal.

- Church sponsored-improvement action: Father Luis Valbuena, pastor of Wilmington’s Holy Family Roman Catholic Church, has helped residents assert themselves during the last two years on such problems as truck traffic and the encroachment of industries on residential neighborhoods. He also has launched numerous programs to assist residents, including a food co-op, a legal assistance program and a credit union.

Recent activist efforts have been initiated by laborers and homemakers, teachers and businessmen, young and old. Their fledgling organizations sometimes have overlapping memberships.

Nearly all are fed up.

‘Sign of Unhappiness’

“I think we are awakening now to the fact that we have been neglected, that there are many things we should have but don’t,” Valbuena said. “These groups and meetings are a sign of unhappiness, a sign of searching. We are determined not to leave things as they are.”

Also contributing to the activism, residents say, is increased savvy about the system.

“Things that other people take for granted, the Mexican people didn’t know about,” said lifelong resident Connie Calderon. “In order to work within the system, you have to know how the system works. . . . There was a language barrier in my mother’s generation that isn’t as prevalent in my generation.”

“The younger, college-educated people are making the difference,” said Valbuena. “We have people now who know how to tackle the monstrosities of government. And before, a lot of people who moved up socially and economically moved away from the barrio. Now, a lot of people stay and help.”

Churches Played Role

Activist leaders say Valbuena and his church, as well as the 20 other churches in Wilmington, also have played a role in mobilizing the community.

“When the halfway house was proposed, people spread the word though the churches,” said activist Eleanor R. Montano. “If you hit at least the three major churches--Holy Family, Sts. Peters and Paul and Harbor Christian--you know you’ve reached a good part of Wilmington.”

But some government leaders haven’t noticed any new activism.

“I don’t think you can say that groups are suddenly starting to materialize,” said Councilwoman Flores. “There have been groups of people for a long time. . . . Well, I don’t really know. I don’t have a feel for that because I don’t look at them as individual groups.”

‘Fewer Complaints’

Said county Supervisor Deane Dana, “I don’t see a lot of activity at all. There have been fewer complaints and problems than in past years. I’d say there’s less (activism) than we have ever had.”

Other government officials disagree. Indeed, some say the activism may eventually make Wilmington a more potent local force.

Said John Greenwood, Wilmington’s school board representative, “There was organizing on the issue of housing; there were people organizing around the issue of toxic waste; there was the school issue. There is just a general sense of people organizing and trying to bring some power and recognition to the community of Wilmington. . . . Being politically powerful is more than just voting, it’s getting your point across. Wilmington has recently become much more successful at that.”

But while Wilmington may be seeing more activism than ever before, more is needed, many say. Almost all community leaders interviewed by The Times talk wistfully of organizing some type of leadership that would coalesce fragmented efforts into a more powerful and enduring organization.

“Basically, we’re all fighting for the same cause,” said Maria Elena Hernandez, leader of the parents’ effort to obtain improved school facilities. “It would be better if there was one group with people concentrating on the same objective at the same time.”

Petty Jealousies

But some admit such a group may be difficult to form in Wilmington because its small-town flavor sometimes breeds petty jealousies and dissension.

“We have a lot of internal dissension in our groups,” said resident Alfredo Pacheco. “The community isn’t used to thinking big.”

Pacheco and some others say that if some more regional organization intervened, however, central leadership might become more likely.

They often point to the United Neighborhoods Organization (UNO) in East Los Angeles and the South-Central Organizing Committee (SCOC) as models. UNO, for example, has existed for nine years, successfully winning reductions in local auto insurance rates, persuading banks to invest in run-down homes and helping secure funding for gang-violence programs and $28 million for school improvements.

Wilmington May Be Next

Wilmington could be headed the same way, say organizers from UNO and SCOC.

“Later this fall, we plan to have an idea of whether we’ll be starting a chapter in that area,” said Larry McNeil, associate director of the Industrial Areas Foundation, the New York-based organization that launched the citizens’ movements in East and South-Central Los Angeles. The foundation, started by the late organizer Saul Alinsky in 1940, has, through local churches, organized poor and working-class people into citizen-action groups nationwide.

“We can only organize where people want us to organize,” McNeil said. “. . . And the difficult thing is to find people with the time and energy to build a lasting organization. There has to be a demonstrated base of interest by key leaders who are willing to make this happen.”

McNeil said he also believes a broader-based leadership is needed in Wilmington.

Small Power Base

“Unless they are organized beyond Wilmington, it’s going to be hard to solve their problems. Is the head of an oil company going to sit down and negotiate if you represent a community of 40,000 people? Leverage-wise your power base is small.”

Some activists in Wilmington worry that a group like UNO would be too confrontational. Others say only a powerful group like UNO will ultimately be successful in turning Wilmington around.

“Making enemies solves nothing,” said activist Montano. “I think it should be done differently. Everyone has to work together; you’re all working for the same cause. What good does anger do?”

“The confrontational is OK,” Valbuena insisted. “You have to be confrontational when you’re trying to move a community out of poverty. You have to be aggressive. To move a shipping company or an oil company is not going to be easy. East Los Angeles is a bigger area with larger problems, but now they are ahead of us. We need something like UNO.”

Power at Polls

Whatever the means for improving its emerging leadership, most agree that Wilmington has to make a stronger showing at the voting booths. County records show that in the 1984 presidential election only 26.4% of Wilmington’s voting-age residents went to the polls. Slightly more than 43% of the voting-age residents were registered.

By comparison, 41.1% of voting-age residents in Los Angeles cast ballots and 61.8% were registered.

In that same election, Wilmington’s votes constituted just 12.5% of those cast in its City Council district, which includes Watts, San Pedro, Harbor City and Harbor Gateway. Wilmington has about 19.2% of the population in the district.

“When a politician sees how many votes come from San Pedro and how many come from Wilmington, where is the attention going to be focused?” asked longtime resident de la Pena. “Voting is the only way the city listens.”

Many activists say they won’t stop until someone listens, and insist that the current efforts will not fade away like those of the past.

“After an issue dies, people want to go back to their homes and their families,” said Wysocki, president of the toxic-waste coalition. “But the problems are such in Wilmington that you can’t just go back to your homes and families. The problems stay. The battles need to continue being fought. We will continue in our group until there are no problems left to resolve.”