San Gabriel will accept $17.4 million in Measure R funds to widen intersections along Valley Boulevard and Mission Drive for a congestion-reduction effort the City Council approved Tuesday.
The mobility projects, which add turn and through lanes at several intersections, drew the meeting’s sharpest public criticism. One speaker who said he was a San Gabriel resident told the council the lane additions would reduce traffic in the short term, but then it induces more people to use those lanes, arguing the city should instead pursue a bus rapid transit lane on Valley Boulevard.
“Instead, we should encourage people to use other ways to travel, like the Valley bus rapid transit plan that I heard about a few years ago that we didn’t approve instead of making driving the fastest, safest way to go anywhere,” the speaker said.
City Manager Mark Lazzaretto said the projects are already about 90% designed, but staff can still work with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority on the through lanes.
The council also awarded a $680,600 construction contract to Green Giant Landscape for the Las Tunas Drive streetscape project, which will add street trees, pedestrian lighting, benches, bike racks and trash receptacles along the corridor. Lazzaretto clarified that bike lanes are not part of that project, but that the Public Works Department is conducting a broader bike lane study across the city.
In the meeting’s main item, the council adopted a resolution adding $30,000 to the Mission Playhouse budget to fund a slate of centennial events marking the venue’s 100th anniversary in 2027. Community Services Director Rebecca Perez said the playhouse was dedicated March 5, 1927, and built by John Steven McGroarty to house the Mission Play.
The centennial plan drew nearly an hour of council feedback on a proposed new logo. Councilwoman Denise Menchaca said the design “doesn’t say San Gabriel anywhere on it,” and questioned the “100” placed in the archway.
Councilman Jorge Herrera Ávila said, “The first thought that comes to mind when I see that ‘100’ is tombstones, and I think that’s why I feel it’s a little off. It looks like three three tombstones. Maybe replacing that with ‘centennial,’ I think would be something … to consider.”
Perez said she and city staffers would take the council’s input back to the design firm.
The AI platform Civilio assisted this report.
