Like obscenity, environmental pollution might only be perceived by the beholder. That notion originated with Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart and a pornography case involving Louis Malle’s film The Lovers in 1964 — “I know it when I see it,” Stewart famously said. In Goleta, however, it is the pollution that its residents see that the city wants to hear about at a Community Open House on Wednesday, October 9, to gather information for Goleta’s first-ever environmental justice policies.
The city’s Planning Division is looking to make Goleta a “safe, healthy, and equitable” city, focusing on issues like pollution — which disproportionately affects some members of the community. California planning law requires an environmental justice element in the Goleta General Plan, which the city voted to initiate on August 20.
In his presentation to City Council, Cameron Audras, an assistant planner for the city, explained that the initiative will first identify disadvantaged communities within Goleta and work to mitigate environmental injustices associated with these areas. Environmental inequities include any elements of compact environmental degradation, from air pollution to contaminated water sources.