RESIGNATION

South Pasadena City Manager Kenneth C. Farfsing has resigned to take a similar position in Signal Hill.

He cited the toll on himself and his family of leading the community’s fight against the proposed Long Beach Freeway extension that would split the city.

Farfsing, 41, who is credited by opponents and supporters as the chief strategist against the roadway, said the struggle of trying to run City Hall while spending two-thirds of his time campaigning against the freeway has left him exhausted.

“I got 20 calls on the freeway the day before I started here and my life has been a whirlwind since then,” Farfsing said. “This thing is like a black hole. It sucks you in and you never come out.”

The 70-hour workweeks, evenings away from his family, the frequent flights to Sacramento and Washington as well as the acrimony of the freeway battle took their toll, he said.

“This fight is like Bosnia, I once told [federal highway administrator] Rodney Slater.”

The resignation is effective June 13 and comes as Slater is about to decide the fate of the proposed freeway through Pasadena, South Pasadena and El Sereno.

But Farfsing said he is not a captain bailing from a sinking ship and does not see Slater approving the project. The Signal Hill job will allow him to get back to being a city manager and pays an additional $15,000 a year, he said.

“It’s going to be a great loss to the city. He has been a brilliant strategist in the freeway fight,” said South Pasadena Mayor Dorothy Cohen. “It’s going to be difficult to replace him.”

“I am devastated he’s leaving,” said Beatrice Siev, city Transportation Commission chairwoman. “The freeway fight will go on, but it will be a harder.”