Emily Lintner

(Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Vernon, CA — Today, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion authored by Supervisor Janice Hahn to prohibit County departments from contracting with Sterigenics, a medical device sterilization company, while they continue to emit elevated levels of a dangerous carcinogen from their Vernon plant.

“Sterigenics is emitting dangerous levels of a cancer-causing chemical and is threatening the lives of workers,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn. “I continue to urge the SCAQMD to shut this plant down until they lower these emissions, but we can exert our own pressure. Until they no longer pose a threat to workers and the community, this company is not going to get valuable Los Angeles County contracts.”

Los Angeles County has no existing contracts with Sterigenics US, Inc. Hahn’s motion, approved unanimously by the Board, directs that all County departments, to extent legally permissible and feasible, shall refrain from entering into any new or amended contracts to purchase goods or services from Sterigenics.

Read the full motion here: http://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/bos/supdocs/169900.pdf

Los Angeles, CA — Today, Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn is applauding a new agreement between LA Metro and the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH) which will make trained mental health professionals available to respond to mental health crises on the public transit system.

“Anyone who has taken Metro knows there is a mental health crisis on our transit system,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn, who authored the October 2021 motion to initiate talks between the Department of Mental Health and Metro. “With this new agreement, our Department of Mental Health will place teams of trained mental health professionals on our buses and trains so that they can respond to people in crisis, de-escalate potentially dangerous situations, and connect people with the long-term treatment and support they need.”

The agreement, signed yesterday by Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins and Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health Director Jonathan Sherin, includes a number of improvements to mental health crisis response aboard Metro.

Under the agreement, DMH will pilot up to 10 mobile crisis outreach teams that will operate during Metro hours, seven days a week, to de-escalate situations and provide linkages to appropriate follow-up services including possible 5150 or 5585 involuntary psychiatric evaluation and/or provision of transport to appropriate facility-based care, when needed. DMH will also provide 30 Community Ambassador Network teams to provide outreach and linkages to services to individuals experiencing mental illness within designated areas of the metro system. Finally, DMH will provide Metro Transit Security and contract security personnel with intervention training to include basic awareness of mental health conditions and de-escalation skills and behaviors for managing a mental health incident.

Since coming into office, Supervisor Janice Hahn has championed expanding and improving mental health crisis response. Under her leadership, the County is dramatically expanding Psychiatric Mobile Response Teams countywide which will be available by calling 9-8-8, the nationwide mental health crisis hotline.

Los Angeles, CA — Today, a committee of the Metro Board of Directors voted to advance a motion authored by Supervisor Janice Hahn to end a decades-long effort to widen the 710 freeway. The long-planned widening would have destroyed homes and neighborhoods in Southeast Los Angeles, displacing families living along the freeway. With the committee’s unanimous approval, the motion moves on to consideration by the full Metro Board next week.

Early last year, federal and state agencies denied the approval of an environmental impact report for the widening, prompting Metro to explore alternatives to widening in consultation with local groups. With her motion, which is co-authored by Supervisor Hilda Solis, Supervisor Holly Mitchell, and Director Fernando Dutra, Supervisor Hahn proposes using the $750 million in local sales taxes already dedicated to the project to invest in more innovative solutions to traffic congestion, air pollution, street safety challenges, and other problems communities along the 710 face.

“Widening this freeway and wiping out neighborhoods is not the pathway forward, and neither is the status quo,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn. “We have an opportunity now to use the funding we already have set aside for this project on smarter ways to improve air quality, reduce congestion, improve mobility, and address safety concerns for everyone living and traveling along this corridor.

Since the widening of the 710 freeway was first proposed two decades ago, the project has faced opposition from community groups along the corridor. The decision to move away from widening and Supervisor Hahn’s motion to direct funding to improvements instead was met with support from a wide range of stakeholders from environmental organizations to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

If passed by the full Metro Board, Supervisor Hahn’s motion will do four things:

• Direct staff to come back to the Board in June with new project vision and objectives, after final consultation with the 710 Task Force
• Call for the project to be renamed to shift focus from being just on the freeway to addressing the broader issues of air quality, goods movement, mobility, and safety in the corridor cities
• Remove capacity enhancing freeway widening from the project altogether
• Direct staff to create an Investment Plan, with short- and mid- and long-term initiatives, with at least three initiatives to request funding in 2022, as informed by the Task Force.

The motion moves to the full Metro Board of Directors for a vote during their regular meeting next Thursday, May 26 at 10:00 a.m.

