Readers Take Issue With Freeway Link as a Solution

Perhaps Mr. Ristic is a little confused over who really is to blame for the fiasco that has resulted in a gigantic traffic jam at the end of the uncompleted 710 Freeway.

In the 30 years that have passed since this condition has existed, bureaucratic state officials have stubbornly clung to the premise that there is only one route that could be followed to complete the freeway, namely going through South Pasadena, when even Mr. Ristic’s students could tell him that there were and are alternate routes that will accomplish the same purpose.

Perhaps Mr. Ristic can recall when the state insisted that there was only one route that could be followed through Monterey Park for the Pomona Freeway only to discover, after the city violently protested, that there was a natural line between Monterey Park and Montebello which could serve the same purpose without disrupting either community.

Such is the case with the 710 Freeway, and it would behoove Mr. Ristic to employ his many talents in castigating the state for its inordinate stubbornness in refusing to consider a route that would leave South Pasadena intact rather than hopelessly divided because a few egotistical engineers refuse to consider a less damaging route.

There is nothing “nasty” or “snobbish” about a small town that wants to preserve its identity.

HAL FIEBELKORN

Monrovia