ah, that 710 gap

The original design of the 710 Freeway extended it through Alhambra, San Marino and central Pasadena. Guess what, that plan didn’t last for long. When the original plans were negotiated for the southern portion of the 710, South Pasadena was not allowed to participate and was told that when the discussions began for the northern part they would be included. But when the northern negotiations started, South Pasadena was told that the southern route had already determined where the northern route would go. Although the 710 straddles city borders for most of its length it was decided to place the northern end through the center of South Pasadena, the smallest, and thus least powerful, city in the affected area. There was an early realization by the designers that the destruction of such a high percentage of that small cities homes would have such a negative impact on the tax base that South Pasadena would not be able to continue as a fully incorporated city. A plan was drawn up to divide South Pasadena between Los Angeles, Alhambra and Pasadena.

Throughout the Sixties and Seventies South Pasadena tried different approaches to a compromise but no other city would consider an alternate route. So, in the Seventies South Pasadena paid for the design and feasibility study of a western route that straddled the border with Los Angeles and utilized a high percentage of property which at the time was undeveloped. Because some of that property was owned by major donors to members of the Los Angeles City Council, that westerly route proposal was immediately killed.

At that time South Pasadena realized that compromise was futile and adopted a “no freeway” policy. Probably, if South Pasadena just said no from the beginning, some other solution would have been reached decades ago. Even now the tunnel proposal being discussed follows the same route as the surface freeway, despite the fact that the funding measure contained a requirement that the study be “route neutral”.

So in South Pasadena the issue isn’t “should we suck it up and let a freeway through our town“, it is “will we survive as an independent city or will we be carved up and tossed to the wolves.”