IRVINE : Overpass Expansion Foe Is Threatened

A leader in the fight to block expansion of the Yale Avenue pedestrian overpasses said Tuesday that he had received a death threat.

David Flint, treasurer of a group that wants the bridges to remain restricted to pedestrians, bicyclists and emergency vehicles, played the tape of the phone call at a news conference. The caller said, “How dare you use our money for political causes,” and said Flint’s family and home were in jeopardy.

“What the hell is happening behind the nice, glossy, planned community?” Flint asked. “There are wackos out there.”

The threat also prompted outrage from Yale Action, the group advocating expansion of the overpasses.

“It’s not appropriate at all. It’s not right,” said Gary Vanderpol, the treasurer of Yale Action. “That’s not the kind of campaign we’re running.”

Flint said the threat followed the distribution of a flyer challenging a decision by the Deerfield Homeowners Assn. to donate $2,500 to Flint’s group, the Friends of Caution for Neighborhood Preservation. The flyer, which lists Flint’s phone number and address, claims that the homeowners’ association will lose its tax-exempt status if it makes the contribution. The flyer was distributed by two former officials in the Deerfield Homeowners Assn.

But the association doesn’t have tax-exempt status now, Flint said. Flint, vice president of the association, said it has budgeted $6,000 of its $350,000 annual budget for taxes this year.

One of the authors of the flyer said he had assumed that the association had tax-exempt status.

On June 5, voters will decide whether the bridges on Yale Avenue over the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe railroad tracks and over the San Diego Freeway should be expanded to accommodate two-lane vehicular traffic.