11:30am | In 2009, the Port of Long Beach launched its Mitigation Grant Program, a series of grants that are part of a comprehensive strategy to offset the impacts of port-related operations in the community, primarily air pollution risks for vulnerable groups such as children and seniors.
Currently, there is $17.4 million in the mitigation grant fund from the approvals of the Middle Harbor modernization project and the Gerald Desmond Bridge replacement project. The funds are divided amongst three programs:
- Health-care and senior facilities
- Schools and related sites
- Greenhouse gas emissions reduction projects
The Port has already poured millions of dollars out into Long Beach and the surrounding areas. In 2010, they gave Long Beach Poly High School a $545,899 grant for an air-filtration system that has improved the classroom air quality for over 3,000 students. Last year, BREATHE LA received a $355,874 grant to work with children specifically living within a 3-mile radius of the Port of Long Beach in order to address and reduce asthma and lung health problems over the next three years.
The third section of fund division — that which is focused on greenhouse emissions — was a focus of this past Tuesday’s City Council meeting, where the application for a $500,000 grant was discussed in order create a brand new Urban Forest and fitness garden in the Edison right of way in the Ninth District. If the application is granted, North Long Beach will be the recipient of much needed green space that will, with the planning of the Urban Forest, reduce particulate matter from the I-710 and I-91 freeways.