Keep on Trucking (Responsibly)

Big rigs spew dangerous diesel particulate into our air.
But the problem doesn’t end there.

(c) TOM POLITEO/CAM ERA COMMITTEE Oil appears to stain the ground in this truck yard. The piece of lumber laid in front the curb serves as a makeshift ramp.

By Tom Politeo
July 2002

This is the city. Los Angeles. Four-hundred and sixty-eight square miles, 3.8 million residents, 160 miles of freeway, and home to the world’s third-busiest container port, drawing thousands of big-rig trucks every day. Somewhere code violators are repairing these trucks in dirt lots, allowing oil and gasoline to seep into the soil. When these illegitimate operators vanish, one step ahead of code enforcement officials, it won’t be without a trace. They’ll leave behind a mess—and someone else will foot the bill to clean it up. Our job: stop them.

It’s a sunny weekday afternoon in a small and seemingly forgotten corner of Wilmington, near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Shipping-related industry dominates the scenery here. From lot to lot, you’ll see big-rig parking and repair yards, truck washes and warehouses, with an occasional apartment building jammed in between. Much of the area looks run-down and poorly maintained.

But the problems go beyond just a shabby appearance. Numerous Los Angeles Municipal Code rules are being broken, each of which was established to protect the public.

A few of the truck yards seem to follow codes and regulations. Repairs are conducted indoors over paved surfaces. Oil and gasoline are caught and recycled properly. Some buildings are well-kept and landscaped.

However, in all too many truck yards, repairs are done outside over open dirt. As you peer through the gates that open up to these ramshackle yards, the dirt is dark, thick with oil spilled over the years.

Business after business appears to operate in spite of visible violations. What is less obvious are the consequences, which are hidden below the surface like contaminants that have seeped deep into the ground.

These consequences stretch out from this isolated part of L.A. and touch almost everyone who lives in Southern California.
Despite the enormity of the problems here, there is no Jack Webb in a “Dragnet”-like sweep to make sure businesses clean up their act.

How does this affect the rest of us? One day, probably long after the current proprietors are gone, taxpayers will be stuck with the cleanup bill. The cost of decontaminating the soil will likely exceed the costs of initially paving the ground and running the operations properly.

Even in yards where the dirt isn’t obviously contaminated, mechanics are busy repairing trucks over open dirt. The trash bins contain not only meal scraps but also empty motor oil containers.

(c) TOM POLITEO/CAM ERA COMMITTEE Newspapers, lunches and oil containers (blue and yellow) fill the trash bin in another unpaved truck yard. The oil containers are a sure sign that repairs are being conducted in the yard over open dirt areas.

Inside some of the fences, or on dirt alleyways or alongside streets, truck tires are stacked. Some are offered for sale; others are just litter. Either way, the tires should not be stacked outside for extended periods. Water can collect in the tires and provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

Inside many of the truck yards, the work being done seems to be whatever the trade will bear. Some of the yards look like parking lots, repair yards, junk yards and trash heaps all rolled into one. Often, there are no permanent structures, and outhouses are the only facilities for employees.

Along some streets or alleys, it appears that businesses are squatting on public rights-of-way, taking over the unpaved alleys or streets. A community resident, who asked not to be named, charges that some landlords may be renting out public property for their private profit.

The resident points at some makeshift entrances to the truck yards. Instead of driveways, there are full-height curbs with ramps made out of pieces of lumber. “A sure sign,” he says, “of an illegitimate operator.”

Then he calls attention to various L.A. building code and use violations, from sanitation problems to handicapped access and others. “There’s no one out here enforcing the code,” he adds.

The violations aren’t just of municipal code. “The trucks need to have correct federal certification numbers on them. Look at this one—the numbers have been scratched off.”

Frank Politeo, an area architect, confirms that there are numerous violations in this neighborhood. “The city says they just don’t have the money to enforce the regulations.”

