South Pasadena Mayor / No 710 Tunnel Coalition Member, Sends Letter to Governor-Elect Brown 1

The No 710 Tunnel Coalition continues to protest ongoing expenses and resources devoted to constructing a 6-mile tunnel, lately appearing in force at the December 9 MTA meeting to support Ara Najarian’s motion for a solid cost estimate for the project.

The December 8, 2010 issue of the South Pasadena Review printed a letter the former mayor (and current council member) of South Pasadena sent to Governor-elect Jerry Brown. Councilman Richard Schneider also spoke against the tunnel project at last Thursday’s MTA meeting. Excerpts of the letter below:

Governor-elect Jerry Brown:

I…have great hopes that now a threat posed by a project you eliminated in your first administration (and I thank you for that past protection) will be killed for the last time. Your leadership is necessary to stop this wasteful and obsolete project that once again threatens the public fisc and not only our city but the whole northeast section of Los Angeles and the southwest section of Pasadena… the SR-710 north toll tunnel.

Most immediately, your leadership can finally order the sale of millions of dollars of excess properties that the state has held for more than 40 years-longer than the Soviet Union occupied Eastern Europe-in the vain hope that the freeway you tried to kill in the late 1970s would still get built. Rather than sell our state’s crown jewels–its magnificent State Buildings–hundreds of properties worth hundreds of millions of dollars are now at your disposal to restore California’s fiscal integrity.

Moreover, as Governor you can save tens of millions of dollars in consultant fees and potentially tens of billions of dollars in construction costs by having Caltrans kill the proposed toll tunnel now. The Southern California Association of Governments’ (SCAG) 2007 estimate in the Regional transportation Plan was $11.8 billion for construction of the tunnel. Some people may try to convince you that the tunnel can be financed using “free” money via Public Private Partnerships (PPP). However, the PPP report drafted by METRO’s consultants used low-ball figures from the 2006 ”Feasibility Assessment” and ignored the fact that the public pays through “shadow” tolls and ultimately becomes financially responsible when revenues fall short of expectations.

The original freeway was conceived in the Harry Truman – Dwight Eisenhower era. The City of South Pasadena formally opposed it 61 years ago (in 1949), foreseeing it slashing through and ruining the community. Over the decades, virtually every Caltrans Director has left office confirming that the SR-710 extension will never be built. Since 1973, federal court injunctions have prohibited construction. The project has been administratively dead since both Federal Highway Administration and California Transportation Commission withdrew their approvals in 2003 and 2004. However, in 2003 the transportation agencies (Caltrans, Los Angeles County Metro and SCAG) revived the project by advancing the idea of exitless, 4.5 mile-long twin bored tunnels, 150 feet below ground, which would be the largest roadway tunnel in the world. The project would not resolve the congestion or pollution problems and would prove financially prohibitive.

This new tollway project has engendered widespread opposition in the affected communities. In addition to South Pasadena, the cities of Glendale and La Cafiada Flintridge oppose it. Furthermore, neighborhood councils of Highland Park, EI Sereno, Crescenta Valley, Arroyo Seco, Sunland-Tujunga, Eagle Rock, Glassell Park and Mt. Washington are against it. Attached are resolutions from some of these communities, whose populations total more than a half million.

There are better, more 21st century ways to solve transportation problems than by reverting to freeways or tollways. People can be moved by light rail transit systems, bus systems and bicycles. Freight containers from the ports can be moved by electrified rail. This strategy alone would remove tens of thousands of trucks each day from the Los Angeles County highways, end one of the nation’s most unhealthy air pollution hazards, and be far more cost effective than another tollway or a freeway. These technologies would reduce congestion, improve safety, reduce pollution and greenhouse gases, improve health, and move us away from dependence on oil and diesel trucks. In fact, the South Coast Air Quality Management District has been advocating zero emission technologies for some time, and now they are available–but they would be stillborn with yet more wasteful investment in moving freight by road through exemplary communities.

Assemblymember Anthony Portantino (in the La Canada Valley Sun) has written eloquently on why this project needs to be terminated. I concur in his advice and ask you to work with him to bring the SR-710 saga to a worthy and constructive end

Though this letter is written to express my own opinion, I am the Mayor of a city that has fought the freeway for decades, and now opposes the even more costly tunnel. I am also a health care professional who has reviewed many studies on the devastating health effects and increased cancer risk of vehicular pollution (such as the USC Keck studies that have focused on the SR-710 between Long Beach and Los Angeles). I ask you to have CALTRANS release the corridor properties to sale, and terminate the tunnel proposal forthwith.

Mayor Richard D. Schneider, MD