SGV Connect 54 – New Parks in Pasadena and a Look Back at the First Arroyo Fest

Welcome to SGV Connect 54, which begins our transition from 2019 to 2020. This week we have two different types of interviews: one looks forward to 2020 and the other looks back on…2003?

Kris talks with Brian Wallace, executive director of the Pasadena Playhouse District, about a plan to bring more open space to Pasadena with a new park that could break ground as early as next year. The interview is both a celebration of the coming park and a reminder of all the work that was done over a decade-long public process to get to this point.

Then Damien interviews professor emeritus Robert Gottlieb from Occidental College, one of the creators of the first Arroyo Fest. Earlier this year, Active SGV announced that in 2020 a section of the 110 Freeway will be open to pedestrians and bike riders and other road users and closed to car traffic for a day–similar to the first Arroyo Fest in 2003. Damien and Robert talk both about the experience of the original Arroyo Fest, and about how much advocacy and policy have changed in the ensuing seventeen years.

We have one more episode in 2019, but in case you’re traveling when we post, we would like to take a second to thank you for listening in 2019. Onward to 2020!

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”