November 2008 Archives

From the Sacramento Bee:

Assemblyman John Laird has been appointed to a coveted spot on the state's waste board, the latest in a procession of politicians and political friends to occupy the high-paying post.

And the history of the board:

The board was created by the Legislature and former Gov. George Deukmejian toward the end of his governorship. It has become a landing pad for friends of governors and legislative leaders.

Outgoing Sen. Sheila Kuhl, Los Angeles, will also be on the board, according to the article.

Thank god our state's waste management is in such experienced and capable hands.... I can't imagine there is anybody out there who might actually know a little more about waste management than two former legislators who need a cushy retirement gig.

I've been remiss in checking back on the city's list of candidates this week, and Sid Tyler's seat now has seven candidates instead of four, according to the Pasadena Weekly. That includes the wife of Judge Lance Ito, County Police Chief Margaret York. From the Weekly:

York, who retired from the LAPD in 2002 after 24 years with the force, now heads the fourth-largest law enforcement agency in the county, which employs 580 sworn and 160 civilian personnel.

The others (including the ones I've already mentioned):

Candidates contending with York for the council's District 7 seat are: retired transit operator Gary Ettl, 57; David Henry, who lists no personal information on his filing papers; Terry Tornek, a 62-year-old investment group president; Richard Schammel, 55, vice chairman of the Pasadena Center Operating Co. and owner of a VR Business Brokers franchise in Pasadena; Ciran Marie Hadjian, a 41-year-old urban planner who has held several city commission positions; and John Walsh, 61, a retired Caltech and JPL administrator.

Also there are finally some candidates for the races against Victor Gordo and Chris Holden, but I will let readers follow the link to scope those.

The Foothill Weeklies has parsed the weather data for the local area. Looks like about 1" in Pasadena (squares with the rain gauge in my garden), 1.5" in Sierra Madre,.

What was notable though, I thought, is that the mountain totals were barely any higher. Opids Camp, in the Angeles National Forest, which is reputed to be the rainiest place in L.A. County. got just 2.07".

My recollection from storms last year was that Opids would frequently get up to eight times as much rain as the foothill cities.

Incidentally, I think I have been living in SoCal too long, because my first palpable reaction when the rain suddenly began to pour down last night was to feel very nervous- I'm just not used to it anymore (I used to live in Washington State, and tropical Maui, both very rainy). Obviously, I got used to it after about 30 seconds, and called myself an idiot. My cat reacted the same way, rocketing through his cat door from outside about 5 seconds after the first sound of rain hitting the pavement.

The city surprised me, at least, by throwing aside a settlement it worked out with a developer who sued the city for changing its density zoning in 2006. For more background on this, read here.

Many neighborhood people were unhappy with the city's settlement, which would have brought back higher density zoning (albeit a very minor increase) to avoid the possibility of the developer winning a more extensive zoning change on an appeal. And also to avoid paying more attorney's fees.

That was not a good enough rationale for neighborhood folk, and ultimately Margaret McAustin agreed with them. She refused to vote for the settlement, and with Jacque Robinson absent, and Gordo and Bogaard recusing themselves, the council needed everyone on board. Steve Madison also jumped ship in the actual vote.

Btw, several people have emailed me wanting to know more about the developer/property owner who sued the city. His name is Eric Winter, and he owns property all over Southern California (he lives in Manhattan Beach). He also partnered with Affordable Housing Pasadena, which is run by local housing advocate Michelle White. I will have more details in tomorrow's paper.

The candidate will be hosting a kick-off party tomorrow:

PASADENA - Ciran Marie Hadjian kicks off her campaign to replace retiring City Council member Sid Tyler with a rally for neighbors, friends, and family at her home on San Pasqual Steet this Saturday morning.

"With Sid Tyler retiring after 12 years of great public service, I want to be the next City Council member for District 7--and bring new energy for our neighborhoods at City Hall," said city planner and Pasadena native Hadjian.

After the rally, supporters will join Hadjian in walking door to door to secure signatures from voters on her nominating petition.

WHAT

Campaign Kickoff for Pasadena City Council District 7 candidate Ciran Marie Hadjian.

WHEN

10 am, Saturday, November 22

WHERE

1630 San Pasqual Street (between Hill and Allen), Pasadena 91106

WHO

Neighbors, friends, and family celebrate the start of the campaign for City Council for Ciran Marie Hadjian

I wrote a story for today's paper about MTA going to Washington to seek help for a potential $165 million deficit that comes as a result of lease deals insured by AIG. The details are in the story, but basically because of AIG's plummeting stock shares, it can no longer guarantee deals that MTA made with other corporate investors that involved the agency selling of its buses and trains and then leasing them back (basically a way of getting some upfront cash in exchange for larger debts down the line).

