Sound Wall Won But Homes Lost

The dozens of families on Anthony Avenue in Garden Grove who have battled state bureaucrats for almost 35 years to build a sound wall between their homes and the noisy freeway may finally be getting some peace and quiet.

That is the good news.

The bad news is that some of them, including people who have lived there since before the Garden Grove Freeway was built in 1966, will have to sell their homes to make room for the wall.

Caltrans spokeswoman Rose Orem confirmed for the first time Tuesday what many Anthony Avenue residents have feared all along: Some of them will be forced to sell and abandon their homes so their neighbors can be insulated from the vehicles that rumble by day and night.

“I guess I’m going to wait to put in the new air-conditioning system,” joked Lois Gergen, 79, who has lived in her Anthony Avenue home for 23 years, next to the freeway’s westbound lanes.

The week had begun on an upbeat note for Gergen and her neighbors. Over the weekend, Gov. Gray Davis’ office announced that it was releasing $226 million for sound wall projects throughout the state, and that Anthony Avenue was on the list.

The Anthony Avenue project will actually be at least four walls, officials said.

The first will run between Brookhurst and Euclid streets on both sides of the freeway. The second will stretch roughly from Brookhurst to Magnolia streets on the south side of the freeway. The third will run roughly between Springdale Street and Knott Avenue on both sides of the freeway.

In addition, the Orange County Transportation Authority is going forward with a $250-million expansion of the Garden Grove Freeway and will construct a sound wall roughly from Springdale Street west to Valley View Avenue, agency spokesman Dave Simpson said.

A measure passed in 1998 transferred responsibility for building sound walls for freeway expansion projects to local transportation agencies, such as the OCTA. But because some of these projects had been on hold for 11 years or more, Caltrans will be in charge of construction of the first three walls, Orem said. All of the walls will be finished by December 2003, she said.

On Tuesday, Orem said OCTA and Caltrans will have to “get right-of-way acquisition” to build some of the walls.

“Offers will be made to homeowners and businesses to buy the property necessary to build the sound walls,” said Orem, in a telephone interview.

She said officials will not know how many homes and businesses will have to be condemned until an environmental study is completed.

Earlier Tuesday, with the clamor of bouncing tractor-trailers and speeding cars in the background, Gergen’s backyard was the setting for a news conference. Residents gathered to announce they will continue to pressure Davis’ office, Caltrans and OCTA until the walls are built.

The residents, who formed the West Garden Grove Residents’ Assn. to lobby for the walls, were congratulating themselves for forcing Davis to act. Assemblyman Ken Maddox (R-Garden Grove) and Supervisor Jim Silva were on hand to show support for their constituents.

Neither the lawmakers nor the residents were aware that some homeowners may have to give up their homes.

Some residents were not impressed with the politicians. They especially singled out Silva as a Johnny-come-lately. He insisted that his office had never received any letters from residents, and said he became aware of the issue when he noticed banners hung recently by some residents over wooden fences while driving on the freeway.

“I only became involved in this about three months ago,” Silva said.

“We’ve been crying out a lot longer than that!” yelled Chuck Myrick.

“Try 35 years!” one woman shouted.

Maddox tried to empathize with the residents, prompting Martha Urman to shout, “You don’t live here--you don’t know!”

Maddox blamed Caltrans for delays in building the sound walls, complaining that he gets a different story from the agency whenever he talks to them. He added that the money released by Davis over the weekend for the three walls was a reward for the area’s votes in the last election.

“Part of the reason we’re getting the money for this stretch of freeway is because [Davis] carried this area,” Maddox said.

“I can’t believe he said that,” one woman gasped.

Davis’ office denied that politics played a role in his decision to release funding for the Anthony Avenue walls and others throughout the state.

“Californians living near those freeways have put up with enough delays. These sound walls were promised when the freeways were being built,” said a statement released by the governor’s office.

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Bittersweet Silence

A long-awaited soundwall along the Garden Grove Freeway will bring both silence and sorrow: some residents along the stretch will be displaced when the soundwall is added as part of a freeway-widening project.

Source: CalTrans