Local business owners and residents tell Rosemead council bus lane will hurt access and sales

Three members of the public told council they oppose converting a general‑purpose lane to a peak‑hour bus lane on Garvey Avenue, saying the plan risks customer access and could force businesses to close. Linda Kilpatrick warned the changes "are not feasible" and "not sustainable for the businesses," urging the council to provide greater transparency and direct outreach to merchants rather than standard event notices.

Rosemead resident Brian Lewin said he could not locate the traffic studies cited by proponents and asked for additional analysis of spillover routes into residential streets. A longtime Garvey business owner identified in the record as Mr. Roarman said driveway access and curb parking are already compromised during busy periods and said islands and bus curb restrictions would further block customers.

Speakers asked whether the city or COG had surveyed corridor businesses; consultants said they built a stakeholder database including the Rosemead Chamber of Commerce and conducted pop‑up events and multi‑channel outreach, but several councilmembers said they had not seen direct business responses and asked staff to expand targeted outreach.

Provenance: topicintro SEG 165; topfinish SEG 261.