South Pasadena Opponents of 710 Freeway Are at It Again

There are more than half a dozen San Gabriel Valley communities that are forced to use jammed north and south streets because the holier-than-thou city of South Pasadena has blocked completion of the 710 Freeway for 30 years.

For 30 years, South Pasadena has been kicking sand in the faces of residents from Monterey Park, Alhambra, San Gabriel, Pasadena, Monrovia and Arcadia. These cities have committed portions within their boundaries to provide freeways to all travelers, including our non-reciprocating neighbors in South Pasadena.

Once more these separatists are campaigning with distortions, political threats and megabucks to keep the 710 Freeway out of their back yard for another 30 years.

Their mayor pro tem’s (Evelyn Fierro) letter to the editor Aug. 3 should serve as a red flag to all San Gabriel Valley residents.

She tells us the 710 will eliminate homes in its path. She doesn’t tell us that new or remodeled homes have been regularly sprouting along that designated route.

She tells us the completed 710 will not solve traffic problems. She doesn’t tell us that in Monterey Park, for example, nearly 65% of the traffic on Atlantic Boulevard would be eliminated. Other north-south streets would be equally relieved.

She tells us the freeway’s cost is prohibitive. She doesn’t tell us costs would have been negligible 30 years ago. Neither does she tell us what costs will be if the project is delayed 10 years--or 20 years--or 30 years.

What she’s really telling us is what South Pasadena has been saying for 30 years: They don’t want a nasty old freeway in their quiet, snobbish town. They’re a little better than we are.

You know what? If they block that freeway again, they are better than we are.

GEORGE RISTIC

Pasadena