California's congress members have been pushing the Treasury Department on behalf of MTA and some other transit agencies throughout the state which have the same problem. However, when I called SGV legislators yesterday for comment on the issue, they all seemed to be caught a little unaware (with the exception of Grace Napolitano). Representatives for Adam Schiff and David Dreier both had not heard of a letter sent by over 15 members of California's congressional delegation on behalf of the agency.

Could this be because Dreier and Schiff have both been big advocates of the Gold Line project, and have been at odds with MTA over the last few years? Possibly. I would imagine MTA would not want to put themselves in either congressman's debt by asking for help on the issue when there are already many other legislators taking up the issue.

Schiff's office said, by the way, they are behind federal support for MTA, and would have signed the letter if informed. No word from Dreier's office on whether they would have or not.

From a reader who knows Hadjian, drawing on online biographies and her own knowledge:

> Ciran Hadjian '91, master's in urban & regional planning, is an urban planning professional at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Los Angeles. She was appointed as one of nine community builders to serve as part of a new "urban peace corps" that will work to revitalize America's cities.
> She currently sits on the T of R Foundation. Her children either attended or attend Don Benito Elementary.

Chris Holden is hosting a Saturday meeting to give the public a chance to examine designs for the mix-use development project. From Pasadena Now

On Saturday, the attention shifts to developments with the Heritage Square project.

That meeting is scheduled to start at 10:00 a.m. On Saturday, and will also be held at he Jackie Robinson Center, 1020 N. Fair Oaks Ave.

This project has caused so much controversy for the city (read here for more details) I am sure they want to proceed slowly and with as much community input as possible.

MTA head Roger Snoble has headed to Washington. The reason? MTA, like many other transit agencies across the country, is under threat of having corporate investors demand they return tens of mililons of dollars because of the failure of AIG, the massive insurance company that received $85 billion in taxpayer money in September.

The background: in the late 1990s and early in the next decade, Metro sold off a huge number of buses and trains to various corporate investors, including Phillip Morris and Comerica. They then entered into long-term leases to use the equipment. The sales netted about $65 million to put towards operating costs, said MTA spokesman Marc Littman.

AIG insured the deals, and part of the agreement was that if AIG ever lost its triple-A bond rating, the agency would have 60 days to find a new insurer. Otherwise, investors could legally claim repayment of the leases.

In September, AIG lost its rating. Now, Metro is officially over the 60 day period and could have their debt called in anytime- so far, no one has pressed the issue, according to Littman.

Since AIG's bailout, the government has become its largest shareholder. Since they have taken responsibility for the company's assets, MTA figures they ought to take responsibility for its clients. A federal guarantee of the leases would satisfy MTA's legal requirements, said Littman.

As long as MTA was still solvent and able to makes its lease payments, it would not cost taxpayers any money, according to Littman.

I'll be looking at this in more depth for a story either for Friday or this weekend.

From the L.A. Times:

IndyMac and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which is now running the thrift, said today they are planning public sessions with such independent counselors for borrowers in the Los Angeles area and the Inland Empire. The counselors, including Spanish speakers, will be able to discuss IndyMac's aggressive effort to modify loans. IndyMac employees will be at the sessions as well to get the actual workout process rolling.

To receive counseling, borrowers should bring paychecks or other documentation of their incomes, as well as documents itemizing their expenses and assets.

The modifications would cap the loan at 38 percent of a borrower's monthly income, an FDIC plan that Congress is now looking at expanding to other bank's that that have not been taken over by the FDIC. The federal government would agree to pay half of the mortgage amount if borrowers defaulted under that plan. The idea would be to incentivize banks to give borrowers a chance to actually make their payments, even if it means restructuring their deals to go beyond their current mortgage terms. The federal government figures that most people will be able to afford to pay 38 percent of their monthly income, if they make the home payment their priority.

A price I thought would never be seen again except in a museum or a movie about the halcyon days of consumption in the 1990s.

Garo Gas, at 960 E. Washington Blvd. has gas selling for $1.87, if you pay with cash, according to the losangelesgasprices.com website. Down the street, the Fastop gas station at 1010 E. Washington is selling gas for $1.98.

Regular readers might recall that is was just in July that we wrote a short article about Pasadena gas prices dropping to under $4- at just one station! That station was the Fastop at 1010 E. Washington. Everywhere else in Pasadena, and in most surrounding cities, $3.99 was a great deal.

On a related note, Metro ridership is beginning to fall with the lower gas prices, after a summer of record breaking ridership. The Gold Line's ridership dropped from 25,511 in September to 24,004 in October. I expect we will see an even bigger fall in November.

The city has an updated list of candidates that have filed for council and school board seats in the upcoming March election. I already posted at length about Terry Tornek, a planning commissioner who is running for Sid Tyler's seat (he won't run again).

There are now three other official candidates. First is John Walsh, an attorney who worked as a city prosecutor, city attorney, and also for JPL. He also has volunteered at a lot of local institutions. I know all this because he emailed me this morning- previously all I had been able to figure out is that he was an attorney. You can read more about him on his website.

