Countywide : Anti-Tollway Group Plans Rally at UCI

A newly formed group opposed to toll roads for economic and environmental reasons has scheduled a public rally at 1 p.m. June 6 at UC Irvine.

About 100 people have joined the organization, Citizens Against the Tollroads, in the past few weeks, according to co-founder Judy Davis of Irvine.

The group is attempting to convince the public, with a mail and telephone campaign, that the toll roads planned for southern and eastern areas of the county aren’t “done deals.” This, even though the Foothill and San Joaquin Hills tollways are already partly graded, with a small section of the Foothill scheduled to open this fall. Actual construction on the San Joaquin Hills project is about to begin.

Davis and other organizers have raised sufficient funds for an 800 phone number and two mailings of 5,000 pieces each. She conceded that they are entering the fray at the eleventh hour. But they believe that educating the public will create a new groundswell of opposition that could force politicians to abandon the projects.

“We expect our campaign to succeed because it appeals to Orange County citizens for a number of reasons,” Davis said, citing the projects’ damage to the environment, the potential for a $120-million federal bailout of the $1.2-billion San Joaquin Hills tollway if it runs short of cash and the group’s belief that the tollways are intended to serve future development, not existing traffic.

The group also advocates alternative transportation solutions, such as rail.

Tollway officials argue that the new group is raising old issues that were resolved months if not years ago and that some of the participants are “sore losers”--veterans of previous tollway or development-related battles.

In the 1980s, for example, the Irvine City Council and mayor threatened not to participate as members of the county’s tollway agency. But after a bitter debate, polls showed residents’ support for the San Joaquin Hills project, and the council’s slow-growth majority was eventually toppled.

But Davis insisted that she and other members of the new organization are fresh to the front lines, even though the effort was initially “seeded” financially by a coalition of older environmental groups.

Seven court cases involving the toll roads remain unresolved.

Joel Reynolds, attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, recently said the courts aren’t likely to permanently bar tollway construction--only delay it and thus make it costlier.

Davis said the rally could attract several thousand people. It will feature community leaders and scientists and information booths, as well as entertainment.