VALLEY FREEWAY WAR? IDEA OF TAKING 600 HOMES TO EXPAND 101 MAY PIT RESIDENTS AGAINST DRIVERS.Byline: Lisa Mascaro Staff Writer Major improvements to speed traffic for millions of motorists on the congested con·gest·ed adj. Affected with or characterized by congestion. congested ENT adjective Referring to a boggy blood-filled tissue. See Nasal congestion. 101 Freeway corridor face enormous resistance from San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. homeowners and business people who have blocked double-decking and widening plans in the past. As many as 600 homes and 300 businesses, in addition to seven parks and three schools, would have to be sacrificed to widen or double-deck the Ventura Freeway The Ventura Freeway is a freeway in southern California running from Ventura to Pasadena. It is the principal east-west route through Ventura County and in the southern San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County. from Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. to downtown, preliminary project information shows. The people who would lose their property under eminent domain eminent domain, the right of a government to force the owner of private property sell it if it is needed for a public use. The right is based on the doctrine that a sovereign state has dominion over all lands and buildings within its borders, which has its origins in would be compensated at a minimum of fair market value, but that is unlikely to soften their opposition. Many others with homes or businesses near the freeway might be just as fierce in their opposition since their lives would be disrupted and their property depreciated Depreciated may refer to:
The properties directly affected comprise up to 1,040 acres flanking the 40-mile stretch of freeway, where state Department of Transportation officials are studying proposals they say could cut 22 minutes off rush- hour commutes that are expected swell to more than 90 minutes each way by 2025. Planners expect to present the proposals at community meetings next month as they hone in on the top option to pursue for further study and possible funding. And neighborhood leaders expect that many residents will be unhappy at what they'll see. ``They'll come unglued un·glued adj. 1. Loosened or separated; unfastened. 2. Informal In confused distress; upset. Idiom: come unglued Informal To lose one's composure. ,'' said Tony Lucente, president of the Studio City Residents Association, whose membership fought the double-decker plan when it was first proposed more than a decade ago. ``When all's said and done, I don't expect the views of our membership have changed. And we use the freeway, too. ``I'd be waiting for 600 residents to line up who would be willing to sacrifice their homes for the rest of us (abuse) for The Rest Of Us - (From the Macintosh slogan "The computer for the rest of us") 1. Used to describe a spiffy product whose affordability shames other comparable products, or (more often) used sarcastically to describe spiffy but very overpriced products. 2. ... Somehow I don't think that line will be very long. One only has to look at the battles that have been waged to acquire land for schools. If people aren't willing to give up their homes for kids, what makes you think they'll give it up for cars?'' he said. But Caltrans insists the plans are merely that - a first step toward trying to see what it would take to improve freeway conditions for the thousands of motorists who drive the gridlocked grid·lock n. 1. A traffic jam in which no vehicular movement is possible, especially one caused by the blockage of key intersections within a grid of streets. 2. corridor each day. There is no money yet to fund any project beyond the initial study. ``It's really just a beginning,'' said Caltrans spokeswoman Deborah Harris. ``What would it look like if we did this? It will be further refined through the process. ``What you see today won't be the final product. It's too soon for people to make decisions about their property because at this point there is no project,'' she said. But Sherman Oaks resident Isaac Martin Isaac George 'Pompey' Martin (b. 25 May 1889 in Gateshead, d. 6 May 1962 in Norwich) was a professional footballer. Martin, a central defender, began his career with Sunderland and Portsmouth before spending the majority of his career with Norwich City where he made 243 is already worried the value of his Ventura Canyon Avenue home will decline if the plans go through. ``My bottom line is, I don't want to see it and I don't want to hear it,'' Martin, an automotive editor who bought the home he lives in with his wife and daughter in 1988, said about a potentially bigger freeway. ``It gets back to why is it being built on my back? ... People make a decision to live here and work downtown ... If you don't like it, that should be an issue you should reflect on.'' Planners insist the draft maps now being used are merely just footprints of the maximum area that would be needed under the biggest-build option. The maps are expected to change once engineering work is done and parcel maps (Data West Research Agency definition: see GIS glossary.) The basic drawings (maps) of the land cadastre (ownership boundaries) for all public and private lands. Parcel maps are typically maintained at a variety of scales, and can be either very precise or very general "cartoon maps" consulted. Still, if property needs to be condemned, Caltrans would go through its standard process that includes offering fair market value for the real estate, as well as making other moving benefits available, officials said. Landowners who contest the situation would still have no choice but to move, but could press their concerns in court to seek greater compensation for the property, officials said. George Lefcoe, professor of real estate law at the University of Southern California The U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,634 of the almost 34,000 who applied for freshman admission School of Law, said if the plans progress to the point where Caltrans wants the property, landowners would have little recourse but to pack up and sell. ``The government has the right to take the property, but they have to pay for it. For most people it's a dream buyer. This is a buyer without credit problems ... They don't care