Los Angeles, CA – Today, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to move forward with a project to create a pocket park in the unincorporated community of Walnut Park. The new half-acre park will transform what is now an empty lot and will include a restroom, office building, playground, splash pad, grassy lawn, and bicycle racks.

“The thousands of families that call Walnut Park home deserve access to beautiful, safe green spaces,” said Supervisor Hahn, whose district includes Walnut Park and surrounding Southeast LA communities. “Parks matter, no matter how small. This overgrown lot has been an eyesore in the area for a long time, but soon we’ll be transforming it into a space that the whole community can enjoy.”

The Walnut Park Pocket Park will occupy a lot located on the corner of Grand Avenue and Pacific Boulevard that has sat vacant for years, and which Supervisor Solis secured when Walnut Park was in her district. Construction on the $9.8 million project is set to start this August, when Supervisor Hahn will hold an official groundbreaking with residents and community partners. The Park has an expected completion date of August 2023.

The LA County Department of Public Works received a record amount of public input and statements of support during the planning process. In addition to the direct recreational and quality of life benefits for residents, the park will include a significant urban and stormwater capture component, a project of the Safe, Clean Water Program funded by Measure W. The underground infiltration well will capture water from an area of more than 31 acres surrounding the park.

Read approved Board Letter here.

Los Angeles, CA — Today, Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn sent a letter to the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) urging them to require the Sterigenics facilities in the City of Vernon to immediately cease all ethylene oxide-emitting operations until they come into compliance with air quality regulations.

On May 5, 2022, the SCAQMD issued a Proposition 65 notice regarding high levels of ethylene oxide “likely to affect public health and safety near the Sterigenics facilities.” Ethlyene oxide is a known carcinogen and chronic long-term exposure can cause damage to the brain and nervous system and is used by the facility to sterilize medical equipment.

“Testing shows ethylene oxide levels have been elevated since late April, but we don’t know how long these emissions have been elevated before testing started,” said Supervisor Hahn. “Maywood residents live just 500 feet away from this facility. This is the same community that has already suffered the impacts of lead contamination from Exide, metal emissions from a magnesium chemical fire, and the cumulative impacts of living near freeways and other industrial facilities. I understand that the SCAQMD continues to investigate this important matter and is rolling out a more robust community air monitoring plan. However, we cannot risk the health and safety of our residents while these investigations are underway.”

Read full letter here.

Los Angeles, CA — Today, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a proposal by Supervisor Janice Hahn and co-authored by Supervisor Hilda Solis to explore creating a pre-petition advocacy model in Los Angeles County, with the goal of keeping more families safely together and reducing racial disparities in the child welfare system.

“We need to do everything we can to protect children from abuse, but far too many families are separated for reasons that actually stem from poverty, and these families are disproportionately Black and Indigenous,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn. “Pre-petition advocacy will mean connecting parents with resources and support early, help us prevent unnecessary and painful family separations, and ultimately help break the cycle of poverty that has kept so many families stuck in the child welfare system.”

In Los Angeles County, legal advocates are court-appointed to represent children and families only after a petition alleging child abuse or neglect is filed with the Dependency Court seeking court intervention. However, across the country a “pre-petition advocacy model” is being embraced, which enables legal advocates to represent children and parents before a child is removed and before a petition is filed with the Court.

This form of preventative legal advocacy is proving effective in keeping families together safely, keeping children at home, supporting social workers, and preventing the need for foster care. By providing prevention services and legal remedies for low-risk issues (such as counseling, respite care, help with evictions, protective orders, etc.), this model results in reducing the trauma of unnecessary child and family separation and reducing the disproportionate number of Black and Indigenous families that become system involved.

“This motion is exactly the innovative and worthy initiative our County needs to take on to reimagine the child welfare system. It’s what our families deserve,” said Supervisor Solis, who co-authored the motion. “Providing legal services early in a case can keep families together and ensure they have the support to thrive. To that end, I’m proud to co-author this motion, which seeks to support families outside of the child welfare system – at an earlier stage in the process. I thank the Reimagine Child Safety Coalition and the many stakeholders instrumental in this work.”

Today, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion by Supervisors Hahn and Solis to advance a countywide pre-petition advocacy model in Los Angeles County. The board instructed the County CEO’s Service Integration Branch to report back to the Board on the feasibility of creating a pre-petition advocacy model in Los Angeles County with a goal of keeping families safely together and reducing racial disparities in the child welfare system. The work will be done in consultation with community stakeholders, including people with lived experience in the child welfare system.