Story by Kamillah Morales
Staff Writer
Photo by Sam Allen
Staff Photographer
Measure SOS is a local bond measure with the purpose of repairing South Pasadena’s streets. The measure would work towards raising $80 million to fix approximately 45 percent of the streets’ damage over a 10-year plan identifying the areas that will be addressed. Measure SOS is on the ballot for the election on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026.
“SOS is a much-needed general obligation bond to fund the repair of a substantial portion of South Pasadena’s streets and curbs,” elected official Janet Braun said.
The name SOS stands for “Save Our Streets”, which is precisely the objective of the measure. The main goal is to increase South Pasadena’s Pavement Condition Index (PCI) to 70 or higher so that streets can be maintained at a high PCI more cost-effectively, since the worse the streets are, the more expensive repairs become.
“Our streets are the worst in the San Gabriel Valley, rated with a ‘Pavement Condition Index (PCI)’ of 54, which is ‘poor ‘, ‘very poor ’, and ‘fair’. This is the worst index among neighboring cities,” Braun said. “The longer we wait to fix the streets, the more expensive it becomes. This is not a problem that will go away; rather, it will simply get more expensive.”
The 10-year street repair plan that SOS has devised covers a different area of South Pasadena each year. The engineering work for the first two years, which would take around 18 months, is already underway to begin along State Street and streets ranging from Indiana to Martos, preparing everything so that if the measure passes, the reconstruction and repair can happen swiftly.
Some streets require complete reconstruction, which is the lowest state a street can be in. Complete reconstruction can cost about 50 times more than a simple preventative asphalt maintenance and the longer Measure SOS waits to address streets, the more streets will need complete reconstruction.
“While we have a 10-year plan, it is possible that the streets we address, or the order in which they are addressed could change. This could be due to engineering studies, other construction in the area or other factors not currently anticipated,” Braun said.
In order to properly fund Measure SOS, residents would need to pay an average of $33 per $100,000 of assessed value with their property taxes on an annual basis. The annual revenue earned by the measure would be used to pay for annual expenses from bond principal and interest. Gas taxes and other taxes received, which adds up to approximately $2.4 million, would be used to pay for potholes and other small repairs to gradually improve the state of the streets.
“For the streets there are just no other realistic options,” Braun said. SOS strives to improve South Pasadena’s streets to provide safer travelling and daily lives to citizens.