The rise of online shopping has fueled unprecedented growth in the warehousing industry.
In Southern California’s Inland Empire, cheap real estate has attracted families looking for more affordable housing, as well as warehouse developers seeking land to build new shipping hubs. But these sprawling industrial complexes, opponents say, have harmful effects on the environment, economy, health, and culture of the communities where they are located.
Aryana Noroozi, a CatchLight Local Fellow and visual journalist at Black Voice News, spent 18 months documenting planning meetings, worker protests, truck stops and homes that were later demolished, homing in on the unincorporated community of Bloomington, California.
I attempted to capture the essence of what’s at stake so we can understand what the community is losing and what they’re gaining from these developments.
“This reporting is a culmination of photographs made in collaboration with community members who graciously let me into their lives,” said Noroozi. “I attempted to capture the essence of what’s at stake so we can understand what the community is losing and what they’re gaining from these developments.”
Between Progress and Preservation: A Visual Narrative of the Impact of Warehouse Development in the Inland Empire
By Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News
After 43 years in their Bloomington home, John and Beverly Knippel sold their home to make way for construction of the Bloomington Business Park, a planned 2.1 million-square-foot warehouse. The Knippels were among more than 100 other homeowners who decided to sell to warehouse developers.
We had to face everybody else who would then come up in all these [community] meetings, saying that we were traitors.
“Virtually everybody involved in this [selling their homes] was planning on being there until they died. So a lot of us had to make a pretty heavy decision,” said John. “Then we had to face everybody else who would then come up in all these [community] meetings, saying that we were traitors.”
Gem Montes, a longtime Inland Empire resident and public health advocate, started a program called The Air I Breathe, which engages local students to help collect air pollution data in high-traffic areas near warehouses. The students record the air quality around them by wearing electronic monitors.
The environmental and public health impacts of warehouses and trucking
By Alex Reed for Black Voice News
While Bloomington resident, Carolina Verduzco, advocates for environmental and cultural preservation in the Inland Empire, she says she is not against the logistics industry, but rather the reckless way that it has come into her community.
“If we don’t build a relationship with a lot of these developers, they don’t have to negotiate because they know after so many legal battles, it’s going to happen,” said Verduzco. “The people that are being offered a million dollars or 700 [thousand dollars] for their homes, I’m not mad at them for selling their property because they have been neglected for such a long time by the county. I mean, we have no sidewalks. There’s no streetlights,” she said.
Banner Image:
A Bloomington resident rides his horse on an open field next to a warehouse on April 11, 2023. A portion of the Bloomington Business Park Specific Plan will be built on this plot of land. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)