SAN BRUNO, Calif. — This Saturday, San Bruno’s Belle Air Elementary School was alive with energy. Crowds weaved between information booths, car-owners chatted next to decked-out electric vehicles, and toddlers and grandparents alike wiped dirt from their hands after planting seeds in a gardening workshop.
The excitement was part of the first-ever San Bruno Resilience Fair, hosted by local environmental advocacy group Resilient San Bruno with support from the larger nonprofit Climate Resilient Communities.
The event included 18 tables offering community information, six different activities like yoga and art, and 46 raffle prizes, including an e-bike that kept participants holding onto their ticket stubs until the final moments of the event.
Tom Hamilton, a San Bruno city council member and a founding member of the Resilient San Bruno group, said the goal of the event was to create a space where community members could learn about climate resiliency and get resources from across the county.
“A lot of what needs to be done is for people to understand what the risks are and how to be prepared,” Hamilton said. “We have people from all over the county to talk about things like extreme heat, flooding, wildfires… There’s all kinds of different climate-related problems that can affect San Bruno and disproportionately affect this area here in [Belle Air].”
Holding the event in the Belle Air was key. It’s well acknowledged that the neighborhood bears more than its fair share of environmental burdens– the neighborhood sits right underneath SFO Airport and is framed by the Caltrain tracks and freeways 380 and 101. It also contains a PG&E power station and an aging waterway infrastructure that has been known to flood during storms and king tide events in recent years.
In 2021, an analysis by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment identified the Belle Air neighborhood as a disadvantaged community. It also ranked the neighborhood in the 94th percentile for pollution burden, 96th percentile for traffic exposure, and 97th percentile for groundwater threat. “This is why we founded [Resilient San Bruno] and why it’s based here,” Hamilton said. “This is the area of San Bruno that needs it most.”
Putting the event together was no small feat. Resilient San Bruno chair Nicole Hanhan said it required an entire team of community partners and volunteers, lots of outreach and months of planning.
But the pay-off was worth it. “I was just observing everyone and I saw how excited the kids were, and the teenagers and the families that were going from table to table, and the engagement and learning about pollution,” Hanhan recalled as the activities wrapped up. “People want to be here, and that’s what was really heartwarming.”
Participants said they hoped the fair would make a return in the future and organizers like Hanhan felt optimistic about the possibility.
“I just feel the presence of [Resilient San Bruno] in the community more and more,” said Hanhan as the event came to a close. “I’m so excited to see where this is going.”
