w5 PR Brownfields 1995 Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet Los Angeles, CA EPA Brownfields Initiative EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. On January 11, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act. Under the Brownfields Law, EPA provides financial assistance to eligible applicants through four competitive grant programs: assessment grants, revolving loan fund grants, cleanup grants, and job training grants. Additionally, funding support is provided to state and tribal response programs through a separate mechanism. Background EPA has selected the City of Los Angeles for a Brownfields Pilot. The Pilot designation follows as part of EPA's commitment to Los Angeles as a Brownfields Showcase Community. Los Angeles is an ethnically diverse city of more than 3.6 million citizens. In some areas, nearly 40% of the population lives below the poverty level and unemployment is higher than 17%. The City has thousands of vacant parcels and underused facilities along commercial and industrial corridors with suspected contamination. A study conducted by the City's Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) in South Central Los Angeles found 344 potentially contaminated sites within a three-mile radius. Because these sites are located on industrially zoned property near major transportation routes, their economic potential is exceptional. The Alameda Corridor is a 20-mile route between the Los Angeles/Long Beach ports and rail distribution yards located southeast of the Los Angeles Civic Center. Improvements in the Alameda Corridor are expected to make the area more attractive to business and promote brownfields redevelopment, local job creation, and community revitalization. Pilot Snapshot Date of Announcement: 07/01/1998 Amount: $200,000 Profile: The Pilot targets brownfields located along the 20-mile Alameda Corridor for assessment and redevelopment. Contacts For further information, including specific grant contacts, additional grant information, brownfields news and events, and publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields Web site (http ://www .epa.gov/brownfields). EPA Region 9 Brownfields Team (415)972-3091 EPA Region 9 Brownfields Web site (http ://www .epa.gov/region9/brownfields) Grant Recipient: City of Los Angeles,CA (213) 580-1045 Objectives Los Angeles' objective is to continue integrating partnerships with Federal agencies, the community, and others in the City's brownfields program. Productive reuse of brownfields will include redevelopment, open space, housing, education, job training, energy efficiency, and social and environmental equity issues. Los Angeles plans to accomplish its objective through an interdepartmental team structure which will identify, coordinate and target brownfields resources. The City will encourage the use of State Voluntary Cleanup Agreements when appropriate. Activities Activities planned as part of this Pilot include: • Leveraging Los Angeles' designation as a Brownfields Showcase Community to form new Federal partnerships; • Developing strategies and mechanisms to address barriers to brownfields redevelopment, including United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington, DC 20450 Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5105T) EPA 500-F-98-236 Jul 98 ------- using the Los Angeles Brownfields Revitalization Fund and the Federal Brownfields Tax Incentive; • Documenting and integrating brownfields lessons learned into the City's redevelopment process; and • Developing effective community participation processes which are sensitive to environmental justice issues based on recommendations of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council. The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change. The information presented in this fact sheet comes from the grant proposal; EPA cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. The cooperative agreement for the grant has not yet been negotiated. Therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change. United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington, DC 20450 and Emergency Response (5105T) Solid Waste EPA 500-F-98-236 Jul 98 ------- |