This before and after should give a pretty good idea of what the project is accomplishing. It's a good project

BEFORE

AFTER

The pictures don't line up exactly, but the island that is pictured in the first picture would have been up the river a bit in the second one, appearing on the left side of the river where it shows clear water with a light brown bottom.

The dam that appears in the second photo, called a weir, will be used to push water up into a side creek where fish will (hopefully) be able to thrive.

The Cal Poly Pomona students are also part of an effort to push the Golden Necklace project, which would link the Arroyo Seco with some existing (and proposed) trails that would run all over Southern California. The existing link would be to the bike trail that runs down the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo rivers down to Long Beach. That would be awesome.

I have been part way down that trail but turned back and hit up a bus because of bike troubles. Someday, when I get a new bike, I will get back down there and blog the thing. It is WAY underused, and would be quite amazing if it were linked all the way into Pasadena.

The FC Blog has the scoop, courtesy of Claremont Insider: Foothill Transit members apparently are in Paris, and will be visiting other parts of France, with taxpayer funds.

Claremont Insider put it best:

This is the same agency that recently had to increase bus fares for the low-income or environmentally-conscious folks who use the bus system. At first we found this unbelievable, and frankly dismissed it as a crank complaint.

They are there to study public/private partnerships (read: finding companies who want to invest in public transportation). The trip runs from July 1 to July 9, and includes SGV council members Peggy Delach and Doug Tessitor.

Elected officials on trips is an old story, of course. Examples-

-State politicians, using campaign funds, at golf resorts, on Maui, to France and Spain

-Water officials running amok

- Irwindale council members living it up in New York

Looks like officials are taking the threat of fun, enjoyable, spark-causing fireworks (which admittedly are not a good thing when in the hands of morons) very seriously. Many mountain roads in the area will close early, or will be closed off entirely. I've assembled a handy map below to do my part to prevent people from getting locked behind gates that are normally open until dusk or later.

Also, over at Altadenablog (which now owes me a link on its blogroll) there is some detailed recounting of angry Altadena residents hectoring the county to close off Millard Canyon to prevent people from starting fires up there.

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Tomorrow we're running a story I wrote (and am putting the finishing touches on) on the state budget. Basically, the gist of it is that state workers, social service groups, school districts etc. are totally prepared for a late budget because it happens so often. The striking thing that most everyone told me was that their main concern was that the budget get passed by September.

The big question is whether there will be any kind of tax increase passed with that budget. With Republicans able to effectively block any increase, the smart answer is no. However, in a conversation with Assemblyman Anthony Portantino last week, he told me that when he has approached Republicans about a potential tax increase, they have given it some thought.

Most Republicans, Portantino says, tell him that if taxes have to be raised, it should be an income tax increase that passes the tax burden equally to all Californians, and that the tax increase should come with an expiration date so that it does not become entrenched.

Makes sense to me. I've always kind of liked the idea of sales tax because I live pretty frugally and I feel I can dodge the tax man a bit that way, but if you have to raise taxes, that really seems like the most equitable way to do it.

Realistically though, I have a hard time believing it will actually happen.

Reporter Caroline An gives us the official news: Pasadena Unified will put a $350 million bond measure on the November ballot. The plan is to use it for facility and technology upgrades.

Queen Caroline also did a more detailed story a few weeks ago that addresses concerns over the last bond measure that sent money to Pasadena schools:

In 1997, district voters approved Measure Y, a $240 bond measure that was suppose to pay for renovations and upgrades at the PUSD's 28 schools. While some campuses received upgrades, many others, including Blair IB Magnet and San Rafael elementary, received no improvements.

That all notwithstanding, I imagine this vote will break the way most bond measures do: conservatives, the anti-tax crowd, and school critics will oppose it on principle, while most others will grumble about wasted money, then vote for it, knowing that the schools probably do need at least some of the improvements detailed by the district.

UPDATE: Self-anointed local treasure Aaron Proctor is complaining about our lack of coverage of the bond measure. Too bad the link on his site to our home page leads to a web update about the measure and this blog entry. Also read above Caroline's story of June 11. Here is her original story in April (reproduced at Pasadena Political Underbelly).

