l.a. requires air filters to protect residents near freeways. are they doing the job? - air purifier filter

Despite growing warnings about health problems caused by traffic pollution, Los Angeles officials have approved a surge in residential development along the highway.
The key to their protection of the lungs is to ask the developers to install air filters.
But even the highest
Experts say high quality filters only capture some of the dangerous components of the exhaust from cars and trucks, they must be replaced frequently in order to be effective, and in the event that all doors and windows are closed, the ventilation system of the building must operate almost full-time.
City check air for new project
The filtration system, but the head of the Building and Safety Department admitted that his office did not record the procedure for installing the appropriate filter or for subsequent operations
Check to ensure maintenance and replacement. Air-
Quality regulators and health experts warn that relying on air filtration and other mitigation measures will not solve the health threat of residents moving into new homes along the highway.
The biggest pollution pipeline in southern California.
For more than a decade, they have urged cities to stop allowing new homes to be built within 500 feet of the busy traffic to protect residents from asthma, cancer, heart disease, studies of premature birth and a range of other health problems are linked to living near the main road.
However, Los Angeles issued construction permits in 2015 for 4,300 families close enough to the highway to threaten the health of the occupants --
More than any year in the past decade.
Since then, the city has more than 3,000 units of 1,000-
The city advises developers that residents are at risk of air pollution, at least 60 feet metres from highway traffic.
Mayor Eric gassiti and other local politicians oppose restrictions on how many homes to build near the highway, citing efforts that will hinder the relief of a serious housing shortage in Los Angeles.
Builders agreed that additional restrictions on new buildings would increase housing costs.
"Our demand for housing is very, very high," said Tim Piasky, head of the construction industry.
Los Angeles/Ventura Chapter
At the same time, environmental activists and community groups have called for stricter development standards and highway buffers to protect the health of residents.
Doug Haines of the East Hollywood Community Council told City Council members at a recent hearing that fine particulate matter would damage the lungs of children in hundreds of new housing units along the 101 highway.
It goes through the door frame and window frame.
"There is no realistic way to filter it," Haines said . ".
"The only way to stop it all is to limit all the buildings next to the highway.
"For years, researchers have been studying how to protect the health of people living near traffic pollution.
In a report released in April, the California Air Resources Commission reviewed more than a decade of scientific research and highlighted what it calls a "promising strategy", when the city does not pay attention to its warnings, help reduce pollution exposure of residents near the highway against building houses within 500 feet.
The solutions recognized by the agency include soundproof walls, vegetation barriers, and "buildings of different shapes and heights" that help to disperse traffic contaminants ".
"This basically gives people a second set of solutions to this problem," said Bart Cross, head of the Aviation Resources Board's research department. High-
Efficient air filters are one of the most effective tools, but whether it's the air resources board or most air filters
Quality experts think this is a good solution.
"It's better to filter the particles in the air than nothing," said Scott Fulin, a professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California's Keke School of Medicine.
But he is skeptical about cities that think filters are a suitable solution.
Research shows, for example, that
High-quality air filters can capture some harmful particles in traffic emissions, but do not block toxic waste gas.
Carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, benzene, or 1,2-
"Butadiene, they will be too high and the filtration will not solve this problem," said Butadiene in . ". Air-
The quality officer also told the city that if the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems of the building do not operate at all times when all doors and windows are closed, the benefits of the filter will be severely compromised.
University of California, Los Angeles, PhD student Amelia Miller
Williams said that although she tried to keep the windows of the student apartment near 405, she still found black dust on the paper towels when she blows her nose.
"In any sense, our homes are contaminated," she said . ".
Such housing is constantly being approved.
On 2013, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved the developer M.
Paul's 325-
Project Il bergaggio Toscano in Sherman Oaks, close to 405-101 exchange.
The city only requires high apartments.
Efficient air filters and certain windows facing the highway cannot be opened.
Lawyer Robert P.
Silverstein sued the city and questioned its approval of the project on behalf of a community group, calling the restriction "a joke ".
"There is a reason why they call this apartment a 'Black Lung loft, '" Silverstein said . ".
"Some of these units are only a few feet away from the country's busiest highway crossing.
"Rick Coca, spokesman for the member for the council for urban planning and land use management, José Huizar, said that Huizar voted in favor of the development project of Il majaggio Toscano, because it was then supported by Tom LaBonge, a member of the local council.
Former MP LaBonge said he had voted in favor of the project because it was supported by the Planning Department, on an empty package next to the shopping mall at Sherman Oaks Square, help to meet the "housing needs ".
In April 2016, Los Angeles changed the building code and the requirements were high.
New house high efficiency air filtration within 1,000 feet of highway.
The rated power of the filter is 16-
Industry size-
Minimum Efficiency Report value, or MERV-
This can measure how they can effectively stop tiny contaminated particles.
The Southern California classroom was studied between scientists from the South Coast Air Quality Authority and the University of California, Riverside, in 2008 and 2010.
Performance panel filters with MERV rating 13 to 16 are removed between 70% and 90% of particle contamination.
The researchers found that the more common MERV 7 filter removed about 50%.
The current filter for new homes in the state is MERV 6.
According to the regulations passed by Los Angeles, the filter must reach a performance rating of 13.
These standards are similar to those in San Francisco. since 2008, San Francisco has requested to be near high-
Traffic roads.
