Posted on 04/26/2014 1:59:44 PM PDT by jazusamo
Let me state my bias up front. I like hot sauce.
I like it on eggs. I like it in ramen. I like it on stir-fry dishes and Mexican food, and I don't think you can honestly call yourself a Californian if you're not a hot sauce lover.
And so I went to Irwindale last week to investigate the Sriracha sauce standoff. As you may have heard, city officials are waging battle against the manufacturer, responding to citizen complaints that jalapeño-scented air blowing out of the hot sauce plant can irritate your throat and make your eyes water, especially during the late summer, which is pepper-grinding season.
Let me tell you one more thing. I like Irwindale, even if it did draft an ill-advised resolution declaring the Sriracha plant a public nuisance. And let's be honest: You won't hear a lot of people say they like the tiny industry-rich San Gabriel town of 1,400, which is perhaps not the prettiest place on earth unless you find warehouses, business parks, a dog food factory and rock quarries attractive.
But Irwindale does things in its own fashion, as do many little L.A. County burgs that have little reason to exist other than for local lords to belly up to the trough of robust commerce. If nothing else, such towns keep headline writers employed.
Irwindale, for example, blew $20 million trying to woo the Raiders. A public official in the town was once indicted for rigging an election, and there are those who think that even today ballots should be checked to see if the voters are still among the living. In a delicious caper in the 1970s, a mayor was drugged with spiked enchiladas and then photographed in compromising positions with a nude woman as part of a blackmail plot...
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Yeah as SO Cal resident I could tell you they cant get Gangstra NFL team like Raiders into Irwindale back in da day LOL!
I can believe that. I wonder if they have ever heard of the onions, garlic and tomato processing plants. Whoo, there are some pretty bad smells there.
Exactly right. :)
LMAO am I right about Raiders
Hey there is rumor going around that Raiders may come back to Los Angeles also San Diego Chargers may beat them to that LOL!
Maybe Irwindale politicians will go after the Raiders again if they don’t run all their industry out of town before it happens. LOL!
I would submit that people need to be considerate neighbors.
If I was doing something that created discomfort for my neighbor, I would be approached to stop it. Why shouldn't I be?
It is reasoned that the byproducts of hot sauce production could cause severe discomfort to neighbors if the emissions were not handled properly.
I don't want to see a business come under attack unfairly. It is entirely reasoned to see a business be a good neighbor just like anyone else.
People living in the area should not see their air so badly affected that their homes become unlivable, and their property values be destroyed.
There has to be some reason, and I would advocate that for both sides.
Now, the hot sauce premise. Strangely, I as a Caucasian have a high tolerance for hot sauce. I can often take a lot more heat that a person of Hispanic ancestry. Does that mean they are not true Californians?
I don't care for statements like the one I highlighted above. It makes the writer look like a moron right out of the gate.
The old guy’s manufacturing facility was originally in Rosemead but they grew so much that he JUUUUUST opened this much bigger one in Irwindale.
And now they’re giving this poor guy FREAKING HELL.
He spent alllll that money and now they’re going to destroy him.
Check out the movie, “Sriracha” —shows the whole company. The CEO is a really great guy and started from absolutely NOTHING.
He was literally spooning the stuff in to bottles with a common kitchen spoon, one bottle at a time.
I hope he simply up and leaves California all together.
Back in my youth, we’d have loved a Sriracha plant in town. We had to settle for a copper smelter putting out SO2. Actually, it smelled like next week’s paycheck as people would say.
Sriracha smell complaints began with Irwindale councilman's son
There’s many area’s that would love to have him relocate to and out of CA would be a wise choice if it comes to that.
They make Malt-o-meal in a factory in Northfield Mn. Man does that town smell nice.
“I hope he simply up and leaves California all together.”
And why would he do that when his long-time source for his peppers is located in adjoining Ventura County? LA County has a proliferation of little “$hitball Cities” like Irwindale (Bell, Vernon, Industry, Commerce, Cudahy, you name them), that are little fiefdoms of good old-fashioned political corruption that has nothing to do with California’s overall political climate (which it is evident you hate). Tran will likely move, but not out of the state. My bet is that he will move closer to his pepper farmer, which is what he should have done in the first place when he needed a larger facility. Irwindale lured him with there money, and now they are trying to squeeze him. Good luck with that! Siriacha is a one of a kind product!
Well, it does seem that some folks are having a problem with it. I can’t account for who first reported it, or who says they can’t smell anything.
As an older person, my nose isn’t near as sensitive as it used to be. My former wife’s nose was far more sensitive.
Air currents can also distort the area of problematic concentrations of fumes. Perhaps the air rises from the plant due to the heat of the exhaust air, and comes down a distance away, where prevailing winds send it most of the time.
The inherent ingredients of the chilies seems to be a larger problem than beer or dog food ingredients. I wouldn’t expect dog food or beer to be able to be used for pepper spray or the like. Chili particulates probable could.
It doesn’t seem like the neighbors would have to be your typical problematic complainers to have a problem here.
I agree with this, but honestly I’d hope it wouldn’t come to that. Didn’t I read that they increased production levels considerably over recent years? Perhaps that’s why it has become a bigger problem in recent years.
YouTube trailer for the Sriracha MOVIE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=-EUIov_eK2Y#t=46
Yes, they increased production when they moved to Irwindale from Rosemead because they ran out of room there.
He’s been working on a filtering system and I personally think they’ll take care of the odor and stay in Irwindale but right now it’s anyone’s guess.
Right, Mr. Lopez. There really are some weird right-wing kook conspiracy believers who actually that the pure, angelic Dems would cast a dead person's vote. It's laughable, isn't it? Who's ever heard of such a wacky idea?
Now back to your regularly schedule program about sriracha sauce.
Jim, I tell ya, you ain’t lived until you’ve been in a town with a kraft pulp mill. There’s nothing in the world like the aroma of black liquor.
If Irwindale doesn’t want them, Texas will be happy to take them.
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