Sorry, Aaron... you're way off on this one. I do appreciate that you visit my blog frequently though.

I use Google Alerts to send me links on news/blog updates about Pasadena. I figured if I specified Pasadena, CA I might eliminate some blogs which don't clearly specifiy a state.

So that is why I get plenty of short news blurbs from Pasadena, TX. Pretty much all the news coming out of there for the last week has been a freaky home invasion murder that left two members of a family killed and one in critical condition. The picture on the left is a sketch of the subject.

What does this have to do with Pasadena, CA? Maybe nothing. But I do find it a little eerie to see news about Pasadena murders pop up in my email. And there is a connection between the two cities: Pasadena, TX is in fact named after Pasadena, CA. The Pasadena, TX city founder had visited our city and decided that the new Texas settlement looked an awful lot like it (I'm sure I don't need to tell you, loyal Pasadenans, where our fair city derives its name from.)

Also, with a local teenager shot next door in Altadena this week, we're obviously facing similar problems to our Texas namesake.

Today is Day 5 of the Under the Dome crusade over at Altadenablog, a sharp blog that covers the unincorporated county area that we all know as Altadena.

Why the crusade? Your humble blog host has not yet added them to his blogroll, nor replied to emails requesting the inclusion of the blog.

The reason: it has something to do with the 7 stories I wrote in 5 days last week. That, and, I have to say this with real regret: since the departure of our online editor, Esther Chou, it has been hard to get additions/changes made to the blog (and yes, I am capable of adding a blog to the blogroll, but lack the online permissions to do so). Also, btw, I only found out about the crusade today- and did in fact leave a comment under the Crusade Day 4 post.

So rest easy, Altadena. You have my word that I am working on getting the blog link up. Just as someday I also hope to have my photo up on the blog. I hear we are getting a new online editor, so hopefully sooner rather than later.

UPDATE: Thanks to the work of new online editor Rod Leveque, who is in fact on the job today, Altadenablog is now linked. I await the end of the crusade.

Have a journalism degree? Want a writing job real bad? Maybe you should learn how to use a taser.

Then you might be qualified to work at Washington D.C.'s American University. Observe a recent job listing (emailed via Alison Hewitt, former Star News journalist and friend of the blog). The job is for someone to write marketing materials:

To apply: Provide a resume and the following writing sample to demonstrate your abilities. (This is the type of thing we'll ask you to write, so if this doesn't interest you at all, you shouldn't apply) Draft an email that we could send to a student that has taken several courses at our college, but who has withdrawn, encouraging that student to come back and continue her studies.

So far, so good. But here is the part where you might want to have prepared by taking a class in using Mace:

The twist: while you are writing copy you will also fill the role of security guard, working 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday. We will buy your uniform. You won't carry a gun. Applicants must be able to pass a drug screen as well as a criminal background check. The security guard spends most of the shift seated at the reception desk, and there will be very minimal security duties. Practically the entire shift you will be able to focus on writing copy - you'll just happen to be wearing a uniform.

Sure, it is all about focusing on writing copy.... until, of course somebody refuses to provide university ID in a library or asks an obnoxious question to a former presidential candidate.

A freeway toll lane plan for the 10 and 210 might allow three-person carpools to drive for free... or it might not. Federal and local transportation officials don't seem to be on the same page.

I had an interesting conversation with an undersecretary in the federal Department of Transportation on Friday.... they contacted me to answer questions about and sell the freeway toll lane project that would turn carpool lanes on the 10 and 210 freeways into toll lanes. The MTA (our local agency) is clamoring for the plan because it comes with $213 million in federal money.

The official,Tyler Duvall, told me that under the plan, carpools with three people or more would be allowed to drive for free. That took me by surprise, because I have attended the MTA dog and pony show on the plan, and they very clearly refused to make any definitive statements on who might be able to use the lanes and at what cost.

I asked Duvall again, very carefully, if there was 100 percent certainty that three-person carpools would be permitted, and he said yes.

However, he also said that this was guaranteed in a written and signed contract (read it here) between MTA and the Feds. His office emailed me the contract, and I read through it. Nothing about three-person carpools in there.

