The Pasadena community working group tasked with shaping the future of the 710 freeway “stub” found themselves on two trains of thoughts regarding the site’s redevelopment.
During Monday’s special Reconnecting Communities 710 Advisory Group meeting, which focused on the general plan’s guiding principles, the conversation turned into a lively exchange.
Some members advocated for a people-centered, restorative justice approach, while others emphasized prioritizing ease of transportation in the vision.
The “stub” — or an unfinished portion of the freeway — was once the home to more than 4,000 residents, primarily from low-income and minority communities, who were displaced when Caltrans used eminent domain nearly six decades ago to clear the land for the freeway extension that never materialized.
A rendering commissioned by the West Pasadena Residents Association shows what the city might look like if development occurred on the freeway stub meant to connect the 710 Freeway to the 210. (Courtesy Photo provided by the West Pasadena Residents Association)
Since the state agency relinquished the land back to Pasadena in 2022, the city has engaged in efforts to redevelop this area. The project includes a master plan component headed by architectural firm Perkins Eastman.
Representatives from the firm outlined six organizing concepts that will guide the creation of a framework for the project, staff said. They include physical reconnection, place creation, community cohesion, economic vitality, ecosystem health and community health.
Vice Chair Remy De La Peza suggested taking a more people-centered approach in the project and making sure that restorative justice doesn’t get lost as an overarching value.
“I think in planning we can often focus on buildings and the architecture or the historic resources pieces, usually referring to things, objects, buildings, the infrastructure,” she said. “But how do we continue to frame all of these concepts in a very people-centered way so that we’re talking about how that impacts the individual experience and the people of Pasadena.”
This project could be an opportunity “to reconnect people and stories and histories of what happened, so that that is now shared more broadly with the community,” De La Peza said.
Group member Tina Williams said she agrees that restorative justice should be a focus. She encouraged people to think about the community that was lost due to the freeway extension.
“As we think about re-establishing community, and getting a vision for what does that look like, and what does that mean to restore something that was once there,” she said. “It may not look the same, but there’s a feeling and there’s a sense of value that comes with understanding who was there, what they contributed to the community that is now not there.”
Other group members were concerned about transportation mobility.
Jose Luis Correa noted the popularity of e-bikes and urged that this trend be incorporated into the planning process.
“I do think we have to consider that when we start planning if we’re going to do bike lanes there, how is it going to work, because I do think the ski bikes are just getting more and more popular and they’re getting faster and faster,” he said.
Chair Danny Parker said analyzing how people will access and navigate the site should be a crucial part of the project’s planning.
“To the extent that this is a destination, how will people get to the site,” he said. “And then, secondly, circulation within the site.”
However, he also warned against neglecting the site’s historical significance.
“Pasadena is a city that is steeped in and revels in its history. We also have cultural traditions that are part of the city’s DNA,” he said. “And I think, in that same spirit, in that vein, the history of this site, and being mindful to be guided and to have our thoughts and perspectives be tethered to some degree in that history, I think is arguably a seventh organizing principle that I hope we can consider, or that can be considered.”
Some group members also expressed concerns that the project is not adequately addressing the needs of those displaced by the freeway construction.
Group member Michelle Bailey said the city’s inaugural community open house on the master plan on June 22 was “very well-attended”. However, she questioned whether the right people were involved in the discussion.
“It seems like we’re taking a long way around getting to having that critical discussion with the community members that we really probably should be engaging even more so,” she said.
Group member Bryan Takeda, who has raised concerns at previous meetings about the difficulty of reaching the Japanese-American community impacted by the displacement, echoed this sentiment.
“One of the difficulties I’ve had is trying to identify those specific families that are within the Japanese community who lived within those boundaries of the 710 ditch,” he said. “And so if I had a list of names of people who live there, I would have a much higher success rate in finding out where they are, and try and engage them to see if we can get their first hand stories.”
In addition to restorative justice and transportation, group members also stressed the need to focus on economic vitality and to create more housing at the site, among others.
Vaughan Davies, principal at Perkins Eastman, said the firm will have “an ongoing draft of organizing principles” based on the feedback from the community and the advisory group.
According to Wendy Macias, senior project manager, the city is working with the firm to organize the next community open house, which will be youth-focused.
“We will have a combination of those,” she said. “We will have several that will engage our youth community, as well as additional larger community-wide workshops similar to the one that we held on the 22nd.”
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