The Pasadena Star News reports that hundreds of area residents filled the Church of the Angels in in San Rafael Wednesday night to send a unified message to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro): No 710 extension here, or anywhere.
Metro and the California Department of Transportation are that would extend the 710 freeway beyond its northern terminus in Alhambra and connect it to the 210 freeway in Pasadena.
There are proposed routes that would run through Glassell Park and Mount Washington, Garvanza and San Rafael, and South Pasadena and El Sereno.
On Wednesday night, residents said they would stand together to oppose all those routes, not just the ones that impacted their own community.
SRNA President Ron Paler said the goal of the meeting was to encourage residents to continue activism against all routes for a possible 710 Freeway extension from Alhambra to Pasadena, not just the two that would cut through the San Rafael neighborhood.
“We want to ensure that people stay engaged in this issue,” Paler said. “We are not relenting on this issue. We want the 710 freeway issue buried completely.”
Wednesday night's meeting came on the heels of a letter written by Sierra Madre representative Assemblymember Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada) to Caltrans, criticizing the department's lack of transparency in their efforts to complete the 710 extension.
In the letter, Portantino also criticized Caltrans for what he saw as an effort to divide communities over the 710 issue.
From the Letter:
As more information is revealed about the current Metro SR 710 Study, community after community is coming forward and speaking in a united and heated voice: "We don't want this extension." Never before has there been this much opposition from so many communities. The public backlash has been so strong that some policy makers are endeavoring to split the coalition of communities by suggesting that one route might be more preferable than another. This is planning at its worst.
On Friday, the 710 issue will be aired again when the Los Angeles City Council to officially oppose five of the proposed Metro/Caltrans routes.
The Los Angeles City Council will take place on Friday, August 24 at 10 a.m. inside City Hall Room 304 at 201 N. Spring St.
