Mayor Still Seeks 710 Support From Neighbors

Update: A.B. 353 passed the State Assembly floor late Wednesday night 42 to 6. It is now headed to the Senate. 

I was late to the Council meeting Wednesday night. So was Mayor Mike Ten. But in good taste. 

Ten was visiting El Sereno's LA-32 Neighborhood Council Wednesday night, spreading awareness about State Assembly Bill 353. 

"They were very supportive and thankful to the city of South Pasadena for contining the fight," Ten told Council of his meeting with El Sereno community members Wednesday night. "They also were very supportive and understanding of the contract clauses of the first freeway agreement of 1965 to the exception that took out our rights along with the other city rights." 

The state's Assembly Committee on Transportation pushed through A.B. 353 April 25, a bill that aims to repeal a provision in the state code that, under certain conditions, allows Caltrans to build a freeway without having to clear it with any cities or towns the freeway would affect. 

Since the bill will die if it does not reach the state assembly floor by July, Ten requested that the El Sereno council write letters to Assemblyman Gil Cedillo and L.A. City Council Members Eric Garcetti, Jose Huizar and Ed Reyes in order to relay the community’s support for the bill, reported The Eastsider Thursday.

Ten told South Pas Council Wednesday that he's gotten word that the bill may be moving to the state assembly floor soon. If the provision is officially repealed, South Pasadena would reclaim veto power over freeway construction in the city.

Anthony Manzano, president of the El Sereno council, promised Ten that the council’s Land Use and Development Committee would meet to make a recommendation to the board, according to The Eastsider. Ten also has meetings scheduled to discuss A.B. 353 with Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council and Highland Park-Mount Washington Neighborhood Council.