I asked for more clarification and he said that although it was not in the contract, MTA had pushed very hard to ensure that three-car carpools would be allowed for free.

However, the same MTA just told me, in the guise of spokesman Rick Jager, that this is only one of several scenarios being kicked around by MTA consultants.

So a discussion meant to clarify how the lanes will work just made things more confusing for me. If Duvall is right, then the plan makes a lot more sense: it incentivizes putting more people into one car without making it impossible for two-people carpools to use the lane.

If it isn't true, then how does the lane really encourage carpooling?

I think the three-person carpool would go a long way towards getting people to support the plan.... if it is going to happen, the sooner MTA says it, the better off we will all be.

Also of interest: the contract between the MTA and the Feds does forbid the MTA from charging a two-person carpool less than a one-person car. So there is no extra incentive to carpool than to drive yourself: other than splitting gas and toll money with another person.

There is a solid entry on the L.A. Times' Bottleneck Blog about MTA-powerhouse and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa meeting with a bunch of SGV legislators to..... well, basically tell them to get on board with the MTA agenda. Here is what Hymon said several sources told him (on background) that Villaraigosa had to say:

1. San Gabriel Valley officials need to chill out and stop fighting the congestion-pricing proposal for the 10 and 210 freeways. Villaraigosa pointed out that the region is set to get $213 million in bus and Metrolink equipment and that the equipment will still belong to the region even if the tolling doesn't work out.

3. He's open to working with those officials on language in both the state bill, AB 2321, that allows the MTA to pursue the sales tax, and the MTA sales tax ordinance.

I'd say #2 is pretty disingenuous on the Mayor's part since the federal government already offered $320 million, enough to take the line to Azusa/Glendora. Since the MTA has never guaranteed that the line will go any further than that, and is in fact seeking language in state legislation that defines the Gold Line as only going as far as Azusa/Glendora (see #3), what is the worst that happens if the federal government doesn't kick up any more money? Then the project stalls in Azusa/Glendora. It doesn't mean the MTA will be forced to then extend the line at the cost of other projects.

More on freeway toll lanes later today.

Business with MTA and other stories led me to not comment on Robert Hong's story on Sen. Scott's balloon ban bill.

My favorite part:

"This is not banning Mylar balloons," Eng noted. "Anyone
can still buy and use a Mylar balloon, as long as they attach it to a stick" and don't fill it with helium.

My first visual reaction to that was a totally deflated balloon stuck to a stick being held by a really sad child (a Proctor fake $1 offer goes out to anyone who can find a non-copyrighted picture of this online somewhere).

After some news room discussion, it became clear that you could fill a balloon with air and it would still look OK. But something about that Eng quote (maybe dictating the careful conditions under which you can enjoy a balloon) sounds really sad.

Still, I thought the whole idea of "protesting" the balloon ban was pretty absurd. Of all the things to get worked up about....

An open letter:

Thanks so much for stealing my bike out of my backyard this week. Here are some things I am looking forward to:

-Locking up my girlfriend's bike and any future bike I might have every time I use it, even though they are OUT OF SIGHT of the road

-Closing my back window, which previously served as a in/out door for my cat, and to keep the house cool.

-Locking every door in the house, which until now, were open, making my life simple.

-Being forced to jog, go to the gym, or carry out some other kind of exercise when I don't have time to hike. Yes, I used to use the bike to exercise in a much more pleasant way to exercise than running or being forced indoors.

I'd also like to thank you for making me suspicious of my neighbors- the ones I don't know anyway.

Finally, just to let you know, you can still return the bike to my house with no questions asked and I will not contact the police. I will, however, beat the everlasting snot out of you.

If you haven't already read the basics on our web story, the Gold Line did not receive $80 million in funding from MTA, meaning the agency gave up $320 million in matching funds from the federal government. It was a painfully long meeting, with a lot of agitation from a lot of different people from all over L.A. County. The complete story will be up online tomorrow and in the paper. Some notes:

- The SGV showed up in full force. Council members and/or other representatives from LaVerne, Monrovia, Arcadia, Glendora, San Gabriel, Duarte, Baldwin Park, and our own Bill Bogaard, showed up. About half the room cheered them after their speeches.

