Barrio Logan’s multicolor murals at Chicano Park tell the story of the Chicano struggle. The residents of this poorer neighborhood in San Diego fought for it back in the seventies, and they now consider it the umbilical chord of this community, where 20,000 Latinos live right next to the factories and shops of the city’s maritime industry. The residents of Barrio Logan say their higher-than-average asthma rates are due to the factories that have bordered the neighborhood. Some argue it’s a case of environmental racism against San Diego’s poorer Latinos. Barrio Logan got re-zoned by city authorities to make it fully residential, but the maritime industry has lobbied for a referendum that would overturn the ban. Sandhya Dirks reports on the dispute between workers and industry executives and the residents of Barrio Logan. 

Sandhya Dirks covers city news and politics for radio, TV, and online as KPBS’ Metro reporter. She focuses not just on the political horserace, but on how policies affect people in the community. Prior to joining the KPBS Newsroom, Sandhya worked at Iowa Public Radio, where she covered the 2012 presidential campaign for that key state as well as state politics.

Photo courtesy of Sandhya Dirks