City council roundup: a little something for us hikers

Tonight's council meeting features two items that I am psyched about: fixing a collapsed bridge on the Arroyo Seco hiking trail behind JPL, and fixing the Mount Wilson Toll Road above Eaton Canyon.

The Toll Road is used mainly to access Henninger Flats, a leafy campground (now closed) about 2.5 steep miles of hiking above Pasadena. The picture below is taken from there looking up to Mt. Wilson.

The trail, although technically closed, is used frequently by hikers. There are some sketchy sections where rain has washed away most of the trail, including one spot that requires scrambling up a steep and narrow path that winds over a hillside that is completely washed out.

The below picture is from the bottom of the trail along Altadena Drive. The circled portion is Henninger Flats.

I thought I had a picture of the Arroyo Seco Creek bridge, which partially collapsed in 2005, but I don't. Basically, its collapse led to the closure of national forest hiking area behind the bridge.

In reality, people either cross the river, or they jump the fence and dart across what is left of the bridge. It used to be that you could stand by the bridge for about 5 minutes and chances are you would see someone on it. Recently, however, the city built a higher fence around it.

Not a lot else of interest in the council meeting (or so it would appear). PWP is contracting to get solar panels installed on the roofs of some of its buildings. The city is renewing the contract of its representative to the federal government (they have deemed the firm has done well at bringing home the bacon).

The one other item that might be of interest is a condo project (3 South Grand Avenue) that is seeking permission to cross the public right of way with some private work on their property. I am interested to see the plans for this at the meeting, as well as whether there is any public protest about the project.