What Pasadena City Hall Isn’t Telling You

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Pasadena is on the verge of making decisions that will have real and lasting consequences for public safety and access to healthcare. These choices will affect whether doctors, nurses, and emergency responders can reach the facilities where they save lives, and whether the public can access those same services when it matters most.

City officials are seriously considering closing the 134 and 210 freeway access roads that run through the area known as the “710 Property.” That move would put decades of planning at risk and threaten the Pasadena Medical Services and Research Corridor, one of the city’s most important medical and economic assets.

For years, some City leaders have pushed to close these access roads as a first step toward building 2,400 units of government-supported housing on the 710 Property. Whatever one’s views on housing, this proposal collides head-on with the needs of Huntington Health, Shriners Children’s Hospital, and the surrounding medical facilities that thousands of Pasadena residents rely on every day.

Residents Shut Out

What is especially troubling is how little the City Council has involved the people who would be most affected. West Pasadena residents, particularly those along Orange Grove Boulevard where much of the diverted traffic would land, have not been meaningfully consulted.

When a proposal can reshape emergency access, traffic patterns, and neighborhood safety, residents deserve transparency, real data, and a voice in the process. Instead, the community has largely been left out. That is not how responsible decisions are made.

A Simple Solution the City Should Evaluate

If the goal is to reduce cut-through traffic and improve safety, there are more options than cutting off the 134 and 210 access through the 710 Property. One suggestion has been to close the 134 and 210 off-ramps to Orange Grove. That proposal may or may not be viable, but it is no less logical than what is currently being considered, and it deserves serious review.

This approach directly addresses safety concerns, protects residential streets, and preserves emergency access to Huntington Health. What does not add up is the idea of building thousands of new housing units while simultaneously removing freeway access points that serve the region’s primary medical corridor. That combination guarantees added congestion, slower response times, and avoidable risks for surrounding neighborhoods.

Public Safety Comes First

This is not theoretical planning. It is about whether people can get lifesaving care when minutes matter.

Closing the 134 and 210 access points would compromise access to Huntington Hospital and surrounding medical facilities by forcing ambulances, patients, and medical staff onto already crowded surface streets. Fair Oaks Avenue and California Boulevard are already among Pasadena’s most congested corridors. Adding diverted freeway traffic will create predictable bottlenecks that slow emergency vehicles and make it harder for patients and staff to get where they need to be.

These are not hypotheticals. A delayed stroke response. A cardiac patient stuck in traffic. A trauma victim arriving minutes too late. That is what is at stake.

We Deserve Transparency and Accountability

Before the City decides on any course of action, it should conduct a full CEQA study of all possible alternatives. The California Environmental Quality Act exists precisely for decisions of this magnitude and impact. Failing to conduct such a study would represent a serious breach of the City’s responsibility and its obligation to the public.

Residents also deserve:

Thank you,

Pasadena Voices & the Orange Grove Residents Council

Pasadena Voices and the Orange Grove Residents Council, a DBA of Pasadena Voices, welcome support from anyone in the community. We accept financial contributions and gifts in kind.

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