Graduation Year

2023

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Environmental Analysis

Reader 1

Susan Phillips

Reader 2

Thomas Kim

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2023 Chanah B Haigh

Abstract

Unjust legislation and zoning practices drive the excess of warehouses in Fontana, California whose impacts fall disproportionately on low income communities of color. This paper addresses the environmental and health impacts of warehouses, as well as the legislation and the use of zoning which bring them to Fontana. Original maps show the spread of warehouses over census tract level data depicting race, income, and environmental factors such as diesel particulate matter. State and local legislation is analyzed to determine its intended effect and how well it has been enforced. Research was conducted through a project based thesis done in conjunction with Bobbi Jo Chavarria of Fast Forward Fontana, including the publishing of an op-ed, a write up on the Near Road Rule for Assemblymember Reyes, and a guide on utilizing the Inflation Reduction Act. These materials are intended to be of use to the activists in the community, either in a political conversation or in the acquisition of grant funding. The City Council of Fontana uses its power to approve warehouses and run decision making in the town, to lay the impacts of warehouses on Southern Fontana, while the benefits of their economic gains are shared primarily by those outside the city. Thus, the residents of Southern Fontana have both their right to be represented by their city government and their protection from environmental degradation taken from them, in service of the logistics industry’s expansion.

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