April 16 – 29, 2004
Beyond Gridlock
710 Freeway Community Advisors’ Progress Slow, But Steady
By Rachael Stillman, Community Reporter

     Recent  meetings of community advisors  have  been steadily developing the groundwork for final recommendations that will be presented to the 710 Freeway Oversight Policy Committee (OPC). At their latest meeting, on April 1, members of the Tier 2 Community Advisory Committee (CAC), were developing their suggestions, full of potentially viable ideas, with the determination to set their own pace for the decision-making process.  This time, they want it done right.  Last year, without the CAC structure, the OPC’s plans were derailed by community outrage over plans that would have decimated a number of freeway-adjacent communities.
     Noel Park, representing Wilmington and San Pedro on the CAC, sometimes gets the impression that meeting facilitators want to rush matters along, which Park feels would be a big mistake.
      “This a multi-billion dollar project, this can’t be rushed through. This isn’t something that we can get done in two months, nor should we have to,” said Park.
     However, Richard Power, Executive Director of Gateway Council of Governments (COG), which oversees the OPC process, sees a lot of progress being made in these meetings, and agrees that they should continue on for as long as is needed.
     “I think Tier 2 CAC members are discussing the issues, moving through the agendas well, and are actively participating, as the attendance is good. The whole process is a positive one in which issues come forward and are openly discussed. The Tier 2 members are also doing a good job of representing their communities, because all of the issues that community members mentioned in Tier 1 CACs are being mentioned,” said Powers.
     Environmental concerns are at the top of Tier 2 CAC members’ priority list. One suggestion involved utilizing alternative fuels to loosen dependence on oil and cap pollution growth, if not reverse it. Extra fees for trucking containers and lowered fees for shipping by rail were also discussed, along with enhancing the Alameda Corridor. There is also the possibility of receiving environmental mitigation money, which could be given back to the communities they helped pollute.
     Job creation was another major concern. Both the Port and the Alameda Corridor have promised the cities running along the 710 that new projects mean new jobs. But, in contrast to all past history, this has not taken place.
     Now, there are tentative plans to extend the Alameda Corridor to the Inland Empire, a region already full of warehouse jobs. The Inland Empire would serve as an unloading and repackaging stop for the containers, for train or truck shipments back East. If repackaged in Carson or Compton instead, a whole slew of jobs would go to the cities directly affected by the 710 and its pollution, but unlike the Inland Empire, these cities lack the excess warehouses and open space needed.
     Complicated issues like these are just what the Tier 2 CAC meetings are for. Legal Aid lawyer and CAC member Malcolm Carson appreciates the group’s existence and dedication.
     “The Tier 2 CAC members are a great group of people with good ideas. And so far there has been a general consensus that before we can move forward with any real freeway improvements, we have to address air quality issues, which we are still in process of doing,” said Carson. But he sometimes doubts what will come of the process.
     “The only issue that looms over me is that the OPC has not offered us any guarantee that they will adopt the ideas that eventually come out of here,” he said. “But the community participation, and the process so far, is really great.”