"Don't Care" is a 1994 (see 1994 in music) single by American death metal band Obituary. if the roof leaks, you have mold,'' Lefcoe said. ``The problem is, of course, for people who didn't want to sell, this is bad news because the government has this power.'' For those whose properties don't fall in the path, but still face what they consider lost value or quality of life because they sit near the new expanded freeway, the law offers no recourse, Lefcoe said. ``For you, there is no good news. The fact that you are left with an undesirable condition is uncompensable. Where would you ever draw a line? We are all affected by things the government does ... This is the breaks.'' The working maps show the freeway route would start at Lynne Road in Thousand Oaks. Up to 1,040 acres would be affected, encompassing all or part of 654 residences, 316 businesses, seven parks and three schools. The maps also show ingress/egress stations for elevated portions of the highway at Reyes Adobe Road; Shoup, Winnetka, Corbin and White Oak avenues; Cahuenga Boulevard; and Vermont Avenue Vermont Avenue is one of the longest running north/south streets in Los Angeles. Located just west of the Harbor Freeway for the major portion south of downtown Los Angeles, it starts in Griffith Park at the Greek Theatre in the Los Feliz neighborhood as a one-lane divided road (it . They also show some of the 18 possible train stations along the way. Park and Ride lots for the train stations and car-pool lanes were sketched in for various areas - west of White Oak Avenue along Burbank Boulevard, north of the Sherman Oaks Galleria Sherman Oaks Galleria is a shopping mall and business center located in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles, California at the corner of Ventura and Sepulveda Boulevards in the San Fernando Valley. Locals colloquially refer to the mall simply as "the Galleria. , east of Sherman Oaks Square, at the Sherman Oaks Fashion Square, southwest of the freeway's intersection with Coldwater Canyon, Weddington Park below the homes. ``It will wreak wreak tr.v. wreaked, wreak·ing, wreaks 1. To inflict (vengeance or punishment) upon a person. 2. To express or gratify (anger, malevolence, or resentment); vent. 3. a lot of havoc on the residents and businesses,'' said longtime freeway opponent Gerald Silver, whose Coalition of Freeway Residents formed a decade ago to battle the previous proposal. Silver believes the specter of the project will diminish property values once the footprint becomes more formal in coming months, even if the project itself is years away. ``They'll be within the shadow of the project, with the prospect of losing their homes,'' he said. ``There'll be an immediate property loss sustained by these people.'' Lefcoe said residents would probably not be required to disclose the possible freeway plans to potential buyers until Caltrans issued a formal notice of its intent to condemn the land, though he said it's probably best for owners to let potential buyers know the freeway plans are under way to prevent future problems. Residents have long opposed freeways, he added, himself included - he fought the Pacific Coast Highway Pacific Coast Highway may refer to:
At $300 million a mile for subway construction, Lucente asks why not build a $12 billion subway underground along the 40-mile highway stretch. ``Everyone becomes a kind of libertarian before they think too hard about condemnation, especially if their life is in the hair-trigger,'' Lefcoe said. ``People who get all weepy about the fact that they're being dispossessed dis·pos·sessed adj. 1. Deprived of possession. 2. Spiritually impoverished or alienated. dis by the government are not acknowledging the fact that (life) has only been enjoyable because of the things government has done ... the road system, the schools, the sewer, the water. ``Just remove all that stuff government has facilitated. If we didn't have those things because government couldn't parcel the land together, it would have been worthless,'' he said. ``Those are the facts. That's the simple truth. Anyone can understand - as long as it's not your house.'' IF YOU GO: Public workshops on the 101 Freeway corridor study are scheduled for 6-8 p.m. Sept. 12 at the Encino Community Center, 4935 Balboa Blvd.; Sept. 18 at the Hollywood Senior Center, 1360 N. St. Andrews Place; and Sept. 19, Agoura Hills/Calabasas Community Center, 27040 Malibu Hills Road, Calabasas. CAPTION(S): 2 boxes, map Box: (1) IF YOU GO (see text) (2) LAND GRAB land grab n. An aggressive taking of land, especially by military force, in order to expand territorial holdings or broaden power: "The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 was . . . SOURCE: US 101 Freeway Corridor Improvement Study Map: PROPOSED VENTURA FREEWAY TRAFFIC FLOW IMPROVEMENTS |
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