BROAD COALITION TO PROTECT CHINATOWN CORNFIELD FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST CITY OF LOS ANGELES

Battle over "Cornfield" Rail Yard Moves to State Court

LOS ANGELE, September 6, 2000-- A diverse coalition of community, civil rights, environmental, and historic preservation organizations today filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles challenging its approval of a proposal by Majestic Realty Corporation to build 32 acres of industry and warehouses on the old Southern Pacific Rail Yard, called the Chinatown Cornfield. Majestic plans nearly a million square feet of industrial development at the 47-acre Cornfield site, the largest open space in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, located between Chinatown and the Los Angeles River.

 

The plaintiffs, including Latino and Asian-American community organizations in Chinatown and Lincoln Heights and a range of urban environmental organizations, allege that, in approving the Majestic project, the city violated the California Environmental Quality Act, the California Planning and Zoning Law, and the Los Angeles City Municipal Code. In particular, the groups challenge the city's failure to require preparation of an Environmental Impact Report to assess the potential environmental effects of the warehouse project - including the effects of hundreds of diesel trucks operating every day in and around the site - and all reasonable, less environmentally harmful alternatives.

Each of the plaintiff organizations has repeatedly urged consideration of an alternative proposal to convert the Cornfield site into urban parkland, including playgrounds, a school, a bikeway, and other compatible mixed uses. Chinatown has no parks and no middle or high schools, and the Cornfield site has long been considered key to plans for restoration of the Los Angeles River and recently established River Parkway. Earlier this year, the Cornfield was determined to be the site of the Zanja Madre, the 18th Century "mother ditch" that brought water in from the Los Angeles River to El Pueblo de Los Angeles.

"This is a classic example of a powerful, politically-connected developer trying to bulldoze his way over the needs and desires of working class, inner-city communities," says Lewis MacAdams, Chairman of the Board of Friends of the Los Angeles River, one of the founders of the Chinatown Yard Alliance.

"This is a once-in-a-century opportunity to create a green and clean park in one of the most underserved communities in the nation," says Robert Garcia, senior attorney with Environmental Defense. "The proposed industrial development would result in continuing environmental degradation of Los Angeles and would work an extreme environmental injustice on surrounding communities."

"There are no parks in Chinatown and no middle schools or high schools," says Chi Mui, a Chinatown activist. "The children of Chinatown have to be bused 45 minutes each way to get to school."

"This massive project would be a magnet for thousands of diesel trucks, fouling the air in surrounding communities and endangering the health of their residents," says Joel Reynolds, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "This is precisely the kind of case where an Environmental Impact Report is essential and we intend to do everything we can to force the city to comply with the law."

"Because of the magnitude of the project and the severity of the impacts, this is a very strong case," lead counsel Jan Chatten Brown added. "The City's attempt to exempt Majestic's project from full environmental review is just the kind of special treatment that the California Environmental Quality Act was enacted to prevent."

"Allowing this project to go forward violated fairness, sound environmental management, and the law," said Hari Osofsky, attorney for the Center for Law in the Public Interest. "These communities and our downtown deserve better than 32 acres of warehouses."

Co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Friends of the Los Angeles River, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, Concerned Citizens of South Central Los Angeles, Environmental Defense, the Latino Urban Forum, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Northeast Renaissance Corporation, an umbrella group for Lincoln Heights neighborhood organizations. Plaintiffs are represented by Chatten-Brown and Associates, Center For Law in the Public Interest, Environmental Defense, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

CONTACT: Tammy Boyer or Joel Reynolds at NRDC: (323) 934-6900

Katie Klapper at Friend of the Los Angeles River (323) 874-9667