Ventura Freeway Plan Sparks Outcry in Valley

Several hundred San Fernando Valley residents, many of whom would see their homes and stores demolished for a $3.4-billion widening of the 101 Freeway, confronted officials with petitions and protest placards Monday night and vowed to fight the proposal.

Bearing signs that read, “Don’t ruin our neighborhood” and “Don’t condemn our property,” residents packed a public hearing at Valley Beth Shalom temple in Encino to voice anger at the California Department of Transportation and Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn, who backs the plan.

“Mayor Hahn in my opinion is doing everything he can to become a one-term mayor,” said David Rankell, a Sherman Oaks resident. “This is the largest slap in the face that Mayor Hahn can make to the people of the San Fernando Valley.”

Rankell and other Valley residents said the plan threatens to revive tensions that spurred the failed secession movement.

“We need to stand up and be heard,” shouted David Bennett, a Studio City financial planner who generated strong applause. “We need to fight this and find alternatives.”

Caltrans and supporters of the plan say that traffic along the Ventura Freeway has grown out of control during the last decade. The freeway, which carries more than 300,000 vehicles a day, has been rated the second-most congested in the county.

Transportation planners have proposed widening it by at least two carpool lanes in each direction between Studio City and Thousand Oaks. The expansion, they say, would save drivers a cumulative 78,000 commuting hours a day.

The plan has support among Valley commuters and business groups whose properties don’t border the freeway. But it’s opposed by hundreds who live within the zone targeted for possible condemnation.

Last week, Caltrans said that zone includes 780 homes, 250 commercial buildings, 27 schools and churches, 14 medical and public facilities, eight parks and recreation areas, and eight cultural sites.

On Monday night, the agency released revised estimates.

They reduced the numbers to 693 homes and apartment buildings, 11 schools and churches, and 12 medical and public facilities. The other figures remain the same.

Residents swarmed around maps of the proposed project Monday. Among them was Theresa Coniglio, 77, of Studio City, who said, “At my age, I’m not interested in moving.”

Opponents of the plan found an ally in City Councilman Dennis Zine, who derided the proposal to great applause.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous for a state with $35 billion in debt to come up with this plan,” he said. “It’s another half-baked idea by planners that lack common sense.”

A minority of speakers supported the plan.

Ken Alpern, a doctor who commutes to West Los Angeles, commended the mayor for supporting the proposal.

“The mayor had the guts to do what he did,” said Alpern, who is president of the Transit Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Sylmar. “We just went through a secession crisis, and the reason why we did is because there’s no access between the Valley and the rest of the city. When it’s an hour from West L.A. to the Valley, we’re Balkanized, we’re far apart.”

Alpern and others said there is a large “silent majority” of Valley residents who support the widening.

“The people who live next to the freeway, they don’t care about the rest of us, and most of us don’t choose to live next to the freeway,” Alpern said. “What about the rest of us who don’t live next to the freeway? I want to see upgrades to the freeway.”

The overall price tag for the proposal includes a package of other projects, such as widening ramps, beefing up public transit and improving streets along the corridor. Though any freeway widening may be years from approval and receiving funding, divisions between residents and the public officials who represent them are deep.

Last week, Hahn and state Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) indicated support for the freeway widening, saying the corridor needs more capacity to accommodate the growing region.

But others, such as Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) and Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, expressed skepticism that the project is a good idea because of the high cost and the prospect of condemning so many properties.

Also last week, Caltrans held community meetings in Hollywood and Calabasas that drew dozens of residents. Though many spoke out against the widening, their opposition was relatively subdued compared to the raucous crowd that packed Monday night’s event.

The proposal will be considered May 23 by a steering committee made up of representatives from transportation agencies and elected officials. The panel will then decide whether to forward the recommendation to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board for approval.