Los Angeles officials say part of the reason they chose to ask for MERV 13 filtering is because it is the most realistic option.
Shana Bonstin, the main planner of the urban planning department, said officials are concerned that if they set stricter standards, "we may set standards for ourselves without the filters being replaced or maintained: if we put a request too heavy, trade
Great?
"We want to find the perfect balance," she continued, "where the residents are protected most effectively and, in fact, the buildings will continue to be maintained.
"In order to work properly, all filters must be replaced between two and four times a year. And higher-
Rated filters are more expensive. A level 13-to-
According to a report from the planning department in December 2016, the cost of 16 filters is between $20 and $90, while the cost of a regular MERV 8 filter is $6.
In some isolated cases, the city requires developers to install more powerful filters than they now require.
As early as 2006, planning officials asked developers G. H.
Level will be installed by Palmer-
The Piero apartment near West Lake 110 Highway has 16 filters to provide greater health protection for occupants, "99 have been removed.
97% of the air pollutants are 0.
According to the city's list of requirements as conditions for approval, "3 microns ".
335-similar MERV 16 filtering is required
Clarendon Apartments is approved this year for construction on the land next to the 101 highway in Forest Hill.
Jennifer Gordon, spokeswoman for developer amcaldoHousing, Inc.
The apartment will be located "at least 60 feet from the United States"S.
101 "," The community was deliberately designed ", with a parking structure, a row of trees and a 60-
Foot residential building from the development of the field of transportation insulation.
The city council unanimously approved the project.
Mayor Garcetti's office signed it.
Demolition has begun and developers are expected to complete construction in the summer of 2019.
Asked why he continued to approve the projects, Garcetti said: "things have passed because they are already in the pipeline and the City Council has approved them.
Blocking them will cause huge legal problems and put an economic burden on investors, he said.
Garcetti said he had instructed city staff to study how to change the zoning of the city to protect public health.
Earlier this year, council members and mayors supported new research on possible development constraints, design standards and other steps that the city could take.
A spokesman for Garcetti said in a written statement, "No one should choose between affordable housing and breathing clean, healthy air ", and cited an electric vehicle to increase public transport
Development oriented.
Community activists have long complained that as a condition for approving their projects, the city ignored or failed to implement the developer's commitments, including enhanced air filtration requirements for families near the highway.
"There is no filter police," said Silverstein, a lawyer who questioned Los Angeles's approval of residential projects.
"The developers can say, well, we have to do that.
But it doesn't make sense because the city will never go back and check.
"After the Times inquiry, buildings and safety found out on 2014, Jeffrey H. Palmer —the 526-
Apartments da Vinci and 913-
Lorenzo unit, along the 110 Highway in Los AngelesA. —
Failed to install the correct-
Filter or equipment required to hold the filter.
Jeff Napier said that at the request of the city, da Vinci's developers later installed a stronger fan motor in the ventilation system to support thicker filters, a spokesman for the city's construction and safety department.
In Lorenzo, there.
The strength filter is in place and the developer has installed the new filter, "with a larger surface area to accommodate existing equipment," Napier said ".
Napier said he was not aware of any other projects involved in construction and safety.
MP Huizar said he hopes the city's latest filtering rules will improve things by making this a unified baseline regulation rather than a caseby-case condition.
He asked city staff to provide data on the progress of air filtration standards and said "we all want to ensure that the plan is being implemented . ".
"The Los Angeles Building and Safety inspector Department reviews the building plan and verifies the air
The filter criteria are "in the whole project until final checks are included," Napier said ".
But there is no record of whether the city is high.
Grade air filters are installed just like other health and safety features like smoke detectors are installed.
"There is no form set up to check the box where the filter is absolutely installed," Napier said . ".
"We are building a boom right now.
Recording every little thing we approve can backfire.
"The city will not take the following actions unless a complaint is received
Frank Bush, general manager of construction and safety, said checking whether air filters are being maintained and replaced because there is no requirement for building codes.
"If we receive complaints, we will take action, but we will not take proactive action," Bush said.
Mayor Garcetti said he supports a mandatory "check box" to track whether the promised air filter is being installed.
"If they don't, it's going to be an easy fix," Garcetti said . ".
"It's not a sink, it's a health issue, so it should be the most important.
"The new filter standard will not help 600,000 people, analyzed by the US times on 2010S.
Census data showed that it was within 1,000 feet of the Los Angeles highway.
One of them is Victor Johnson, 61, who has three air
His filter machine.
The bedroom apartment is about 300 feet from Studio City's 101 highway.
He said his air quality has not improved much.
He accused him of persistent health problems, including chronic headaches, colds, inflammation, and high blood pressure, which were caused by pollution, leaving a layer of black dust on his shelves and counters.
"Three filters, and this super
It's a fine black powder, "Johnson said.
"I worry about my lungs.
I can handle the embarrassment of the furniture getting dirty with dust.
But I don't want to have the same problem as the coal miners.
* MERV 6: New home standards in California;
* MERV 13: New House standard within 1,000 feet of Los Angeles highway.
Minimum Efficiency Report value (MERV)
Is the size of the industry that measures the effectiveness of air filters.
Source: Los Angeles, USA. S.
University of California, Riverside, environmental protection bureau, South Coast Air Quality Management Area.
The Times staff writers Chris Keller, Jon Schles and David chanesel contributed to the report. tony. Balvasa @ latimes.
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