Pasadena Voters to Weigh In on Freeway

What Pasadena voters decide Tuesday could drive the pedal to the metal on the proposed Long Beach Freeway extension or send it skidding into a political SigAlert.

They will cast ballots on two competing ballot measures that will determine whether Pasadena opposes the $1.4-billion project that would slice through its leafy west side as well as South Pasadena and El Sereno.

It’s the first such referendum in the three-decade battle over the controversial freeway extension, and takes the volatile debate from the federal courthouse to the court of public opinion.

“The position of Pasadena is critical to the outcome of freeway completion,” said former Mayor William E. Thomson Jr., who is campaigning for Measure A, the pro-freeway initiative. “This freeway is desperately needed, long overdue, and this could be the fuel needed to get it built.”

Thomson knows political momentum has long been the key to the future of the final leg of the Long Beach Freeway, which would plug a 6.2-mile gap between the Foothill and San Bernardino freeways.

Although Pasadena does not have final say over the freeway extension, state and federal decision-makers who do have such power have long said Pasadena’s support is crucial.

“This is a watershed election,” said Pasadena Councilman Steve Madison, who opposes Measure A and wrote Measure C, which would obligate the city to remain neutral on the issue for the next few years.

“Either we abandon this freeway and look to other real solutions or we assume a freeway is going to be built and become subject to all the whims of Sacramento, Washington and a federal court,” he said.

The debate on whether to extend the “missing link” is proving to be a divisive affair that overshadows races for the City Council and school board. More than $100,000 raised by pro- and anti-freeway camps is producing a plethora of lawn signs and mailers.

Both sides agree that the election is up for grabs. One survey last year of 770 of Pasadena’s 142,500 residents found that 59% supported the roadway, but freeway watchers agree that it’s impossible to say how Pasadena residents will vote on the project.

Freeway supporters say it is about time that Pasadena and the region stopped being held hostage by South Pasadena, which has kept the extension on hold for 35 years with lawsuits, lobbying and arm twisting.

Opponents, however, say Measure A is being orchestrated by a public relations consultant who works on the extension for yet another city: Alhambra, where the Long Beach Freeway currently ends and dumps thousands of cars daily onto its streets.

Momentum on the freeway has swung back and forth in recent years. The federal government in 1998 approved the extension. But a year later a federal judge issued an injunction blocking it pending trial of a lawsuit by South Pasadena.

The Pasadena City Council had long supported the freeway, but last year reversed itself. The move enraged some residents--”woke up the big dog,” as one resident put it--and a pro-extension group collected 8,000 signatures to place Measure A on the ballot.

“Trying to mitigate traffic without a freeway is like squeezing air in a balloon. It always moves somewhere else,” said Councilman Chris Holden, a Measure A supporter.

Soon after Measure A made the ballot, the City Council came up with Measure C. It requires the city to develop a citywide traffic plan by next year, then make street improvements while remaining neutral on the freeway extension. The measure will negate Measure A if it gets more votes.

Opponents of Measure C say it amounts to a “Trojan horse,” designed to draw voter support with talk of traffic mitigation. “It is a poisonous snake wrapped in a traffic management gift basket,” said Nat Read, the organizer of 710 Freeway NOW, the group supporting Measure A and opposing Measure C.

Freeway foes counter that Measure A offers false hope of a transportation panacea. Funding for the freeway has yet to be secured, and even if the roadway is approved, construction would not start until 2020, they argue.

“Measure A promises completion of 710,” Madison said. “The city of Pasadena has no more power to deliver than fly a rocket to the moon.”

Since the freeway construction stopped at Alhambra’s Valley Boulevard in 1965, opponents led by South Pasadena have rallied against the extension; they cite its threat to 6,000 trees and 900 homes in cherished Norman Rockwell neighborhoods.

Equally passionate advocates led by Alhambra have pushed to get it done, saying it would relieve crippling congestion. Alhambra has even tried to divert traffic, unsuccessfully.

“Alhambra’s freeway lobbyist is behind Measure A, not Pasadena voters,” said Lorna Moore, spokeswoman for Neighbors for Better Transportation, which opposes Measure A.

Read said he is not getting paid to run the Measure A campaign, and it is separate from his public relations work for Alhambra and a number of other cities, business organizations and labor unions that make up the 710 Coalition, a group that supports the project.

Alhambra as a city is legally barred from participating in the campaign, he said. Alhambra officials say Read has been under contract as a consultant on the freeway for several years and currently receives $3,083 from Alhambra every month.

While a small amount of funds raised in support of Measure A came from a fund-raiser held at the Alhambra Chamber of Commerce, Read said two-thirds of the campaign’s money comes from Pasadena residents and businesses.

That is a thin wall, said Madison. “There is all this talk of Trojan horses, poison pills and snakes,” the councilman said. “Well, he’s the only wolf in sheep’s clothing.”