But the Inland Empire’s warehouse boom has turned what once was a serene escape into a never-ending chorus of beeping loading docks surrounded by staggering gray walls. 

When I first covered this topic in my article with the Frontline Observer, I approached it not just as a first-time journalist but as a resident of Rialto. I live right across from the Target Distribution Center. As I’m writing this, I hear beeping trucks outside my window. 

The noises and obstructed views alone raise pertinent issues, but reporting on warehouse development made me realize the true cost of warehouses is much worse. 

What once was white noise to me, blending into my everyday routine, became a sounding alarm for the action that needs to happen for the region’s future. 

Community members have already been sounding the alarm for years. On Tuesday, Nov. 18, the Perris City Council voted 5-0 to draft a moratorium that will be considered on Dec. 9. 

The decision reflects the community’s initiatives towards confronting the cumulative impacts of warehouse development. 

With nearly 4,000 warehouses concentrated in the region, most of which rely on diesel trucks that release nitrogen dioxide, the transportation and logistics industries are jointly responsible for growing environmental and health concerns. Both San Bernardino and Riverside counties rank among the top five most ozone-polluted areas in the United States, posing a greater risk to the communities within the region.

The demand for online shopping transformed the Inland Empire into a hotspot for warehouse development. To meet growing demands during the pandemic, corporations rushed to construction without considering the proximity of warehouses next to neighborhoods, schools and parks. 

Two warehouses in Bloomington are located less than a mile from Joe Baca Middle School. Caitlin Towne, an educator at the school, says many of the students suffer from asthma. 

Granted, the number of warehouses across the Inland Empire has opened many jobs to the community. Currently, the transportation and logistics job category is second in job growth, with projections of a 1.7% increase by 2028. 

Towne says many of her former students were working at warehouses in Fontana and Bloomington during the height of the pandemic.

What seems like a great economic industry for the region is, however, an overreliance on low-wage labor. Transportation and logistics are among the lowest-paid positions available, according to the University of California, Riverside’s Inland Empire Labor and Community Center. 

Many residents in the Inland Empire endure pothole-filled roads and congested commutes only to work low-wage, high-risk jobs. Some residents even have to travel outside of the region to get a fulfilling and well-paying job.

Even more concerning is that the low-wage jobs available in the region may be cut in half as automation is expected to expand to cut costs and increase efficiency. 

As of August, the Inland Empire’s unemployment rate was 6.1%, surpassing both California’s seasonally adjusted 5.8% and the nation’s 4.5%. 

Many people are struggling to make ends meet. Entering the workforce and landing a job in logistics isn’t much of a choice, but it is the only option. As Towne said to me, “It’s almost like that’s all they expect of the people in Bloomington is to just work in a warehouse.”

The Inland Empire – a place that offered many homeowners mountain views is now covered in lines of warehouses. We have reached a dead end, and the dead end is warehouses. Caring about the environment and the region’s economy are not mutually exclusive. We must care about both our economy and our environment. 

We have seen what courageous community involvement can do for the region. The dead end that we have long faced with warehouses does not have to define our future. We can use our voices to pave a new path for ourselves by calling on our city leaders to make these changes.  

To ensure a promising future, both economically diverse and environmentally sustainable, we must demand more than warehouses. Warehouses and low-wage positions shouldn’t come at the cost of the community’s public health, quality of life and environment. 

The Inland Empire residents deserve to breathe freely and find peace in the comfort of their own backyards.

The post When Your Backyard Becomes a Warehouse: Inland Empire Communities Are Paying the Price for Convenience appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

The 3-2 vote at the council’s July 14 meeting followed hours of public testimony from supporters and foes of the Newland Simpson project — the latest clash in a long-running debate over the value of warehouses in the Inland Empire.

Council members in April voted 5-0 against the project, which at the time called for two warehouses totaling 1.19 million square feet to be built on a 75-acre site near the junction of Warren and Simpson roads and Domenigoni Parkway in southwest Hemet.

This time, developer Newland Capital Group of Irvine proposed just one warehouse of 884,760 square feet with 146 dock doors. The revised project also did away with an 8.9-acre trailing parking lot.

Newland lined up Rialto Pacific LLC, which supplies retailers like Costco, Target and Walmart, as a tenant. Once built, the warehouse would have supported an estimated 1,253 jobs, according to a city staff report.

Local jobs were a key part of Tom Donahue’s pitch to the council. Donahue, a managing director for development at Newland, said the warehouse would employ Hemet residents who drive to places like Ontario, Rialto and Fontana for work.

“This city and its residents are looking for jobs. They’re looking for ways to stay close to home,” Donahue told councilmembers.

“I believe that’s the constituency that needs to (be heard) the loudest today is the folks that want to stay here, spend their money here, work here, (and) not commute” outside of Hemet.

Donahue’s words didn’t persuade critics, who feared the smaller warehouse would still become an air pollution magnet attracting diesel-powered delivery trucks. Critics also said the warehouse would ruin pavement, clog roads with truck traffic and spoil the scenery near a gateway to the city.

Noise, traffic and air pollution would be 40% less with the smaller warehouse, Donahue said, adding that critic’s fears about the volume of truck traffic were exaggerated.

A 40% reduction wasn’t enough for Councilmember Connie Howard-Clark. “I’m not in fear of change,” she said. “The change I’m in fear of is going to be what we cannot undo.”

Councilmembers Linda Krupa and Joe Males supported the smaller project.

“For me, this project checks the boxes,” Males said. “Property rights respected, environmental concerns addressed, public benefits secured, and local revenue generated.”

Mayor Jackie Peterson said while she “feels for” residents who “don’t get to spend a lot of time with their families” due to long commutes, she was struck by a visit to the San Bernardino area during the Los Angeles wildfires.

Smoke from those fires hung over the skies before clearing up the next morning, Peterson said. But when she drove back to Hemet, “all I could see was smoke,” she said, raising her fears about air pollution lingering in Hemet due to its bowl-like topography.

Males and Krupa voted in favor of the project while Howard-Clark, Peterson and Councilmember Tom Lodge voted against.

Supporters say the industry, which exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic and now occupies more than 1 billion square feet in the region, is a vital economic sector employing thousands and offering a path to a middle-class life.

Critics said those jobs often don’t pay a livable wage and could succumb to automation. And they argue jobs don’t excuse the higher risk of cancer and other health threats linked to diesel exhaust from warehouse-bound trucks.

The post Hemet warehouse project once again rejected by City Council appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.