SAN DIMAS >> President Barack Obama’s Friday visit to San Dimas won’t cause major disruptions for San Gabriel Valley commuters, officials said.
After wining and dining with celebrities Thursday night at actress Gwyneth Paltrow’s home, Obama Friday will declare a portion of the San Gabriel Mountains a national monument. He is scheduled to speak at Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas at 1 p.m., according to White House officials.
While the park and its three entrances will be closed to the public until the event concludes about 2 p.m., “There will be no road closures,” Deputy Paul Schrader of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Parks Bureau said.
Parks Bureau deputies will also be assisting the Secret Service with security, Schrader said.
Air Force One landed just before 2 p.m. Thursday at LAX, and the president began his two-day Southland visit with a tour of Cross Campus in Santa Monica. He then headed to a fundraising event at Paltrow’s home.
Obama will leave LAX Friday afternoon.
The sheriff’s San Dimas Station was notified by White House officials that the visit may affect traffic in the area, but no deputies were requested to assist with the event, Lt. David Vega said.
La Verne Police Department officials, as well as officials at Bonelli Park, deferred all comment to White House representatives.
Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, and White House officials announced Friday afternoon’s visit to Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas.
During the San Dimas stopover, scheduled for 1 p.m., “President Obama plans to declare 346,000 acres of national forest land in the San Gabriel Mountains the nation’s newest national monument,” according to a statement from Chu, who has championed national monument status for the forest land for more than a year.