Armenians were mostly underrepresented in the 2000 Census because of the large number of Armenians who had recently emigrated from Eastern Europe and Iran, and they couldn’t speak, read or write English, she said.
Many Armenians didn’t know how to identify their race group on the questionnaire, so they said they were white or Caucasian, Tovmasyan said.
They needed to mark off “other” and write in Armenian, she said.
Only about 200,000 Armenians were counted in California, Tovmasyan said.
State transportation officials faced a skeptical audience Wednesday as they embarked on a series of public outreach meetings on a controversial underground extension of the Long Beach (710) Freeway.
The proposed connector to the Foothill (210) Freeway has for years been a flash point among local residents who say they don’t want the added traffic, but the debate was reinvigorated when state officials completed a roughly $6-million feasibility study for a possible underground tunnel.
Officials with the California Department of Transportation and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority stressed the study was “route neutral” and that they paid equal attention to five potential route zones, which encompassed Alhambra, Glendale, La Cañada Flintridge, Los Angeles, Monterey Park, San Marino, South Pasadena and Pasadena.
Despite contaminated groundwater and active fault lines in various zones, the study found that tunneling was feasible in all five route zones, which could include extensions to the Glendale (2) and 210 freeways.
Sharon Lilly and Carol Kramer, members of the group United Against the 710, greeted people as they entered the meeting Wednesday, urging them to oppose the tunnel, which they said could have dangerous environmental effects.
The proposed 710 connector has also curried opposition from a coalition of local governments, including Glendale and La Cañada Flintridge.
