Pasadena and Freeways
I am writing to compliment Sam Kaplan on his piece regarding the Long Beach Freeway and its effect on South Pasadena, where I live.
It is, as I know he sensed, a most emotional issue in a city only 3.3 miles square in land. It (the freeway) certainly will not rejuvenate the city’s business section and it is certain to blot its residential areas out, to some degree.
On the other hand, if you have ever taken the Long Beach Freeway north at rush hour, then landed on Main Street in Alhambra where it ends, your sympathies must be with the commuter who has to fight that congestion.
When Art Snyder represented the area in which the westerly route might have been built, he fought it tooth and nail. Many of us would like to see the westerly route become a reality but, alas, I don’t think that will ever be.
Quite honestly, I don’t think it will be built in my lifetime, given the number of suits that could hold it back for years to come. What does concern me is that homeowners will panic and begin to sell cheaply, thus possibly depressing the home market.
FREDERICA MILLER
South Pasadena
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