Soundwall completion celebrates form and function

City officials, dignitaries and community members convened on a tiny street off Foothill Boulevard Tuesday afternoon to celebrate the completion of three Foothill (210) Freeway sound walls and unveil a new mural installed on one of them.

Chairs and a podium were set up on the corner of Curran Street and Indiana Avenue, where for months ceramic artist Miriam Balcazar painstakingly laid mosaic tiles into a 90-foot panoramic scene representing life in La Cañada Flintridge.

For Balcazar, the planning and the work were a long time in the making, but the sound walls themselves have an even longer history, Mayor Mike Davitt told the small crowd.

“It has been a long journey,” Davitt said, providing background on the project. “This has truly been an effort that’s taken place over 10 or 12 years.”

The $4.588-million project was paid for mainly by funds from Measure R, a transportation tax approved by Los Angeles County voters in 2008. Cities decide how those funds are to be used, and in 2010, La Cañada’s city council determined sound walls to be a priority and allocated funds accordingly.

They planned to build two walls, one at St. Francis High School and another next to the Meadow Grove neighborhood, but learned they were able to fund a third at Curran Street. Officials have identified 20 other locations where there is a need for buffers against freeway traffic noise.

Former Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, an advocate for the sound walls during his time on the City Council from 1999 to 2006, lauded the city for paying $600,000 in 2001 for a detailed noise study to determine the need for sound barriers and possible scope of construction.

“The theory was let’s do all the work ourselves, so when money became available we would be the first in line,” Portantino said. “That was the theory, and guess what? It worked.”

Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Silver Lake), representatives from the offices of state Sen. Carol Liu (D-La Cañada Flintridge) and L.A. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and Shirley Choate, Caltrans District 7 chief deputy district director, offered congratulations in their remarks to the audience.

Aziz Elattar, executive officer for Metro’s Highways Program, said given his line of work it was pretty unusual to stop and celebrate a sound wall.

“It’s surreal, to tell you the truth, (that) it’s of such significance for people to actually take time to sit and witness it,” Elattar said afterward, gazing at the mosaic. “And how pretty it is.”

In recognition of her hard work planning and installing the $84,000 mural, Balcazar was awarded an engraved glass plaque from the city and asked to say a few words. She thanked her friends and family for their support, for helping her and bringing her cold water to stave off sometimes sweltering heat.

The artist shared her hopes that the piece would grace the neighborhood, and the city, for years to come.

“Public art can express civic values, enhance the environment and transform a landscape,” Balcazar told the audience. “I hope I achieved that.”