City of Alhambra charges Cabinet Secretary Pena, federal highway chief with discrimination over failure to proceed with Long Beach Freeway -- I-710 -- completion; city also seeks to block Alameda Corridor.

ALHAMBRA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 1 ,1996--The City of Alhambra yesterday filed a $50 million claim with federal transportation officials charging them with discrimination against its largely ethnic minority population for failure to permit completion of the 6.2-mile gap of Interstate 710.

The claim was filed against Federico Pena, U.S. secretary of transportation, and Rodney Slater, director of the Federal Highway Administration, for failure to sign the Record of Decision of the Environmental Impact Statements, a necessary step for the freeway to move forward.

The claim was one of three legal actions filed in an effort to unblock paperwork needed from the federal level to proceed with closing the 710 freeway gap between Interstates 10 and 210.

In its claim, the city said it had suffered a disproportionate share of traffic impacts, including increased air pollution, accidents and other costs, because of the need to use Alhambra's streets between Interstates 10 and 210.

"The federal government is allowing a small, affluent, well-connected community to isolate itself from its neighbors, while working class minority people -- including thousands of innocent children -- pay the economic and physical price," said Alhambra Mayor Paul Talbot, making a reference to the City of South Pasadena, which has fought the freeway extension for decades.

"I find it hard to believe Secretary Pena and his boss, President Clinton, could support such an injustice, but apparently, they have forgotten about us. Perhaps this action will help refresh their memories."

The claim says that stop-and-go traffic of 100,000 vehicles daily on city streets has contributed to increased air pollution in an area where air quality standards are already exceeded. It is estimated that an additional 4.8 tons of carbon monoxide a day are created as a result of vehicles having to travel the 6.2 miles on surface streets.

Schools, playgrounds and parks suffer particularly, the claim says. Respiratory ailments are the number one cause of absences in the Alhambra School District.

The claim says the city has a wide variety of ethnic minorities, who are disparately subjected to the impacts of poor air quality "hot spots" caused by the idling of additional traffic forced to use Alhambra's surface streets.

The California Highway Commission adopted the freeway route for Interstate 710 in 1964. The freeway was completed except for the 6.2- mile gap, which was blocked through legal maneuvers by the City of South Pasadena.

In 1973, the state agreed not to proceed with the final segment until an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was completed and approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The EIS was completed in 1992 and released for public comment, and now awaits signatures by Secretary Pena and Director Slater on a Record of Decision.

"Their failure to do so in a timely manner is the basis for this claim," the city says.

Accidents, Deaths Cited

The lack of a freeway also costs the city in other ways, the claim says. The city has an increased need for police and other services, citing an average of seven deaths and 610 accidents per year on the 6.2-mile stretch. Costs to repair city streets because of additional traffic is estimated at $380,000 annually.

The lack of the freeway also has adversely impacted residents and businesses in the entire Los Angeles area, the claim says. Impacts include: -0-

  -- Additional commute time of at least 30 minutes for those driving
the surface streets between Interstates 10 and 210, equating to 120,700
additional hours of commuting time daily and millions of dollars of
lost productivity.
  -- Increased gasoline consumption, estimated at an additional 7,000
gallons daily because motorists use surface streets.
  -- Economic impacts of a completed freeway would mean a savings of
$5.3 billion to governments, businesses and individuals during the
first 20 years of use.

In a second legal action, Alhambra yesterday filed a suit in U.S. District Court, asking the court to order Pena and Slater to sign the Record of Decision. The city claims that all prerequisites needed to issue the ROD have been satisfied.

The suit says that sufficient consideration of environmental and historical preservation issues has occurred during the more than 20 years of preparing the final EIS and the three years of subsequent review and comment.

Suit Seeks To Stall Alameda Corridor

In a third action filed yesterday in U.S. District Court, the city is challenging the federal approval of funding and construction of the Alameda Corridor, a massive project that would consolidate about 90 miles of existing rail operations into a single, 20-mile high capacity line.

The Alameda Corridor is planned to be a high volume, consolidated freight railroad link between the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and regional and national rail systems. The 20-mile corridor would run along Alameda Street from downtown Los Angeles to the Ports.

The city alleges that federal and state transportation officials failed to consider adequately the potential impacts within the City of Alhambra and the San Gabriel Valley.

The suit says that 100-150 additional freight train trips per day passing through the high number of at-grade (street level) crossings would significantly delay the flow of north-south traffic in the San Gabriel Valley. A foreseeable consequence is that motorists will seek to avoid the long, frequent delays at the at-grade crossings and use the north-south surface streets in the City of Alhambra, where the east-west Southern Pacific Railroad is below street level.

This would further increase traffic congestions, emergency service response delays, adverse noise, air quality and other public health and safety impacts, on top of the problems caused by the 710 Freeway gap.

Motorists would have no alternative, the suit says, since completion of the 710 Freeway, intended as a major north-south transportation corridor from Long Beach to Pasadena, is stalled.

The suit seeks to block further planning, release of funds and construction of the Alameda Corridor until mitigation alternatives including completion of the 710 gap are addressed.

CONTACT: City of Alhambra

Leland C. Dolley, City Attorney, 818/570-5005

or

Julio Fuentes, City Manager, 818/570-5010