EL CENTRO — Cleaner skies and more breathable air are on the way here for the Meadows school community.
The AB 617 Community Air Protection Program for Calexico-Heber-El Centro held a groundbreaking ceremony at Meadows Union Elementary School for its district paving and electric vehicle infrastructure projects on Wednesday, September 9.
The school district, in collaboration with the AB 617 El Centro-Calexico-Heber Community Steering Committee, broke ground on a 53,418 square foot paving project of the school’s bus and gym parking lots, as well as a $1.2 million electric vehicle infrastructure project to charge the school’s four electric busses, according to a press release.
The bill, which was authored by former California Assemblymember Cristina Garcia (D-Los Angeles) and signed into law by former Gov. Jerry Brown in 2017, brought the state funds in to Imperial County as part of the bill’s mission to “develop a new community focused program to more effectively reduce exposure to air pollution and preserve public health,” according to the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District.
“This is all thank you to AB 617, our grantee from the state,” Belen Leon Lopez, Imperial County Air Pollution Control Officer, said at the ceremony.
“Meadows did a great job, in particular, applying for HVIP (California’s Hybrid Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project), which allowed them to obtain electric vehicles — though they didn’t get the infrastructure, and that’s where the Air Pollution Control District, together with AB 617, provided them the $1.2 million for the (EV) infrastructure,” she told IVP after the groundbreaking.
“It’s great because it not only decreases dust emissions, it also improves the quality of life for the school kids, and the community itself,” Leon Lopez said.
“The school itself would not have the funding to do these types of projects, and that’s why we’re here,” she said. “We want to help every school here in the Valley to provide these types of projects, and we welcome for them to apply.”
Meadows Union Superintendent Keila Rodriguez agreed.
“As a small, rural, single school district, opportunities like this are truly transformational,” she said during the ceremony. “It is a tremendous success for our district.
“These projects are not just about new pavement and electric busses, they represent a leap forward in our community to sustainability, safety, and the health of our students and community,” she said.
“The importance of these projects cannot be overstated,” the superintendent said. “The new paving will not only enhance the safety and accessibility of our school grounds, but it will also reduce dust and improve air quality for everyone in our community. And with the introduction of electric vehicle infrastructure, we are taking a significant step towards reducing our carbon footprint and promoting cleaner air for our children to breathe.”
“Unfortunately, we live in a desert area and desert region (which) means that paving projects are the priority down here,” Leon Lopez told IVP. “When you have kids or drop being dropped off or picked up on a dirt area, or when you have an event, they’re in a dirt area….”
The superintendent concurred, noting that the pavement will improve the students’ qualify of life, enabling them to breathe cleaner air on campus.
“When you have to have a special schedule, a special day, for anything that happens because of our weather and environment and where we’re located, that that says a lot,” Rodriguez told IVP. “I mean, when the air quality is not well we can’t even play outdoors — even when the weather is nice. When it rains heavily with the way the dirt is around, parking is not even feasible with our current parking structure, so having this paving project is just huge for us.
“It’s really exciting,” the superintendent said. “Just because we’re small doesn’t mean that we can’t have the same quality of resources that larger districts do.
“I’m just thankful to be part of this community and for my leadership team and the board and the community, the families,” Rodriguez said. “We’re very blessed.”