(c) TOM POLITEO/CAM ERA COMMITTEE These trucks are in slow going, Friday morning traffic. Poor port logistics causes long delays for drivers on freeways and inside the port. Truckers don't get any extra pay for the delays, often several hours per trip. Truckers, longshore workers, and the the majority of people in Southern California end up breathing the extra diesel fumes.

Nevertheless, the resident says, the city manages to enforce the many no-parking signs in the area. The trucks parked on the streets where nighttime parking is banned will all be gone before 10pm.

Bigger problem

These code violations are just the tip of a larger collection of social and environmental woes emanating from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The environmental problems are obvious: pollution of air, land and sea; spread of invasive species; and habitat destruction. Just as serious are the issues facing port workers.

The Wilmington facilities are largely used by the trucking companies that service the ports. According to Gary Smith, a local Teamsters representative, more than 98% of the trucking work force that services the port is non-union.

According to Smith, the smaller trucking companies are engaged in a bidding war for port business. After expenses, many drivers barely make minimum wage, if that. Again, Wilmington area residents allege that there may be federal tax evasion issues, with some of the drivers erroneously classified as “independent contractors” instead of employees.

Howard Uller, executive director of the Toberman Settlement House in San Pedro, a facility that helps low-income families, says that “making the drivers independent contractors is the most cynical, most horrible thing I’ve seen. The drivers are working for less than minimum wage, and it’s legal under our current structure. They struggle. By the time they’re finished buying parts and covering all their costs, they can’t feed their families.

“It’s a cynical exploitation of human beings to call them independent contractors. It’s big profits for the shippers, a big struggle for the drivers and a disaster for the environment.”

(c) TOM POLITEO/CAM ERA COMMITTEE Discarded tires are found abandoned on streets, sideways and alleys throughout this neighborhood.

Whenever a group is exploited like this, they aren’t the only ones losing out. In addition to the drivers, the community, the environment and public safety are all pulled down by the poor working conditions.

All suffer because the rates to haul containers in and out of the port are too low to cover important operating requirements and responsibilities.

These include ensuring safe and sanitary working conditions, a livable wage, building code standards and the truck’s mechanical condition. Together, these protect more than just the workers. They protect the Wilmington neighborhood’s environment and appearance.

...and environmental justice for all

When it comes to issues of public safety, however, the effects extend way beyond the neighborhood.

According to Peter Peyton of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, it costs less to ship a container by truck within a 900-mile radius of the port than it does to ship it by rail. As a result of this economic equation, shippers are using more trucking than port development plans originally projected.

Consequently, there may be more than 30% more trucks on our highways than once anticipated. This reduces our city’s livability by adding to congestion on the 710, 110, 91, 405 and 5 freeways, the primary routes that support port access.

The increased peak demand on these routes caused by underpaid truckers is also likely to trigger costly freeway expansion sooner than it might otherwise be needed.

(c) TOM POLITEO/CAM ERA COMMITTEE The appartment buildings behind the rig are an example of zoning that mixes residential and industrial properties in the same neighborhood. The units are surrounded by repair yards and trucking facilities.

Also, because trucks cause more pollution and contribute to more global warming per cargo mile than rail, this extra truck traffic exacerbates what is already some of the most unhealthy air in the nation.

The unenforced codes also raise the question of equality. Does the city of Los Angeles do a better job of enforcing related codes in Westwood than in Wilmington? If so, residents who live near these facilities don’t receive equal protection. Not surprisingly, they come mostly from lower-income households.

Legitimate businesses also suffer, because they are forced to compete with illegitimate operations with no support from the city for being better corporate citizens.

The only real benefactors of this situation are the companies that ship cargo through the ports. Whether American or foreign, these companies are not stakeholders in the Los Angeles area; they exploit an economic situation because we let them. We allow it when truck drivers can be classified as contractors and when we let the city be lax on code enforcement.

The shippers get lower hauling rates while the rest of us pick up the tab one way or another, with our pocketbooks, our pride, a little lost time, our health and, in some instances, our lives.