Countywide : Tollway Opponents Besiege TCA Offices

Angered by planned construction of the San Joaquin Hills tollway, more than two dozen demonstrators glued door locks, climbed to the roof or chanted slogans Tuesday morning at the county’s toll road offices in Costa Mesa.

The gathering was organized by Earth First!, an environmental group opposed to the $2-per-trip tollway because it would cross through environmentally sensitive areas. The three-hour protest resulted in no arrests or injuries, authorities said.

A related protest by a group known as Transit First! occurred at a building that houses a branch of the J.P. Morgan investment banking firm in San Francisco. The company has helped provide financing for the toll road.

No confrontation took place, said a Transit First! spokesman. “The J.P. Morgan people didn’t even know what the issue was, so we kept it low-key,” he said.

In Costa Mesa, Orange County Transportation Corridor Agencies spokesman Mike Stockstill said of the 7 a.m. protest there: “It scared away our landscape people. They’ll have to come back to mow the lawn.”

“We were able to get inside the building . . . apparently the glue in the locks didn’t set,” Stockstill added.

Protesters used climbing gear to mount the roof of the building near John Wayne Airport and unfurled anti-tollway banners as others chanted, “TCAs go away” and “Toll road scabs.”

Construction of the $1.1-billion project is expected to start in April or May and finish in 1996. It is expected to be the beneficiary of a massive sale of tax-exempt bonds by Wall Street underwriters this week.

Earth First! member Craig Benneville said the timing of the protest in connection with the bond sale was coincidental but “appropriate.”

Meanwhile, other opponents of the 17.5-mile San Joaquin Hills tollway will hold a town hall meeting tonight in Laguna Beach to test public sentiment.

The city of Laguna Beach, along with several environmental groups, have fiercely opposed the toll road, which would cut through Laguna Canyon as it links the Corona del Mar Freeway to Interstate 5 in South County.

Concern about the road intensified last week when federal wildlife officials cleared the way for its construction, although it will destroy some nesting areas for the California gnatcatcher.

“I’ve been getting a lot of calls from people who were distressed with all the bad news lately and want to know what they can do to help save the canyon,” Michael Phillips, director of Laguna Canyon Conservancy, said Tuesday.

The meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. at Laguna Beach City Hall.