- There were equally angry people from the Westside, from the South Bay area, and elsewhere who showed up in force. Also, the Bus Rider's Union, which wants to do away with rail entirely, at least until bus service is improved.

-The room was so packed that people were moved to satellite areas to observe the meeting. One area had good sound, but no video. The other, in the cafeteria, had a small TV, but lousy sound (combined with non-interested parties eating and talking). Your humble correspondent managed to find an MTA media relations staffer around to help him get into the actual meeting. Where he stood in the back with dozens of other people.

- I think L.A. Councilman Bill Rosendahl was the wisest speaker. He suggested that the MTA try to pass a one cent sales tax increase instead of half a cents, but to use the money for full guarantees on the Gold Line, Green Line, Purple Line, and increase bus service. I believe it will be hard to get the measure passed without guaranteeing a more comprehensive plan for people all over the county, yet there will likely not be enough money to do that. Why not come up with a really ambitious plan that will really fix (or make a serious dent in) our congestion problems then go to the public and tell them what you need to do it?

- John Walsh, the resident gadfly at MTA, is hilarious. To summarize his views on every issue: white people (especially those on the multi-racial MTA board) are trying to screw over everyone else.

- I might be wrong, but I am pretty sure I saw Sen. Gloria Romero at Union Station after the meeting, about to use transit to get home (or wherever).

- I rode the Gold Line home. Passing through South Pas, I saw the farmer's market going on in the streets, just off the train. It looked out of place for Southern California, but obviously what rail-line advocates are hoping for.

- Several of the MTA board members complained about how East Los Angeles is getting a light-rail system instead of a subway. A few (none from the San Fernando Valley) talked about how the area got screwed because it only got a high-speed bus line. I don't see the problem. The Orange Line is as fast and efficient, if not more so, than the subway lines. The buses run every five minutes so you never wait long. Plus you are ABOVE GROUND. The view is much nicer. Why must everyone have a subway? Just because it is more expensive and shows that MTA cares about you more?

Monday's council meeting had sort of a rough moment during a debate on whether to search for new funding for the El Centro group. Chris Holden and Victor Gordo had suggested that the city look for $13,000 in funding for the group, which had lost out on tens of thousands in federal CDBG grants.

The Council had debated the measure for about an hour when a frustrated Steve Madison burst in and said the council ought not to waste any more talking about it.

Minutes later, after a council measure was amended for the umpteenth time, Margaret McAustin asked the clerk to re-read the motion and Madison got testy. The exchange went something like this.

MMA: I don't understand what we are voting on... can we read that again?

SM: We're getting to the point where we we're spending $13,000 in electricity just to have this meeting. (muted snickering among some staff and/or council members)

MMA: That's great Steve. I'd like to understand what I am voting on.

You can watch the whole exchange here, starting at around 2:22:00

I know I am new to Pasadena, but I never really considered a 2 1/2 hour meeting to be that long, nor for the council to spend an hour on one issue. I'd like to say that is the longest time I have spent listening to a council in those circumstances but it is far from true.

In my experience, a long meeting is more like 5 hours, with 4 hours spent focused on one issue (I am looking at you Glendora and Covina senior home projects).

My bad. Several readers of today's transit stories emailed in to point out I didn't mention when and where Thursday's meeting is.

It IS a public meeting, so feel free to show up. It starts at 9:30 a.m. in the MTA building adjacent to Union Station(One Gateway Plaza, Los Angeles, CA). You can get there via the Gold Line if you so desire (that is my plan).

Agenda can be found here.

John Fasana is in a unique position in MTA- he is a Duarte council member and the only board member from the San Gabriel Valley.

With so much tension between SGV politicians and the MTA he is often stuck in the middle, and is generally very diplomatic. I believe what he told me on the phone yesterday was his diplomatic way of telling me that the only way the Gold Line gets done is if it is coupled with the freeway toll lane plan that would turn the 10 and 210 car pool lanes into pay lanes.

From today's story:

When asked if the struggle over the freeway toll lane projects might cause the Gold Line to be delayed, Fasana said the board "could have those types of concerns."

