Monterey Park is one of 14 California cities that have not switched over to electric use equipment and vehicles.

That’s information from a presentation by the South Coast Air Quality Management District at a recent Monterey Park City Council.

A representative from the South Coast AQMD, Michael Cacciotti, said going electric is essential for cities and other government agencies.

Cacciotti, a council member for the city of South Pasadena, said he wants to help move communities from using gas equipment to electric work equipment and cars.

Cacciotti explained the effects of air pollution and where it comes from.

Fuel used for airplanes, Metrolink trains, and public cargo ships comes from oil that pollutes the ocean and the air people breathe.

Code red level pollution from particulate matter goes “through your blood brain barrier and lodges in your organs, but that small ultra fine mark is even farther because deep into our organs may sit there for 10-20 years,” Cacciotti said. As you inhale these particulates, your respiratory system gets affected, and can cause cardiovascular metabolic disease, increased cancer risk, cognitive physics.  

AQMD is pushing policies that give hefty discounts — some up to 85% — to residents for energy-saving devices or tools that lower air pollutants such as off-road equipment, lawn mowers and weed whackers. Cacciotti said he has helped Glendale and other cities pass these laws to address pollution.

Pollution has declined from 1992 to 2010, he said.

“In 2012, it was bad since we were using air toxins, metal with the cars, but in…now we’re getting a lot better and people are transitioning to electric, compressed natural gas and the hydrogen fuel cell,” Cacciotti said.

The only catch is you have to turn in your old polluting gas equipment and you have up to two weeks to return the item if you’re not a fan.

“This battery…will last anywhere from four to eight years,” Cacciotti added. “You just have to plug it in” instead of wasting several hundred gallons of gas and hundreds of pints of oil.

AQMD also hopes to replace police cars with electric police vehicles like Tesla model Y pursuit and Tesla model 3 detective vehicles to reduce pollution that comes from gas-fueled cars.

“This is important to our city. The city council identified this problem and that’s why we are having it. I’m a part of a climate change program, so knowing that Michael is trying to do good about the air-pollution problem makes me happy since we are trying to get Monterey Park on the map as the other cities who have been using his products already,” said Jessica Serrano, the city’s director of Community Development.

Cacciotti said he is determined to help reduce air pollution: “Think of your city…a part where there’s no pollution…The kids are playing soccer out there, especially kids with asthma. It’s more than a city, it’s for the people in the long-run.”

Work on the project continues and is still being considered by the city council of Monterey Park.