Rubble Pile Cleanup Delays Anger Neighbors

Plans to eliminate a rubble pile that residents in Huntington Park call “the mountain of death” continue to be bogged down in legal wranglings between community activists and the rubble heap’s owner.

The mountain of debris consists mostly of chunks of the Santa Monica Freeway damaged in the 1994 Northridge quake. For years, residents have complained that dust and grit from the heap have caused respiratory problems and other ailments.

In response to the complaints, a court-appointed hearing officer declared the pile a public nuisance in 1996.

But according to city officials and community activists, a cleanup plan ordered by the hearing officer has been on hold because of legal challenges by Sam Chew, the owner of Aggregate Recycling Systems, where the rubble is stacked.

In December 1998, Chew filed for personal bankruptcy, which put a freeze on all his assets, including the rubble.

“He has stalled the process ever since the site was declared a public nuisance,” said Alicia Rivera, an organizer with Communities for a Better Environment, a San Francisco-based group that has rallied neighborhood opposition.

Chew could not be reached for comment.

Aggregate Recycling Systems began operating in late 1993 at a 5 1/2-acre lot in the 6200 block of South Alameda Boulevard. Aggregate stores waste material from roadways and other sites, then crushes and grinds it before reselling the scrap as road base or for other commercial uses.

The Northridge earthquake provided a bonanza for Chew’s business.

After the quake, the recycling firm became the resting place for a 600,000-ton mountain of debris more than 60 feet tall, which casts an ominous shadow over an adjacent working-class community in Huntington Park.

For the past three years, a group of mostly Latino immigrants from the community have fought to remove the heap, which they call la montana de la muerte--the mountain of death.

They say that airborne particulates blown off the pile have caused asthma-like symptoms, fatigue and other health problems.

In previous public hearings, Chew has attributed the air contamination to nearby industries, such as an adjacent lumberyard and an enameling firm.

Beatrice Wong, a staff attorney for Communities for a Better Environment, said her group is meeting with Chew in hopes of negotiating a plan to eliminate the rubble heap.

“The mountain is going to go away,” she said. “We are hoping to get this resolved in the next few months.”