Metro’s “710 Conversations” Series 1 (difficult to label as “1” or “first” since they’ve taken place for decades) started last week. Under the Sunroom Desk paperweight are reports on these meetings. The Series 1 presentation comes to Glendale Community College Saturday, February 26, from 2-4 p.m., and even if no surface or tunnel route ends up within Glendale borders, this proposed project estimated to cost up to $14 billion ought to receive strong scrutiny and input from every Glendale taxpayer and resident concerned about our region’s future transportation system.
Under the Paperweight…
710 gap project holds media briefing, in The Source (Metro’s online news site), February 10, quotes Metro Highway Director Doug Failing: “‘As far as I’m concerned, everything is on the table,’ Failing said. ‘We’re going to have a really robust scoping’ process. He also emphasized that nothing has been decided in terms of what the project will be. He added that he takes seriously his responsibility under state and federal environmental law to consider all options.”
Let’s Talk About the I-710 Gap, Says Metro, in EPG News, February 11, 2010, clarifying, “But this time around the folks at Metro say they have decided to wipe the slate clean on how they approach a potential project – if it even comes to that, as there has long been debate about whether there should even be a project.”
The 710 Game: Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $780 million, in LA Streetsblog, covered the first meeting in San Gabriel, held February 15. Of those in reporter Mark Vallianatos’ breakout session, “No one jumped to the conclusion that we need to increase capacity via an extension of SR-710.” He concluded, “It can’t hurt to tell them what they may not really want to hear: that the era of urban freeways is (or should be) over and that their nearly 70 year old plan for a completed highway should give way to demand for complete streets.”
Expansion of 710 Freeway debated at Alhambra Library, in The Alhambra Source, said that the February 16 meeting held there turned into more of a debate over the tunnel project. Among the attendees was Barbara Messina, current council member and former mayor of Alhambra.
Metro Turning to Social Media to Talk About The 710 Freeway in LAist, February 16, lists participation options for citizens, including dates for webcasts.
Friday StreetPoll: 710 Gap Project on LA Streetsblog, February 18, show Mayor Ara Najarian’s name for the project leading with 23 percent of the popular vote. Readers have until this Friday to cast a vote!
Metro’s updated schedule of 710 Conversations includes three stops for Glendale – one each for Series 1 (overview), Series 2 (environmental review issues and procedures), and Series 3 (scoping).