Living in the Past

I've already harped on talked about the 710 freeway extension. I'm about to do so again. I will try to be entertaining (woohoo! cars! fumes! circus music!) but my feelings will not be hurt if you click away. Please come back tomorrow for silliness.

To recap: Caltrans, its proverbial finger on the proverbial pulse, thought now would be a good time to push ahead with an ancient plan.

OMG, we said, or letters to that effect.

Could we unite behind a presidential candidate? Could we unite over a sports team? Could we unite over so much as a flavor of ice cream? No.

However, nobody, but nobody wants a 710 freeway extension. We don't want it so fiercely that we are practically up in arms against it. Even local governments are involved in the fight.

For a moment it looked like Caltrans (finger to pulse) thought a tunnel under our communities might be some kind of cheery compromise, but yesterday the news broke: I first read it from Elise Kalfayan of Glendale's The Sunroom Desk. Lauren Gold also had the story at the Pasadena Star-News. The Los Angeles Transportation Committee, as Gold reports, "unanimously approved a resolution to oppose the F-7 tunnel route for the proposed 710 Freeway extension."

This is good.

Today at 10 am at City Hall, 200 N. Spring Street in Los Angeles, the LA City Council is scheduled to review and vote on a resolution opposing all six alternative freeway routes. You can go to this meeting. You are encouraged to show up and express your views. The more the merrier, and the better chance of showing Caltrans and the State of California that there are more forward-thinking ways to spend taxpayer money than on outdated concepts like freeways. The idea is so old fashioned that by the time a proposed 710 extension is finished, we'd be able to teleport goods from Long Beach to the Panama Canal.

If the resolution passes at today's City Council meeting, that doesn't guarantee that Caltrans will be stopped. Caltrans is like a chicken with its head cut off--it just keeps on running around in circles, even without a brain. The "No 710 Freeway Extension" group on Facebook grows every day. Feel free to join up.

Freeways have served their purpose, but here in the 21st century where you and I live they represent a disappearing, unenlightened age. They've already gone through Pasadena. They've already divided our city. They've already destroyed homes, businesses and neighborhoods. It's time to move on.

No Build Anywhere

Hey kids! Let's put on our poodle skirts and saddle shoes! It's the 1950's again and Caltrans wants to build a freeway!

Let's go Retro!

"Stop 710 through San Rafael area."
"Stop 710 Through Avenue 64."

I'm pretty sure you'll find similar wording on signs in El Sereno, South Pasadena, and Highland Park. Perhaps Caltrans thought they could divide and conquer, but folks are wising up. The sign I saw today at the 134 San Rafael Avenue off-ramp said, "710 NO BUILD ANYWHERE.

I took the above photo facing north on Avenue 64 at 5:09:46 pm on August 15th. That's rush hour on a Wednesday. Obviously we're getting along fine without a 710 freeway extension and the Pasadena City Council seems to agree. That's because this freeway extension, so close to the Arroyo Seco (where the Rose Bowl stadium sits), would ruin much more than Avenue 64. Pasadena property values? Not!

Even our State Assemblyman doesn't want this thing. Nobody wants a 710 freeway extension except shipping companies, and they don't live here.

But seriously, folks, is Caltrans really considering a freeway? Are they really not talking about a faster, less-polluting, light rail system for transporting goods from the port of Los Angeles? Is everybody who works at Caltrans still rolling their non-filter cigarette packs up in their t-shirt sleeves? Wearing coonskin hats? Combing their hair into a ducktail while they shake their hula-hoops?

What century is this?

If you'd like to add your voice, you can join the No 710 Freeway Extension Facebook Page. Please feel free to leave other links and suggestions in the comments.

And speaking of outdated schemes: tomorrow is the last day for public comment (until 5pm) regarding Pasadena's "Multi-Benefit/Multi-Use" Project Initial Study (aka, "building a soccer field in Hahamongna watershed"). Here's a toolkit to help you register your comments. It takes only a few minutes and your words matter.