South Pasadena and the 710 Freeway
I am responding to a letter from Michael Burch of South Pasadena (Times, Aug. 23).
Who does this NIMBY from South Pasadena think he is to speak for 131,591 residents of Pasadena (a city which favors the (Long Beach) Freeway (710) completion)? Does Mr. Burch really believe that the citizens of Pasadena would vote to remove the (Foothill) Freeway (210) and throw the east-west traffic onto their surface streets once again?
Can he name a single city in Southern California which would favor closing their freeway and freeway access? Would South Pasadenans, for that matter, vote to do away with the Pasadena Freeway (110), which makes their community so desirable as a hop-skip-and-jump location from downtown Los Angeles?
What we’re really looking at here is a fear of change, a comfort with the past and an unwillingness (or inability) to face the present. Time will move forward, the 710 Freeway will be completed, and very soon the region will not be able to remember why there was such a vocal, obstinate cluster of people opposed to such an obvious improvement in the region’s quality of life.
DAVE SMITH
South Pasadena
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