Why should the communities of Highland Park and Mt. Washington be so deeply concerned about the extension to the 710 Freeway?

Its path, after all, would seem to be some distance away, and we have a number of problems of our own. So, this freeway wouldn't even appear to be a letigimate NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard issue. Or is it?

There is a new, encouraging, and wiser way of thinking that is struggling to emerge in our country. This thinking recognizes that our "Back Yard" -- socially and environmentally speaking -- is far larger than many of us previously envisioned. And we, who embrace this new thinking, feel we must challenge the entrenched and archaic planning that still supports the building of the 710 Freeway extension.

The proposed freeway is not just a South Pasadena issue or, less mentioned, an El Sereno issue. The project is in the back yard of the entire northeast area of Los Angeles and beyond. It is in the back yard of several communities deeply engaged in the process of trying to preserve themselves, strengthen themselves, define themselves, and to some degree, even to recreate themselves as vital and liveable communities.

The potential for destruction embodied in the completion of this 6-mile swath of concrete is incalculable. It extends far beyond its sacrificed path and its sound-barrier walls. Its impact radiates out into adjacent resiential areas.

There is very persuasive literature that speaks to the horrific social impacts of a freeway on a community. And, look at our own historical reference points:

• East Los Angeles and the San Bernardino Freeway
• The Century Freeway
• Even the comparitively benign Pasadena Freeway

All had significant and, to varying degrees, even tragic impact on the communities through which they passed. But this freeway, this project, is much more damaging, much more cynical and therefore much more cruel. Because now we know better. And we also now know that there are better alternatives.

And we are working on them. The City of Los Angeles is presently developing the framework for its General Plan. A Community Plan Advisory Committee has been meeting for more than three years with the City Planning Department staff, to carefully study and revise the Northeast Los Angeles Community Plan -- a plan which includes areas through which parts of the 710 extension will past.

If the freeway is built, however, the work of the committee will be moot. Caltrans instead will take nearly 3,000 properties with the completion of the freeway; some 5,000 people will be displaced. Entire neighborhoods and communities will be forever compromised, severed by a ribbon of concrete which does not even serve them.