Val Verde, California

This is a repository for the Val Verde project located in Los Angeles County.

I want to take the time to say that residents of Val Verde, California are honored that our town was chosen as the site for the Public Lab Regional Barnraising. The event will be tremendous opportunity for residents of our town to learn more about the environment of our local community, side-by-side with environmental researchers.

Val Verde is a small, working-class community located in sub-rural Los Angeles County. Val Verde has a long history of being a home for ethnic minorities as well as artists. Val Verde was colonized in the early 20th century by African-American professionals and artists such as Hattie McDaniel and James Earl Jones, during days of very active discrimination in Los Angeles.

Today, most residents speak Spanish in their homes -- with a high percentage of monolingual speakers. Approximately 2,500 people reside in Val Verde today.

Val Verde has been the site of the large landfill, Chiquita Canyon, since 1972. In 1997, the County of Los Angeles and the Chiquita Canyon Landfill agreed to one last expansion,

We are on a quest to assert our right-to-know for the health of the families who live here and with your assistance, we hope to find more answers.

Just a reminder that this wiki is a work in progress :)

Community Stats:

Summary of Project Goals:

Tonnage audit and 3D-massing of the landfill site using historic satellite imagery, CalRecycle, CalEPA and landfill records -- via AutoDesk

Local op-Eds regarding the Chiiquita Canyon Landfill Expansion(s):##