Jun 29, 2008

THEN AND NOW: Expressway plan narrowly avoids defeat

Matt Bowling / Daily News columnist

Editor's Note: This is part two of a two-part series on the Oregon Expressway that began June 22.



A movement of so-called residentialist opposition began to critique the new freeway plan in the local media, and resistance soon reached such a fever pitch that the city council was moved to reject the county plan outright.

But the council's proposed replacement would prove far more appealing. It included a landscaped center median strip, six cross streets rather than two, 11 access roads, the removal of the divisive chain link fence, as well as a landscaped southside buffer and landscaped northside service road. Such improvements even prompted one supporter to say that an "ugly-ducking freeway has changed into a swan of a parkway." Still, even the modified version required the destruction of more than 90 homes and residentialist opposition remained fierce. So, as is typical for controversial matters in California then and now,the Palo Alto City Council stuck it on the June ballot, letting the voters decide.

The campaign was heated. A quick sampling of 1962 op-ed pieces in the Palo Alto Times shows just how bitter it was. For instance, Patricia Ford, of David Avenue, expressed the common sentiment that the expressway was just the beginning of the development: "One can only ask whether four or five years from now, when they see their once lovely foothills covered with industry and auto-exhaust haze, can it possibly be that once in a while what is good for Stanford is not necessarily good for Palo Alto." Glenn Wayne, of Middlefield Road, lobbied against the "slums which are going to develop on both sides of that road," while other incensed residents railed against the forces they saw behind the construction. Council Member Bert Woodward Jr., for instance, told the Palo Alto Times that "this whole affair was generated by Stanford University, the Stanford Industrial Park and the Downtown merchants. These people still control Palo Alto and I think it's unfortunate." Miriam Patchen, of Sierra Court, wrote in just "to say 'I told you so' before the rape of Palo Alto."

The day before the vote, the pro-Oregon Avenue forces were additionally aided by the endorsement of Mayor David Haight, who issued a 5 1_2 page statement correcting "a variety of flagrant distortions of fact" and issuing a last-minute "no trucks on Oregon" pledge. On election day the always fiery Council Member Robert Debs shot back that it was "highly improper" for an elected official to make such a statement at the "last moment with no chance of refutation."

Perhaps it made the difference. The June 5, 1962, voting was extremely tight. While the anti-Oregon vote took a 100-vote early lead based on large anti-expressway majorities in South Palo Alto, late evening votes coming in from the Walter Hays area put the expressway over the top. In the end, the road was approved by a razor-thin margin of 9,432 votes in favor to 9,030 opposed. Over the following year, houses were either moved or bulldozed, Oregon Avenue was torn up and the new expressway was constructed.

Still, not all was lost for the residentialists. Despite defeat at the polls, the Oregon Expressway battle turned out to be the initial rallying point for what would eventually become a full scale Palo Alto political movement. Buoyed by their united opposition, the residentialists would soon elect council members and take up other fights - eventually bringing down establishment mega-projects such as the Professorville hospital and downtown Superblock project.

Today a drive down Oregon Expressway conjures up a mixed legacy. While Palo Alto certainly paid its respects to the dominance of the automobile, its citizens were also early in recognizing the excesses of America's car culture. Unlike many bigger cities in America, local citizens acted in time to save the city from the monolith freeway that might have been. And if Palo Altans must live with four-lane roads crossing their city, well, they could do a lot worse.

To read the entire story, go to www.paloaltohistory.com/
oregonexpressway.html



Then and Now writer Matt Bowling can be reached at mtb324@gmail.com.