Chrome Crankshaft Company

A group of Bell Gardens residents who believe a local chrome-plating plant has contaminated the neighborhood with deadly toxins announced Tuesday that they are suing the company and demanded that public officials ensure the safety of the area. Neighbors and community organizers contend that hazardous chemicals produced at Chrome Crankshaft have sunk into the ground water and polluted the two schools next door, causing an elevated risk of cancer and other health problems.

Mary Saucedo was giving an old neighborhood friend a ride home one afternoon last summer in Bell Gardens. They hadn't seen each other in years, and the woman inquired about Saucedo's three sons. I only have two now, Saucedo responded quietly. My youngest, Joseph, died of cancer two years ago. The woman was startled by the coincidence. I just lost my nephew to cancer, she said. Didn't your son go to Suva Elementary School like my nephew?

Mary Saucedo was giving an old neighborhood friend a ride home one afternoon last summer in Bell Gardens. They hadn't seen each other in years, and the woman inquired about Saucedo's three sons. I only have two now, Saucedo responded quietly. My youngest, Joseph, died of cancer two years ago. The woman was startled by the coincidence. I just lost my nephew to cancer, she said. Didn't your son go to Suva Elementary School like my nephew?

A group of Bell Gardens residents who believe a local chrome-plating plant has contaminated the neighborhood with deadly toxins announced Tuesday that they are suing the company and demanded that public officials ensure the safety of the area. Neighbors and community organizers contend that hazardous chemicals produced at Chrome Crankshaft have sunk into the ground water and polluted the two schools next door, causing an elevated risk of cancer and other health problems.

Residents gathered Tuesday to celebrate the cleanup of a chrome-plating facility where state officials found high levels of toxic pollutants next door to an elementary school. Seven months after it suspended operations, Chrome Crankshaft Co. officially shut down its chrome-plating function this week as part of a cleanup plan ordered by the Department of Toxic Substance Control.