San Marinans came out June 10 to the Crowell Public Library with numerous questions, ideas and some lingering confusion as the resident-led group Citizens for Safe San Marino held a press conference that followed by a Town Hall meeting organized by city staff to discuss the proposed projects for 710 freeway extension alternatives with $32 million from Measure R sales tax funding through the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). The funds are meant to address traffic impact due to Metro’s decision to not construct the 710 tunnel project, which aimed to link the 710 and 210 Freeways.
The currently presented projects considered in San Marino are Huntington Drive intersection work ($12 million), Huntington Drive signal synchronization ($7 million), work in front of school sites on Huntington Drive ($6 million), work along Sierra Madre Boulevard ($4 million) and San Gabriel Boulevard signal synchronization ($3 million).
During the press conference, several residents expressed their concerns with the funding. Resident and group leader Dr. Ghassan Roumani shared that the group’s main concern is transparency with the process of the Metro projects and that there’s a “cover up” concern that residents don’t have enough information to make decisions on the projects.
Residents also shared concerns with wear and tear on the streets, decreasing property values with additional cars, safety concerns with schools along Huntington Drive and pointing out existing corridors that are already built for more traffic flow. Holding up a hand-drawn map of primary regional roads, resident Karen Habib noted ways that traffic connects from the 710 Freeway to the 210 Freeway, such as the 60 Freeway to Rosemead Boulevard, the 10 Freeway and Fremont Avenue.
“So why would we spend $32 million to let the traffic go through San Marino?” Habib asked. “Who benefits?”
In the Town Hall, City Council Member Steve Talt reminded the gathered crowd of around 80 residents that no decision on the proposals has been made after several residents expressed concerns that decisions had been approved without their knowledge.
“No decision has been brought to the City Council,” Talt noted. “We’re still not necessarily collecting information but we’re still exploring where our alternatives are.”
Arup Associate Principal and former Pasadena Deputy Mayor Katherine Perez-Estolano facilitated the meeting and fielded input from residents. Concerns included questions on strings attached to the funding, making Huntington Drive slower with signal synchronization, speed enforcement on Huntington Drive and stress on the fire and police departments if more traffic flows through the city.
According to Talt, city staff is exploring three options: accept all of the funding for the projects, explore ways that the city could provide safety features to the schools and neighborhoods or reject all of the funding outright. The Town Hall served as a way for residents to ask questions “in hopes it might flush out if there are any projects that San Marino believes should be done that will continue to maintain San Marino as San Marino, and yet improve upon the community in a way that is acceptable to us,” Talt noted.
Several residents expressed confusion on the timeline of how the projects were proposed. City Manager Dr. Marcella Marlowe that the process started about a year ago when City Council appointed a resident of the community to be the 710 advisor to staff. Marlowe and Parks and Public Works Director Michael Throne then worked with the resident to compile a list of suggestions that they felt that Metro “would be willing to create a placeholder financial support for with the understanding from Metro, at the time, that these would just be placeholder projects and we could then come back to the community.”
Out of the list, Metro selected the five projects that are currently being discussed. Marlowe also noted there is “fluidity in the numbers” and that the funds are “not restricted to these five.”
The next step of the process will be a Public Safety Commission meeting on June 24 at 7 p.m. The San Marino Center is expected to be the location, as many residents noted that the Barth Community Room was too small to accommodate.
The city has also posted links on cityofsanmarino.org to the proposed projects, frequently asked questions, and notes from the June 10 meeting.
