Urban Ecology

Fighting for Air

by Diane Boudreau

The Homedale neighborhood in Phoenix is like a crystal hidden inside a rough gray rock. The little group of houses is surrounded by junkyards, piles of scrap tires, and giant warehouses.

On the southeast edge of the neighborhood sits a truck stop. It is always filled with idling tractor-trailer rigs. To the northwest, a hulking power plant looms against the sky.

Between truck stop and power plant lies a group of 440 houses. The area is spotted with sand lots and boarded-up windows. But most of the homes are lovingly tended with soft green lawns and bright flowers.

Many of the current homeowners grew up in this neighborhood. Now they work to raise their own families here. Homedale is the kind of place where people know each other. It is also the kind of place where neighbors band together when something is wrong. They did just that in 2002.

Sara Grineski is an ASU graduate student in sociology. She works with Homedale residents as part of a special research training program for students.

“There were a lot of bad smells in the neighborhood. The residents were concerned about air pollution,” she explains. “There’s a truck stop that backs up into the neighborhood. The trucks idle all night long.”

Homedale’s leaders decided to find answers to their problems. They presented their concerns to ASU scientists.

Grineski leads a team of students who study the neighborhood. Their project has four parts. First, the students developed a resident survey. They wanted to document health conditions, symptoms of illness, and environmental concerns. Students and residents crisscrossed the neighborhood. They gave the surveys in both English and Spanish.

The second part of the study includes air quality monitoring. The ASU team placed air monitors inside and on the rooftops of two Homedale houses. The monitors measure levels of particulate matter in the air. They also measure elemental carbon, sulfate, and nitrate.

Sulfate and nitrate are pollutants. They are released into the air when gasoline or diesel fuel is burned, usually by cars and trucks. Elemental carbon is also released this way.

The scientists look closely at the amount of particulate matter in the air samples. They look for particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter. The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency considers particles this size to be dangerous to human health. A micron is one millionth of a meter. For scale, consider that a human hair is about 25 to 100 microns wide. Tobacco smoke particles are less than 1 micron.

The third part of the survey includes recording social and historical data about the neighborhood. The last phase is hazard mapping. The team will create a map of the area that shows what facilities exist and how close they are to the houses.

In Homedale, 88 percent of residents are Latino. More than 36 percent live below the poverty line. But these people are not powerless. Years ago, they successfully fought an expansion of the local power plant. That plant would have increased local air pollution. Unfortunately, the area still has problems.

The ASU students spent most of 2001 and 2002 collecting data. Those numbers tell interesting stories.

Homedale residents appear to suffer from a higher than normal rate of breathing problems. They also have high rates of allergies, irritated eyes and nose, congestion, and chronic cough.

Sixteen percent of Homedale adults have asthma. So do 16 percent of their children. That compares with national averages of 7.2 percent for adults and 7 percent for children.

The ASU study results are not yet final. But Homedale residents already are seeing results. They hosted a special conference last summer. As a result of that meeting, the neighborhood received a $90,000 Fight Back Grant from the City of Phoenix. The community plans to use the money to improve their neighborhood.