Guest Opinion | City Council Candidate Bryan Witt Endorses Bill Blocking Construction of the 710 Tunnel

Many residents in the region will be happy to know that Assemblyman, Chris Holden has introduced Assembly Bill 287 that would prohibit construction of the 710 Tunnel.

This tunnel would be a $10 billion dollar boondoggle and will simply encourage more cars, more gridlock, more runaway development and more importantly, more global warming.

More is not always better!

As a society, we should focus on getting people out of their cars and onto public transportation. I hope Chris and other members of the State Assembly will push for a dramatic increase in the gas tax.

The current proposal is for an increase of only .17 cents per gallon. I would push for at least $2.00 a gallon. This is a political hot potato, but we need to think big if we are really going to address greenhouse gas emissions and gridlock.

$10 billion dollars could go a long way towards restoring the network of light rail and streetcars that we had throughout Los Angeles up until 1961.

My goal is to start in Pasadena and move toward regional acceptance of this idea.

According to The Guardian: ‘At the peak of their combined coverage and accessibility, they made LA’s public transportation the best in the country, if not the world.’

Some great history and the entire Guardian piece can be found here:
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/25/story-cities-los-angeles-great-american-streetcar-scandal

 

Bryan Witt is a Candidate for Pasadena City Council, District 7. He is currently an Operations Supervisor with Amtrak and a strong proponent of Public transportation.