Toxic Triangle, public hearing at Oakland City Hall Tuesday August 19, 2008 6pm

Press Release and Invitation
from: Black Elected Officials and Faith based leaders of the East Bay
dated:13 August, 2008

The Black Elected Officials and Faith Based Leaders of the East Bay, an organization comprised of city, county, state, and federal African American leaders, are responding to concerns raised by residents of West Oakland, the City of Richmond and the Bayview Hunters Point area of San Francisco. These communities are experiencing high rates of asthma, cancer, diabetes, and other health concerns that many residents believe to be a result of environmental
hazards that include: exposure to various toxins in West Oakland; asbestos exposures from the Lennar shipyard development in Bayview Hunters Point; as well as ongoing toxic exposures from the Chevron refinery in Richmond.

In response to these troubling issues, our organization has agreed to host Preliminary Fact-Finding Hearings into these complaints. Therefore we are requesting that you or a representative from your agency come to this hearing
to provide us with any information your agency may have regarding these concerns to make our Fact-Finding effort substantive. Please be prepared to answer questions from the members of our organization as well as members of the community.

This Preliminary Hearing will be held on Tuesday, August 19th, 6:00pm at the Oakland City Hall in the City Council Chambers.

Thank you in advance for your response to our invitation to improve our collective service to the community. We will follow-up this letter with a phone call and we look forward to seeing you or a representative from your agency.

Please confirm your participation by contacting Oakland City Councilperson
Desley Brooks at (510) 238-7006 or via email at dbrooks [at] oaklandnet.com

Respectfully,
Keith Carson, Alameda County Supervisor, Fifth District
Sandre Swanson, State Assemblymember, 16th District