Meanwhile, at a raucous meeting of SGV politicians a few weeks ago, several legislators clearly said they would only support the toll plan if the Gold Line were passed first.

In conversations on background, several people have told me the two projects appear to be linked.

So what do you think San Gabriel Valley? Are you willing to accept toll lanes as the price to pay to get the Gold Line?

More to come after Thursday's MTA meeting.

The Arcadia Housing Blog, a real-estate site, has a revealing post about real estate in Pasadena vs. Arcadia.

First off, it makes the Crown City sound like it is an amazingly cheap to live ("You can definitely expect to get more living square footage and land in Pasadena"), which is a stretch, to put it mildly. Especially considering that the house on the left goes for about $750,000. Three bedrooms, two baths, 1,500 square feet and that is a bargain? What can you buy for a third of that cost? Don't ask.

But the site also lets loose some commentary on the sacrifices one must make if one is to choose to live in Pasadena over the shining city on the hill, Arcadia:

"As apparent by the following profiles, you will get more house for the money but a highly rated school district isn't something you'll be buying into"

"Unfortunately, there exists (sic) many neighborhoods that you will want to stay out of (for safety reasons)"

Could it be that the neighborhood that contains house #2 (on the right) is one of them? Might that explain why this six-bedroom house is selling for the same price as the three-bedroom once pictured above?

As shown on this map the two houses are only about 1.5 miles apart.

Regardless of the cause of the price differences within Pasadena, all three homes in Arcadia sell for much more, indicating your average well-to-do suburbanite would prefer to live well to the east of Old Town.

The battle over whether the state tunnels under Pasadena to finish the 710 or not is about as passionate a one as I have seen. The normally staid Mike Eng was fired up last night about the woes of his constituents, who have borne the brunt of abnormally high street traffic for years. His passion was matched by the normally less-reserved Anthony Portantino. From the story:

On Monday, Portantino called the feasibility study on the project "discredited" and accused supporters of trying to do an "end run" around the local legislative process.

Eng, for his part, used some strong words in describing what would happen if the project was not built.

"People are dying," said Eng, describing cities that have dealt with heavy traffic because of the freeway gap. "Children are dying of respiratory diseases, and auto accidents are happening all over the place."

Wow. There isn't a lot of middle ground between accusations of trying to subvert local democratic processes and standing idly by while children die.

Eng, who will assume the chairmanship of the Transportation Committee in the next legislative session, told me last month that the 710 Freeway project was among his top priorities. Eng sounded a lot more conciliatory at that point than yesterday.

I also interviewed Portantino for the article, and though he praised Eng as a good legislator, he seemed concerned that the legislature was about to get involved in the 710 fracas. And apparently his concerns were well-founded.

The local Scientology branch has a web site. And they like to bowl. And make money from it somehow, though I'm not sure exactly how.

I imagine the use of telekinesis is banned for the duration of the game.

The Church of Scientology has been in the paper recently over their lack of progress in renovating a local building they purchased two years ago.

Tonight the Pasadena City Council is reviewing the planned 2009 fiscal year budget, and likely will approve it.

However, I can't for the life of me find a copy of the proposed budget on the city's web site. There is a staff report with some of the highlights but not the full thing.

Ann Erdman, the city's PIO is currently trying to track down a digital copy for me, but it is a little surprising to not see it online for any of the city's citizens (or semi-diligent bloggers) to peruse.

UPDATE:There is a link to the budget on the agenda page for May 19, when the council originally looked at it. It is a long shot from having a link on the city's main page, but it is something. Click here and look at item 6B to take a look.

I was just taking a look at our online story on the Pasadena Marathon, a pending proposal to squeeze a 26.2 mile race within the city borders.

It sounded like it would be a pretty tight fit to me, so I zipped over to Google Maps to plot out the (rough) borders of the city. My 18.36 mile route might be a bit short around some of the edges, but it is still almost the longest route you could run around the city without having to change directions, and it is almost 8 miles too short.

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What does this mean? There will be a lot of zig-zagging back and forth around the city streets. November 16 could end up be a good day to not try to get anywhere on city streets.