San Gabriel Valley : Caltrans’ Demolition Derby
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Caltrans’ idea for run-down, vacant homes it owns in the path of the Long Beach (710) Freeway extension: Bulldoze them.
The plan still must win approval from a federal court judge.
The Department of Transportation wants to demolish 20 state-owned properties, 17 in El Sereno and three in South Pasadena.
Officials say the South Pasadena structures are so decrepit it would be “uneconomical to repair” them and the El Sereno houses are overrun with gangs and drug dealers.
In April, The Times reported that 25% of 610 properties along the proposed extension route were uninhabitable or vacant. At the time, Caltrans officials denied that the homes were in disrepair.
Opponents of the 6.2-mile extension through Pasadena, South Pasadena and El Sereno plan to challenge the proposed demolitions in court, noting that Caltrans officials had promised to repair two of the houses.
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