Metro Faces Tough Crowd at South Pasadena 710 Community Meeting

Metro's fourth SR-710 community meeting Wednesday evening took place in South Pasadena, and drew residents from a number of local communities including Mount Washington, Highland Park, El Sereno, Glendale, Arcadia and South Pasadena.

Several common themes emerged when residents shared their transportation concerns, including public transit, environmental considerations and fixing existing infrastructure and congestion areas.

Joanne Nuckols, South Pasadena resident and No on 710 coalition member proposed that Caltrans and Metro take a closer look at fixing areas where congestion is at its worst. Carol Teutsch, a Mt. Washington resident, suggested that current infrastructure be improved before there is investment in new projects. Residents from all communities expressed the need for more public transit, and asked Metro to focus on expansion of existing light rail lines, bike lanes, bus routes and more.

South Pasadena resident Jim Miller raised the issue of children’s health and air quality as it pertains to building new infrastructure, which could add more cars to roads. Miller asked Metro to look at the cost of a tunnel versus the cost of building multi-modal transportation solutions.

The purpose of the initial  is to get the public involved in the project process and to find solutions to traffic problems in the area. 

Metro Communications Manager, Helen Ortiz Gilstrap, said “the format of meetings is different than anything Metro has done before and they seem to be having a positive impact." She added, "in the first round of meetings, comments are not part of the official Scoping, but they will be taken into consideration if there is a common theme.”

According to South Pasadena Mayor Mike Ten, “Metro has done a great job so far in this first round of community outreach."

"I think the public as a whole wants to see something done to address solutions to mobility while protecting the environment and neighborhoods," Ten said. "I believe the meetings will be perceived as falling short of needs and or concerns of our most active South Pasadena residents and No on 710 advocates," he said. "Tonight was probably Metro's toughest crowd.”

South Pasadena resident Bill Sherman indicated the need for a third-party analysis to offer solutions. “What we need is a truly independent analysis done by a university or think tank that is not associated with Metro or Caltrans," Sherman said.

Carol Teutsch of Mount Washington, added Metro needs to consider other alternatives. “It makes me embarrassed to see how this process works. This is a 50 year old solution. There is tremendous inertia to do things the same way.”

The public can make comments that go on the record during the Scoping phase and up until April 14, which is two weeks after the last Scoping meeting. The three-part series of Metro meetings will conclude on March 30. For more information, visit www.metro.net/sr710conversations

Click for Patch coverage of last week's meeting.