The City of Alhambra exposé you were never meant to hear
$3 million spent. Zero return.
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Since 2017, the City of Alhambra has depended on expensive outside consultants for routine work—engineering, traffic, and even public relations—yet these firms have failed to deliver results. Nearly $3 million has been paid out with no tangible improvements, no accountability, and nothing to show beyond flawed recommendations and mounting invoices.
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It gets worse: analysis of the City’s own documents shows that despite offering little more than unsupported, ineffective advice, one firm—Kimley-Horn—was not held accountable. Instead, its original $2 million contract was quietly tripled in 2024 to $6 million. Residents once again received no meaningful outcomes or measurable results, only escalating costs and empty promises funded by taxpayers.
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This raises a fundamental question: Is this how public money should be managed or spent? The answer is clearly no.
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We Have Lost Over $100 Million
This is where the story gets worse. Much worse.
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After the I-710 Freeway “gap” project was canceled in 2017, Alhambra received a one-time $240 million Measure R allocation—our sales tax money meant to return to the community for 16 critical transportation projects. But years of bad consultant advice and continued non-performance stalled progress entirely. This delay has already reduced the purchasing power of those funds by more than $100 million, a loss the City will never recover.
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The situation is worsening. Because expensive consultants have continued to push ineffective projects with almost no scrutiny, the City has taken virtually no meaningful action for nearly a decade. Under the current schedule, major construction on just two large projects wouldn’t begin until 2030, with only minor pedestrian improvements planned for 2027. By then, escalating labor and material costs will further erode the remaining funds—leaving too little money to complete even those two projects.
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Alhambra risks losing the ability to solve its severe traffic problems because City leadership has allowed delay, mismanagement, and inaction to squander nearly a quarter-billion dollars of public money.​
​​​What Action We're Taking + How You Can Join Us
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That's why we at Grassroots Alhambra have launched an initiative to make our citizens aware of this issue and to hold our elected City leaders accountable for their incompetence.
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In just the last ~4-5 weeks, we have:
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Sent out informative emails to residents
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Led Town Halls and workshops educating residents on the history of the Alhambra traffic funding issue
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Participated in Alhambra City Council meetings to hold elected City leaders accountable on said mismanaged funds through direct question and answer sessions
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January 28th, 2026 Alhambra Historical Society Presentation
In this lecture, Alhambra resident and leader of Grassroots Alhambra, Dr. Ron Sahu, discusses the origins and development of the 710 Freeway from its inception in the early 1930s, through its ending in Alhambra at Valley Boulevard, as well as the subsequent efforts post-1965 to close the 710 "gap" through South Pasadena and into Pasadena. He also provides the history of community, legal, and technical challenges, both advocating for and against the closure of the gap, and brings listeners up through the 2017 decision to ultimately not close the 710 gap, resulting in ever-increasing traffic being dumped onto Alhambra's Valley Boulevard.
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You may watch the full video on our YouTube page (www.youtube.com/@GrassrootsAlhambra), titled "History of the 710 Freeway Through 2017," Parts 1-4.
February 5th, 2026 Alhambra Town Hall Presentation
In the 2/5 Alhambra Town Hall presentation, we discussed in even greater depth Alhambra's incompetent traffic project implementation by third-party consultants and the mismanagement of public funds by City leaders. Dr. Sahu provides a historical overview of what happened to the 710 since 2017, the proposed traffic alleviation projects intended to replace the 710 (whose completion was abandoned), the incompetent lack of project implementation and budgetary irresponsibility by unaccountable third-party consultants, the flawed Environmental Impact Review process, and the subsequent severe negative impact on both Alhambra's traffic congestion and finances.
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Dr. Sahu also discusses how these projects were intended to be funded by a onetime 2017 allocation of $240 million in Measure R funds (our sales tax money), but that due to continued delays, the purchasing power of this allocation has shrunk by more than $100 million – a loss the City will not recover. Essentially, Alhambra leaders have squandered unimaginable tax dollars due to the lack of accountability from City leadership and its hired consultants.
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You may watch the full presentation also on our YouTube page (www.youtube.com/@GrassrootsAlhambra), titled "What happened to the 710 freeway after 2017?," Parts 1-4.
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This is just the beginning of our work. Please stay tuned for additional upcoming events and calls to action.
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Together, we can demand better for Alhambra.
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