GARDEN GROVE : She Fights to Save Home of 47 Years

Marguerite L. Warne is angry over a proposed street widening project that threatens to take her home of 47 years on the corner of Trask Avenue and Elizabeth Street.

The city plans to demolish the woman’s home to make room for a 64-foot-wide Trask Avenue, an 8-foot-wide sidewalk and a 5-foot-wide bicycle path.

“They want to take my whole damn property,” said Warne, 63. “I don’t mind if they take the frontage of my home but not the whole thing. My home means a lifetime of scrimping and saving to pay it off. I own it free and clear, and they don’t give a damn.”

She is so upset that she’s hung a 3-foot-by-15-foot, red, white and blue sign from her garage. It reads: “Rush Limbaugh Please Help Me Save My Home.”

Warne has vowed to fight City Hall and said she’ll do anything to save her home, including solicit help from the archconservative television and radio talk show host Limbaugh.

“I feel I need somebody’s help to try to save my home,” Warne said. “I think Rush would be interested in what the city is doing to me. I hope he talks about my problem on his TV or radio show.”

City officials said the street widening plans are not final and could be changed, depending on public response during several scheduled meetings. A draft environmental impact report will be issued July 21, and the public is invited to comment on it at a meeting Aug. 9.

Another public hearing will be held by the Planning Commission on Sept. 9, and the City Council is expected to take action on the project Nov. 2.

If the city approves the project and Warne’s home is designated for acquisition, City Engineer Bill Patapoff said, her home would then be appraised and a “fair market value” would be offered.

For now, Patapoff said, Warne is the only resident against the project. Others have expressed some concerns, but many favor it, he said.

The plan is to “remove the bottlenecks on Trask,” Patapoff said. “Right now, it’s four lanes in some areas and two lanes in others.”

Once the $10-million project is complete, Trask Avenue will be a four-lane road from Brookhurst to Newhope streets.

Phyllis Nelson, who has lived on Trask Avenue since 1955, said the street widening is badly needed.

“The street is really dangerous because it gets narrow,” said Nelson, 60. “Since I moved here, I’ve seen accidents. People just plow into each other’s cars. I’ve seen some nasty, nasty wrecks.”

Patapoff said Trask Avenue, once it is widened, would serve as a safe alternate route to the Garden Grove Freeway.

Warne said she wouldn’t mind if the city acquired her entire front yard and widened the street up to her front door. She just doesn’t want to move.

“This is just another kick to the back of the bus,” she said. “I’m now in my twilight years. If I lose my house, I’ll be out on the street, because my $325 Social Security check won’t be enough for me to pay property taxes on a new home, much less live on.”

Though everyone seems to agree that Trask should be widened, Warne and a council member said an effort will be made to save her home.

“It’s obvious that we’re going to have to widen Trask,” Councilman Robert F. Dinsen said. “On some parts of the street, there will have to be some full takes, but when a citizen is willing to have the street close to her home in order to retain the home, I think she should be allowed to do that.”