We citizens of West Covina and Covina say No to the building of a 24-hour Amazon holding center at 1211 E. Badillo St, West Covina, CA, 91790, previously occupied by Faith Community Church. The building of this warehouse in the middle of a residential area threatens the safety, peace, traffic, and children in our cities. 

1. The property is surrounded by housing on the Lark Ellen side, San Bernardino side, Vincent Side, and an elementary school on the Badillo side. 

     A. The increased noise threatens the peace and well-being of near-by residents, many of whom are seniors and/or have children. A 24-hour delivery warehouse with constant movement of trucks loading and unloading will create significant noise pollution for these residents, many of whom have medical conditions.

     B. Grovecenter Elementary School sits on the corner of Lark Ellen and Badillo. Many children walk to and from school. With the number of accidents already occurring in that intersection and the current traffic we already experience, can Amazon and the City guarantee the safety of our children as they commute to school?

2. Amazon plans to use Cutter Way as a drive-route for their delivery trucks, installing a light on San Bernardino at Cutter Way.

     A. Las Palmas Middle School has an entrance on Cutter Way. With  trucks and private contracted delivery vans driving in and out of this street, can Amazon and the City guarantee the safety of our children who attend Las Palmas?

3. Amazon warehouses have a high employee turnover rate, at 150%. This means Amazon warehouse employees have no loyalty to the company or their job, so there will be a constant influx of new people flooding into West Covina and Covina.

     A. 40 employee cars will be entering the site and 106 employee cars will be leaving the site between 7am and 7pm. 89 employee cars will be entering the site and 23 employee cars will be leaving the site between the hours of 10pm and 7am. Can Amazon and the City guarantee the safety of the citizens with this huge influx of warehouse workers coming and going at all hours of the day and night?

4. The property is not near any freeways. The I-210 is 3 miles from the property and the I-10 is 1.5 miles from the property. This means the delivery trucks and employee vehicles will be using Lark Ellen, Vincent, and surrounding streets to commute to and from their destinations, dramatically increasing traffic in the cities of West Covina and Covina.

     A. 142 delivery vans will be leaving the site between 10am and 11:30am at a rate of 36 vans every 20 minutes.

     B. An additional 45 traditional passenger vans will be entering the cite between 4:30 and 6pm, and will be loading and departing every 15 minutes. Traffic in the city at this time is already congested.

     C. 142 vans would be returning to the site between 7pm and 10pm, as well as 127 drivers who will be leaving the site in their personal vehicles between 7pm and 10pm. This will create noise pollution when most working people and children are sleeping or getting ready to go to sleep.

5. "Amazon’s warehouse boom linked to health hazards in America’s most polluted region" according to The Guardian, published 15 April 2021 regarding the boom of these warehouses in the Inland Empire. We do not want to suffer the same fate!

     A. Data shows the increase in delivery trucks and traffic will also create an increase in air pollution, creating health hazards to the most vulnerable in our city like children, the elderly, and the immunocompromised. 

     B. From the article, "While the expansion of warehouses has brought jobs to a region that has long suffered from high unemployment rates, advocates say the environmental consequences have been severe and that the jobs are sometimes hazardous or exploitative."

     C. From the article, "While some industry representatives have warned of potential job losses due to increased costs of business, Martinez pointed out that the air quality district estimates that the rule would result in 150 to 300 fewer deaths, as many as 5,800 fewer asthma attacks, and up to 20,000 fewer missed work days between 2022 and 2031. The public health benefits could save $2.7bn, according to the agency’s recent report." Again, we do not want to suffer the same fate and we say NO to Amazon's 24-hour holding facility in West Covina.

Building this kind of industrial facility in our city sets a precedent that takes away from the residential nature of our community and invites in Big Business at a cost to the residents of the city. The threat to our air quality, peace, safety, traffic, and community well-being is too high a cost to pay for a 24-hour Amazon Holding Facility to be built in our city. We, the residents of West Covina and neighboring city, Covina, say NO to Amazon's 24-hour holding facility at 1211 E. Badillo St, West Covina, CA 91790.