Nonresidents, Heed the Speed Limit in Pasadena

As I live on California Boulevard in Pasadena and drive the length of that street in both directions almost every day, I want to share some important information with the people who use my street in order to avoid the Foothill Freeway: To begin with, the well-posted speed limit on California between St. John’s Street on the west and Hill Avenue on the east, is 30 m.p.h., a law you constantly ignore.

Consider this: The unfinished Long Beach Freeway dumps southbound traffic into Pasadena at St. John Avenue, and most of it turns east on California Boulevard. Two blocks east and somewhat south, the Pasadena Freeway dumps northbound traffic onto Arroyo Parkway. Much of that traffic also dumps onto California. Even if the Long Beach Freeway were to be completed, which it probably never will be, congestion on California would continue because of wall-to-wall traffic on the Foothill, which everyone wants to avoid. That’s understandable.

But Pasadena streets and street repairs are funded by the taxpayers of Pasadena, yet we allow outsiders to use our streets without penalty of any kind, including speeding tickets. It’s a shame we are so hospitable. We are suffering for it. Any street in Pasadena that runs roughly parallel to the Foothill has been taken over by speeding commuters, outsiders in a hurry. And the residents of our city are getting very tired of it.

The half-mile from St. John to just beyond Arroyo Parkway is high-density commercial, very busy every business day of the week. East of Arroyo, all the way to Hill, is strictly residential, except for the small commercial area at California and Lake Avenue. In addition, four schools are located on California between St. John and Hill, including Polytechnic, Caltech and preschools.

So what we are talking about here is not only a lot of traffic but a lot of pedestrians, from tiny children to the elderly. And most of them are scared to death to cross California Boulevard even if they have a green light. Every day is Terror Time on California Boulevard, and all because of you speeding yahoos who have to get wherever you are going before anyone else.

If you nonresidents choose to drive through our city, please be courteous enough to obey our laws. If you can’t, then go play on the freeway. We don’t want you speeding on our city streets and threatening our lives.

E. R. McCLURE

Pasadena