> Caltrans has relinquished the 50-plus acres, known as the North 710 Stub, back to the City of Pasadena. This presents a new opportunity for the City of Pasadena to repurpose this land. (Read Part 2 and Part 3)
Press conference, May 28, 2015 (File Photo – Beyondthe710.org)
The Fight of South Pasadena, Pasadena, Glendale, La Cañada, and Sierra Madre.
By Marina Khubesrian
Repurposing the land south and north of the formerly planned SR-710 extension is a key feature of Beyond the 710, Moving Forward, New Initiative for Mobility and Community (BT7 Alternative). This alternative plan was developed by the Beyond the 710 Coalition led by city leaders from the five cities of South Pasadena, Pasadena, Glendale, La Cañada and Sierra Madre. The Coalition was founded in the Fall of 2014.
In 2014, I was Mayor of South Pasadena, a city known for a long-standing 710 Freeway fight which began in 1947. The support for the Tunnel’s approval was gaining momentum, and on its way through the Metro administered Environmental Impact Report (EIR) process as the locally preferred alternative. After a long, meandering legal path through several route variations, the SR-710 freeway was still on the State’s Highway Code and on the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) Regional Transportation Plan’s project list with $780 million in available Measure R funds being leveraged for additional private investor funds.
Legal battles waged on with the City of Alhambra and Caltrans to complete the planned freeway intended to continue northward of Valley Boulevard to Pasadena. The City of South Pasadena was politically isolated and the sole vote opposing the Tunnel (out of 35) at the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments (SGVCOG). The prevailing sentiment on the South Pasadena City Council was that the City of South Pasadena was going to have to rely on activists’ protest tactics and lawsuits to fight the freeway yet again, after decades of costly litigation and political isolation.
This time around, the freeway route was 150 feet underground in a tunnel that would bypass South Pasadena’s surface streets and historic structures, thereby partially mitigating the impacts that had halted the surface route. At the regional transportation agencies, the San Gabriel cities lacked sufficient representation at every level of decision making. Leadership on this issue had been relegated to committed activists and protest tactics who had threatened to campaign against Metro’s transportation funding measures and hunkered down in a culture of animus toward Caltrans, Metro and the vast majority of the San Gabriel Valley cities.
In 2014, the political landscape seemed rather bleak, and the outcome of South Pasadena’s continued fight against the SR-710 freeway was almost guaranteed to be unfavorable. The City of Pasadena, the largest city to be affected by the Tunnel’s north portal emissions, officially supported the Tunnel. There also was strong support for the Tunnel by organized labor, at a time when job creation was a priority consideration by decision makers.
I did not want to see another decade of contentious lawsuits that would merely prolong the conflict. I thought, “Isn’t there another way whereby the region could come together for its own collective benefit?” Following this train of thought, I solicited advice from the City’s legislative consultant and former State Assembly leader, Mike Roos, as well as senior city leaders including Bill Bogaard and Harry and Clarice Knapp.
It became clear that South Pasadena needed to work closely with its allies to offer a better alternative to the San Gabriel Valley, Metro, and Caltrans. My fellow councilmembers were skeptical that a diplomatic initiative to engage the region in a robust debate of the Draft EIR findings and alternatives would resolve the decades-long conflict and spare us a legal filing.
Luckily, I had the support of senior city staff, who were eager to support a political solution. We embarked on a mission to change hearts and minds. We saw the potential to ease decades of political tensions with neighboring cities and encourage cooperation on issues of mutual interest beyond the 710.
Marina Khubesrian, M.D. is a San Gabriel Valley based physician, and a former councilwoman and Mayor of South Pasadena.
■ PART 2: Beyond the 710 – A Vision Shapes Up
■ PART 3: Beyond the 710 – New Possibilities
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