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Health & Fitness

Why I Oppose a 710 Freeway Extension

Not Free, Not Fair, and Not Here

Public dollars must always be wisely invested. That's especially true in California when we are laying off teachers, closing health centers, deferring safety inspections on bridges, and endangering our future with fee hikes that price talented, eager students out of university degrees.

A costly extension of the 710 Freeway through Northeast Los Angeles is a mistake from a fiscal perspective, from a planning perspective, and from a standpoint of basic fairness. Extending the 710 may sound harmless to outsiders. But it's a bad move for our community. That's why I have joined with local residents to oppose a new freight corridor through our neighborhoods.

I have participated in the community forums surrounding the proposed construction routes, both surface and underground. And I have listened to the pro-build arguments. But the lack of fluency by transportation consultants in communicating plans and responding to neighbors' concerns left me disappointed. If the need to move freight cargo north and east from nearby ports really is the driving force behind this new freeway, then economics indicate that upgrading or extension of existing rail is actually a smarter investment.

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The threat of this huge highway has hovered over (and under) Northeast L.A. for too long. I know residents in CalTrans properties. I have seen the condemned CalTrans dwellings that sit vacant in our neighborhoods, and I know about the lost revenue this has cost us and the blight it creates in communities like El Sereno. 

I have also heard from hundreds of my neighbors about the major disruptions this new project would impose. And I will not allow the special neighborhoods of Northeast Los Angeles to be laid spoil by a huge and costly new highway that has been poorly sold to us as an imperative. It's time our communities' voice is heard. I am working to ensure it always will be.

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