Would Walt Disney Approve of the 710?

The city of Long Beach and Caltrans must be testing people’s sense of irony. They seem to think that a proposed Disney expansion in the Long Beach area would put pressure on to complete the 6.2 miles of the 710 Freeway through the largely Hispanic community of El Sereno, historic South Pasadena and southwest Pasadena, a distant 30 miles away (Times, Jan. 18).

Don’t they remember that Disney (Walt) was the promoter of the Monorail, a preserver of Main Street America with its family oriented values, and a believer in Tomorrowland, where man uses an efficient mix of technologies to solve his problems? Would he advocate destroying these picturesque communities with yesterday’s solutions to today’s problems, or would he spend the $1 billion to provide a more efficient and cleaner means of moving people, such as 50 more miles of light rail?

That corporate Disney would allow themselves to be the reason that resulted in this freeway, a step into Yesterdayland, is asking a lot for one to believe. They would be more at home and truer to the legacy by promoting a transportation mix in the L.A. Basin that is not 100% freeway based.

HARRY A. KNAPP

South Pasadena