At a contentious community forumon Monday, August 6, residents of Highland Park demanded to know where Councilmember José Huizar stood on the proposed extension of State Route 710 through their community.
Nate Hayward, a field deputy who spoke on Huizar's behalf at the meeting, said the Councilmember was opposed to any surface route option. However, he said Huizar was still waiting to take a public stance on the proposed tunnels.
On Friday, August 17, SR-710 opponents got a clearer picture of where Huizar stood on the issue, as the Councilmember introduced a resolution that calls on the City Council to oppose five of Metro's proposed extensions routes.
"Of Metro’s 12 remaining options, the Freeway and Highway alternatives would have detrimental impacts on the communities they would go through. Therefore, I categorically oppose the following routes: H-2, H-6, F-2, F-5, and F-6," Huizar wrote in an e-mail to constituents.
The motion calls also on the City Council to oppose any above ground routes.
Metro and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) are currently undergoing their latest attempt to attain a valid Environmental Impact Report for their plans to extend Interstate-710 beyond its northern terminus in Alhambra and connect it to the SR-210 in Pasadena.
The study has been narrowed down to 12 options, which in addition to rail and bus options, include several freeway and highway routes that would potentially be built through or below the communities of Garvanza, Mount Washington, Glassell Park, El Sereno, South Pasadena and Pasadena.
Huizar's motion calls for the City Council to oppose all of Metro's currently proposed freeway and highway routes, save for one, F-7, which is a tunnel that would be built beneath the city of South Pasadena.
"These routes would not link communities, they would destroy them," Huizar added in the letter.
Chris Smith, the President of the Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council and a member of the No 710 on Avenue 64 group, said he believed that Huizar's motion was a "good start," but that he hoped the resolution would eventually include language opposing all underground routes as well.
Several phone calls to Huizar's office were not returned regarding the resolution.
ElSereno (part of CD14) opposes even that and has a position that a new concept can solve many traffic problems but requirees a lot of teeth but could benefit LACity and western SanGabriel jobs, small-med contractors and the real people of the "710 Corridor". Huizar is only repeating 2009 using the few teeth he has courage to use...and where is the Boss-AV???
See?
On the other hand, South Pas gets all the benefits of the L.A. economy and doesn't want to bear any of the burden. Now THAT's NIMByism. Bottom Line? South Pas has been running this "environmental" game for decades now - at the expense of communities that actually suffer real health and traffic implications.
Of course, this controversy has also been simmering for more than thirty years, so this is likely just another grandstanding political move as the can gets kicked down the road once more.
The 710/210 is a freeway 97% built. It needs to be completed. On the other hand bulldozing a wonderful community to build a freeway over it is unconscionable. The tunnel solution through the shortest route solves both problems. Completes the freeway and leaves the community above ground mostly intact. Start digging already.
Freeways. 21st Century Thinking: Rail Besides the freight issue, Caltrans is working with the supposition that freeways (in this case it's a Tollway costing between $5 and $10 each way) reduce congestion. In fact, the opposite is coming true. With the finishing of the 210 Freeway came unbelievable congestion. A once easy to navigate freeway has turned into a parking lot and brought congestion all the way down the 134 to Bob Hope Drive and all the way East to Irwindale and Glendora. Build a environmentally sound "green" rail line and you get hardly any pollution, a dedicate route to move freight on, and by Metro's own data 90,000truck trips a day off the roads. Now that, relieves congestion. False supposition - Roads and freeways are more valuable then communities and neighborhoods. False Supposition - Roads and freeways are more valuable then the environment and air quality. False Supposition - Freeways are of progress and of the future. The younger generation values open space, air quality, and community way more then the speed of getting around. They're looking to live in apartments and communities rather then suburbs. They ride bikes and walk and are actively choosing these methods of transportation over cars. the choose family over long hours driving and at work. This freeway is not about making LA a better place. It's not about relieving congestion. It's about bringing Chinese goods from the Ports of LA and Long Beach inland.
There are more than a few legitimate, rationale & logical reasons to object and to deny the extension in any form and in any direction. Many of these arguments are well stated in comments above. There is one, however, that needs to be brought out in the open: This entire argument is not about 20th centuiry ideas vs. 21st century ideas; it is not about the many environmental issues; nor is it about the quality of life of all those throughout the region who would be so negatively affected. Although all of these should be discussed and Metro, Cal-Trans & Huizar should be made to clearly explain why they give but slight acknowledgment to these arguments. No, this is about politics, hard core politics--and it always has been. EVERY elected representative of El Sereno and N.E, L.A. has, since first proposed, been in strong support of this montrosity. This issue is about the ports and it is about money--$$$. Follow the money and you will find those who support the freeway. Jose Huizar is just another in a long list of representatives who would sell out his community for the political power and money his 710 decision will give him. I have long argued that this issue is a regional issue & not a local one. I have also long argued that the community of El Sereno as we now know it will cease to exist if the 710 is built in any form or in any direction.
That's elementary transportation planning. It was planned, it was 97% built. It needs to be finished and the straight tunnel solution is the least destructive. It's the last piece of freeway we need to finish in LA. No other freeway related project deserves funding compared to this. No sound walls, no freeway widenings, nothing. The career NIMBYists who oppose it are the same people who oppose any public work project in their back yard including mass transit. They talk about alternative transportation and they drive their cars to the 710 meetings. Usually I'm the only one who gets there by bicycle. And yes it shouldn't be a political issue. It's a technical issue. People who are trained in urban planning, transportation planning, geology and engineering should be designing it instead of letting every Dick & Harry including myself comment on where and how to build a tunnel. Good thing we didn't make the Mars expedition design their mission based on public comment. What a waste...
An above ground option would destroy hundreds of historical homes and a beautiful community and I and many others have always opposed it. Huizar is supporting the under Pasadena tunnel because: #1 it's the only realistic option (the options to tunnel to the 605 or the 2 etc was some bizarre PR attempt to "consider all options" that blew up in CalTrans face by freaking out and uniting NIMBYists across the region) #2 It would benefit us, his constituents of downtown and NELA by diverting non local traffic to where it belongs. #3 He gets to collect millions in contributions from labor and big time contractors who will build the darn thing.
I might quibble with the order, and note that lots of (ahem, non-white) neighborhoods with histories have been destroyed by freeways, including Huizar's "native" Boyle Heights. Which I suppose cuts both ways now that he reps El Sereno.
South Pasadena is right. (I am a resident of Highland Park).
http://highlandpark-ca.patch.com/articles/huizar-motion-opposing-all-710-routes-passed-by-committee-heads-to-council