A Mountain of Discord

For more than two years, powdery dust wafting off a 45-foot mountain of broken concrete has rained controversy on a once-peaceful neighborhood in Huntington Park.

Five days of public hearings, which ended last Thursday, drew a long lineup of witnesses who directed a stream of criticism against Sam Chew, owner of Aggregate Recycling Systems, where the rubble is stacked.

To residents, business owners and city staff, the dump looms as a mountain of health problems, safety hazards and code violations. They testified that the concrete pile, known more commonly as la montana, is a public nuisance and must be removed immediately.

“Chew thinks he can take in whatever garbage he wants,” said Richard Drury, an attorney representing the residents. “He has no regard for laws or people’s well-being.”

But to Chew, the community has made a mountain out of a molehill. Chew, who denied that health risks are linked to his facility, introduced studies and a bag of avocados to defend his case.

“The data doesn’t show that my facility is causing health problems,” Chew said. “I don’t know where it comes from and neither do they. But because of the visibility of stockpile, they say that is the cause.”

Left to determine the fate of the dump is hearing officer Colin Lennard, a Sherman Oaks environmental lawyer, who hopes to announce a decision by the end of November. La montana won’t go away that easily, however. Whatever the decision, the issue will go back to the Huntington Park City Council for approval and to handle a likely appeal.

The pile, accumulated segments from the quake-damaged Santa Monica Freeway, sits on a 5 1/2-acre lot surrounded by a row of well-kept homes and apartments, and industrial businesses. The business, on the 6200 block of South Alameda Street, specializes in storing and recycling waste material to resell for road base. Chew began operations in late 1993.

More than 50 residents, most of them Mexican immigrants, banded together as environmental activists more than two years ago to voice their concerns.

They blame airborne particulates coming from the pile for what they call an increase in respiratory problems, a blanket of gritty dust on cars and furniture and a drop in property value.

One by one, witnesses supporting the position of the residents testified about the “eyesore” at the hearings. Their side was facilitated by Drury, an attorney with the San Francisco-based environmental group Communities for a Better Environment, and Ann Carlson, director of UCLA environmental law clinic.

Gloria Oliva, accompanied by her sniffling 8-year-old daughter Anjelica, was one of several residents who complained of ailments.

“I have a girl who suffers from asthma,” said the Spanish-speaking Oliva, whose words were communicated through a translator. “It has been so serious that she has had to go the hospital. The doctor said everything in the house has to be very clean--no dust. But that is impossible because dust is invading our house everywhere.”

Kenneth Salmacia, general manager of Saroyan Lumber Co., a neighboring business, complained of excessive noise and pollution: “Sometimes there are eight trucks lined up to enter Aggregate. [The trucks] back up traffic and kick up more dust. . . . Vibrations [from the facility’s crusher] were so bad that reading computer monitors was like reading a book in a car.”

City staff supported their contentions.

Bonnie Yates, deputy city attorney, testified that Chew, whose operating agreement was nullified in May, has racked up at least eight violations. Yates said that in addition to unlawfully continuing to operate, Chew’s facility has used a noisy mobile crusher, accepted more than 6,000 tons of contaminated soil and caused traffic and surface water run-off problems.

Much of the hearings centered on a study conducted by the South Coast Air Quality Management District during the summer.

AQMD “could have put a more intense effort into examining the dust problems,” said Michael Kleinman, professor of community and environmental medicine at UC Irvine. “People are being exposed to levels [of particulate matter] well in excess of state ambient standards.”

But Rudy Eden, AQMD senior manager, defended the report: “We’ve given the facility an inordinate amount of time. We found that [Chew] is operating in compliance with the standard.”

Eden supervised a two-month study during the summer on the air quality at Aggregate that found that Chew’s facility “does not, in and of itself, create a health hazard from PM-10.” The term designates particle matter a fraction of the width of a human hair that could lodge in lungs and cause respiratory diseases. The report further concluded that Aggregate has complied with AQMD air quality regulations.

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Chew, who represented himself without a lawyer, said the source of any air contamination could be nearby industries, Saroyan Lumber Co. and Commercial Enameling Inc., a company that specializes in enameling bathroom fixtures.

Chew relied on the AQMD report and emphasized his efforts to grind down the mountain, which at one time peaked at about 65 feet. Chew also handed out healthy looking avocados he said were collected from his property in response to residents who testified to stunted fruit. Chew declined comment to a reporter on the allegations.

On the City Council, Richard V. Loya and Jessica Maes firmly back the residents health concerns. However, Mayor Tom Jackson and council members Raul Perez and Rosario Marin have questioned the residents’ complaints.

“I haven’t believed from day one that their health problems are caused by Aggregate,” Jackson said. “They look at the mountain and say that is the cause of their problems. Then an environmental group gets them all worked up.”

But Jackson, Perez and Marin agree that the debris should be cleared from the site.

La montana has even cast a long shadow as far away as Sacramento and Washington. Assemblywoman Martha M. Escutia (D-Huntington Park) and Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Los Angeles) have appeared before City Council to voice their support for the community’s position.

Regardless of what the hearing officer decides, city officials said that one of the parties will likely appeal.