Press

Long Beach residents can expect to see some construction with the new Shoreline Drive Gateway project. Congressman Robert Garcia announced on Tuesday that the U.S.

Members of Congress asked the federal government to help clean up toxic lead contamination from a former battery recycling plant outside Los Angeles.

Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla joined Long Beach Rep. Robert Garcia in appealing Thursday to the Environmental Protection Agency for help with the former Exide Technologies plant cleanup, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Amid California’s long struggle to hold an industrial polluter accountable and remove lead contamination from neighborhoods southeast of downtown Los Angeles, members of Congress are now calling on the federal Environmental Protection Agency to assist in the troubled cleanup of areas surrounding the closed Exide battery recycling plant — the largest and most costly effort in California history.

Rep. Robert Garcia, the Long Beach democrat who recently finished two terms as the city’s mayor, has helped secure a $30 million federal grant to support a massive reconfiguration of West Shoreline Drive — which will add green space in the area.

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The 51st Street Greenbelt is just one example of the city’s efforts to increase access to green space along the 710 Freeway.

This week, the city received a $30 million federal grant that will help realign Shoreline Drive in Downtown and add acres of usable green space to Cesar Chavez Park, which is currently split up by the northbound lanes that feed into the 710. The grant was secured by Rep. Robert Garcia from the United States Department of Transportation’s new pilot program aimed at reconnecting communities.