Pasadena Vote for Freeway Extension Intensifies Battle

Even if all goes as Caltrans hopes--which is not at all certain--the Long Beach Freeway extension is at least a decade away from construction, and the $1.4 billion needed is at least several blood-drawing duels away from state and federal allocation.

But that hasn’t stopped the Pasadena City Council from again igniting a war with its neighbors and a portion of its own citizenry by supporting, for the first time in a decade, a proposed 6.2-mile stretch of roadway that would run though El Sereno, South Pasadena and Pasadena’s west side. On Monday night, council members voted 4 to 2, with one abstention, to support the freeway extension.

Already, citizens are screaming recall, secession and promising a fight to the death. Long before the San Gabriel Valley will see a new freeway, its backers run a risk of becoming political road kill.

“This will be the community fight to end all community fights,” predicted freeway foe Nina Chomsky.

For all the shouting on both sides, observers might have thought the issue was actually on the table, with Caltrans awaiting a response before laying concrete.

In fact, although the project was approved by the state in 1994, it still needs the approval of Federal Highway Administrator Rodney E. Slater, who will delay a decision until the project meets federal air, environmental and historic preservation provisions.

Even if Slater signs off on the project’s route and environmental impact assessment, South Pasadena could file suit, staving off the project even further. What’s more, no money has been set aside for construction by the state or federal government--which would have to ante up 85% of the funds.

“I think the vote of 4 to 2 to 1 reflects there are very deep feelings on this issue and we need to let the process continue before we make a decision either way,” said Andy Paven, spokesman for the Federal Highway Administration.

In other words, the city’s heavily divisive vote carries about as much authority as municipal resolutions in support of animal rights, a nuclear freeze or Grandparents Day. The vote is a gesture that gives federal and state officials an indication of the city’s preference, but may not matter one way or another.

Still, Councilwoman Ann-Marie Villicana was determined Monday night to bring the issue before the council to officially restate the city’s advisory opinion on the matter. The council last voted on the project in 1985, when it also supported construction. The eight-lane freeway would run through Villicana’s west side district, which would endure the brunt of what could be a decade of construction.

“There has been an overwhelming response that people want the freeway,” Villicana said during the three-hour debate at Monday night’s council meeting, which had an overflow crowd that spilled into the hallways. “Neighborhoods have been destroyed because [cars] are flooding their streets.”

But the resolution pits the council against many citizens whose neighborhoods would be cut in half by the extension.

Lorna Moore, leader of the No on 710 group and one of Villicana’s constituents, is at a loss to understand why the councilwoman would advocate running bulldozers through her own district. But Moore and her supporters expressed their thoughts more bluntly to their councilwoman, calling her Judas, Benedict Arnold and a traitor, and threatening to remove her from office.

“They won’t wait to the next election,” said Moore. “We’re talking secession to South Pasadena.”

Several speakers urged the council simply to decline action.

Villicana, however, was having none of that, responding to a suggestion to postpone a decision by demanding that a vote be taken.

The vote also ignored the plea of Dorothy Cohen, mayor of South Pasadena, asking Pasadena to hold off because of opposition from the NAACP legal defense fund, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and various Latino civil rights groups.

When it last voted, the Pasadena City Council presented a united front in support of a freeway it said would lighten traffic and spur economic growth. This time, Mayor Bill Paparian and council members William E. Thomson Jr., Joyce Streator and Villicana supported the roadway over the objections of councilmen Paul Little and William Crowfoot and the abstention of Vice Mayor Chris Holden, who wanted more time for debate.

Thomson and many of his constituents said the volume and speed of traffic make the proposed route a de facto freeway already.