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Will Pasadena’s City Council Vote for a Special Election to Repeal a 15-Year-Old 710 Freeway Initiative?

Published on Monday, June 20, 2016 | 4:07 am
 

The Pasadena City Council is expected to vote Monday night on Mayor Terry Tornek’s recommendation for a special election to repeal a decade-and-half old initiative which puts the City on record in favor of supporting completion of the 710 Freeway extension.

Discussions begun last week were continued until tonight so that legal ramifications could be contemplated behind closed doors.

Tornek, backed by a legal opinion from City Attorney Michele Bagneris, has said that so long as that voter-passed Measure remains in force on the books, the City cannot campaign against the building of a tunnel to complete the 710 freeway stub.

At the May 17 City Council meeting, Tornek had said “after the November elections the City is going to get ambushed and we will be confronted with a full court press to build [the 710 tunnel].”

“We have got to be prepared to prevent that from happening,” Tornek had said. “So, in order for us to be ready when this hits the fan after November, we must repeal Measure A since it restricts our ability to actively oppose the completion of the freeway. And that can only be repealed by a vote of the people.”

In an Agenda Report Tornek prepared for the City Council, he stressed that it is doubly critical to act on the recommendation, because the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is putting up the money-raising Measure R2 to fund major projects on the ballot in November.

The Mayor sees Measure R2 as “a giant, long term transportation sales tax measure” which could add momentum to a renewed offensive to complete the 710 Freeway quickly.

“In light of the magnitude of the project and impact this will have on Pasadena and quality of life issues, the City Council must re-insert the City’s voice and legal standing to express opposition,” Tornek said in the Agenda Report. “The only way to accomplish this goal is to submit a ballot measure and repeal Measure A by a vote of the people.”

In 2012, the City’s legal advisers said Measure A prohibits the City from taking a position against any project proposals that would connect the 1-10 and 1- 210 Freeways, and limits the city’s ability to even comment on or criticize specific aspects of new proposals. The legal advisers said if the City Council wanted to take a position against any of the proposals for extending the 710 Freeway, it should submit a ballot measure to the voters to amend or repeal Measure A.

The City Council has since voted to adopt resolutions opposing several alternatives to the 710 Extension project – including a tunnel alternative – because they would result to “detrimental impacts to the City of Pasadena, its residents, historic residential neighborhoods, schools, businesses, families, and children.”

City Councilmember Steve Madison, in whose district the tunneling would most likely occur, in early June said he does not see a need to put the repeal action in the November ballot.

“When Measure A was adopted in 2001 there was no plan or contemplation of a tunnel,” Madison said. “Measure A addressed the 710 surface route with no trucks and no tolls. Today, any vestiges of the project are totally different – there was no surface route, only the proposed tunnel which would include trucks and be a tollroad. Measure A is defunct. The city’s position is in opposition to the 710 tunnel. So I am uncertain why anyone would want to put the matter up for vote after a costly ballot campaign, given that it’s about an issue that’s already been decided.”

Councilmember Margaret McAustin seems to agree with Mayor Tornek that it would make sense for the City Council to gain the people’s support through a ballot initiative. She warned, however, that an election would be costly.

“A ballot initiative would require an expensive education campaign,” McAustin said. “City funds cannot be used so there would have to be a significant fundraising effort. I believe if people truly understand the impacts to their quality of life the tunnel will bring they won’t support it [the tunnel]. There’s a lot more discussion to be had and voter sentiment to assess.”

District 1 Councilmember Tyron Hampton appears to be in full support of placing the repeal initiative on the ballot.

“This is a democracy,” Hampton said. “People need to be heard. A lot of the people who voted [for Measure A] in 2001 don’t live here anymore. African Americans were displaced by the 210, and I am not going to change the quality of life in my district with trucks passing through there for years. The community was promised sound walls, but they never got built. If I don’t allow the people the vote, we have effectively changed the quality of life in my community. Let the people vote.”

Placing a measure to repeal Measure A on the November ballot would mean costs estimated at $152,000. Mayor Tornek is proposing that the City Council repurpose part of a Charter Reform Task Force fund in the City Clerk’s budget – about $150,000 – for the purpose.

 

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