ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Let Everyone Have a Say

Southern California is watching with great interest as the debate unfolds over toll roads proposed for Orange County. Let’s not have a repeat of the scene at last week’s public hearing on the $680-million San Joaquin Hills tollway, when 125 people were left outside the Santa Ana City Council chambers because there wasn’t room inside.

For the three-hour hearing, those who were shut out had to compete for about 100 folding chairs provided in a brick-paved courtyard. If toll-road proponents had set out to reinforce the idea held by some critics that the road is a done deal--beyond the power of ordinary citizens to affect its outcome--they couldn’t have used better symbolism. Those who could not get in were on the listening end of a one-way dialogue, forced to take in the session over loudspeakers, and were neither seen by officials of the Orange County Transportation Corridor Agencies nor able to witness presentations.

It was not as if there had been a lack of notice or interest in the hearing. In recent weeks, reservations expressed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency about the highway’s impact on air quality and the concerns of neighborhood groups have generated a groundswell of new attention for a project long on the drawing boards. Hold the next hearing, set for Feb. 28, at a site large enough to accommodate the crowd.