San Gabriel Valley : FREEWAY BILLS

Assemblyman Bill Hoge is launching a series of bills to stop the Long Beach Freeway extension rolling through Pasadena, South Pasadena and El Sereno, as well as making it easier for Caltrans tenants to buy surplus houses no longer on the route.

Hoge, a longtime opponent of the freeway, has authored a bill to sunset a law in 1998 that allows Caltrans to build the freeway through South Pasadena without the city’s permission. The freeway is not slated to be built until at least 2005.

In addition, Hoge has introduced a bill that would force Caltrans to complete a supplemental environmental impact report and hold a hearing on its new plan to shift a 3/4-mile stretch of the freeway 400 feet west to bypass houses in a newly identified El Sereno historic district.

Hoge also has introduced a bill to make it easier for tenants of surplus Caltrans houses to purchase them. His bill would lift low- to moderate-income restrictions on who can purchase a Caltrans house and allow all tenants the right to buy their residences.