Not too much on the site yet about specific issues, which are going to become important with four candidates vying for the same seat. Here is what Walsh says about why he is running:

"This is a city of extraordinary people, natural beauty, cultural richness and grand traditions. As a Councilmember, my priorities would be: public safety, sound fiscal management, excellent municipal services, protection of our charming neighborhoods, preservation of our architectural treasures, stewardship of our urban forest, and improvements to make our wonderful town an even more attractive place for residents, businesses and visitors."

Also running is Ciran Hadjian, who opposed Tyler in the 2004 council election. I can't find anything written about that race in our archive, so I don't yet know a lot about her.

Richard Schammel rounds out the candidates. He is on the Pasadena Center management board, a position appointed by the council. That is all I have on him right now.

I expect to learn some more this week.

To follow any other candidates that pop up (so far, no one has filed to run against Holden or Gordo) check here

I got word today that the Laemmle One Colorado theater has closed its doors, after losing its lease at the One Colorado development. I wish I could add my own nostalgic memories of the place, but I have not actually gone there- have spent much more time at the other Laemmle theater, the Academy, and Pacific Paseo, all of which are closer to where I live.

However, there will still be a movie theater at that location, and in the near future, and it will be a pretty unique kind of theater for Pasadena. I am bound not to release details on the subject right now, but Janette Williams will have a story on it for Thursday's paper.

I believe this is originally from the Whittier Daily News:

PASADENA -- East West Bancorp, Inc. parent company of Pasadena-based East West Bank, announced Friday that it has received preliminary approval from the U.S. Department of the Treasury to receive $316 million of additional capital.

The bank lost a lot of money after investing in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to a business story from the SGV Tribune staff:

East West's third-quarter earnings went downhill as the bank 's preferred stock in mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac took a dive, East West CEO Dominic Ng said.

So that is three local institutions that will be part of the history of economic/governmental struggles of that last 8 years: East West for the bailout, IndyMac for the run of FDIC bank takeovers, and Parsons for its reported failure to honor its Pentagon contracts for building infrastructure in Iraq (though it denies it). In case you forgot the last one, here is the lead from our story on it over the summer:

PASADENA - Millions of dollars in taxpayer money were squandered in "incomplete, terminated and abandoned" projects in Iraq that Pasadena-based engineering giant Parsons was hired to build by the U.S. Government, according to a new audit released today by the Office of the Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.

That is the main thing that I keep going over after reading Janette Williams' story this morning:

Event insurance specialist David Merrill, a principal at Pasadena-based Supple-Merrill & Driscoll, said the basic cost to insure an event such as the 8,000-participant marathon against cancellation would be in the range of $4,500 to $5,000, with a $200,000 coverage limit.

That sum ($200,000) is the same amount of money that organizers are trying to get back from the city. If they could get refunded near that amount (and the city is saying it will be refunding a portion of it anyway) they could have used the insurance money to give people at least a partial refund, or better yet, a credit towards the next marathon. That would give people an incentive to show up for the next event.

And it would have cost less than a dollar per person. There were 8,000 participants, so an extra $5,000 is nothing.

The only, hitch, however, is that if the event had been insured, there would almost certainly be a lengthy battle with the insurance company over whether the policy would have covered an air quality cancellation:

"It's a real shame ... quite a loss, having to reschedule," [Insurance specialist David Merrill] said of Sunday's cancellation. "Typical `perils' on these event cancellation (policies) are adverse weather, earthquake, flood, terrorist attack, or if the venue is deemed unusable," Merrill said.

Although it's a "gray area," the last category could possibly have applied to conditions that caused Sunday's race to be called off, he said.

Hopefully, the organizers will learn from this experience, and with the city will find a way to reschedule the event for March, as mentioned in a post last night. I think that is what everyone really wants- just a matter of seeing if the details can be worked out or not.

City Manager Michael Beck just announced at tonight's City Council meeting that the city wants to try to find a date in March for rescheduling the marathon. Representatives of the organizer told the Star News yesterday that a spring date would be unlikely. Obviously it is all still very much up in the air.

Councilman Steve Madison suggested the city look at a quick reschedule in the next few weeks, something I had been hoping to see. Beck does not think it will work.... too many planning issues, difficulty getting churches and businesses to agree to a date, upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, etc.

Janette Williams will have a story in tomorrow's paper, which should have many more details.

Transportation issues are on the agenda tonight for Pasadena. First the city is looking to alter two MOUs to allow it to continue working on projects that have an end date for when they can be funded. The first MOU is for federal funds the city has received to offset the extra street traffic it receives because the 710 Freeway has not been completed (money South Pasadena also collects, which may be another motivating reason for it not wanting the freeway complete.) The city has been using the money for transportation projects, but because of a vague staff report, I am not sure exactly which ones. Whatever they are, they are not yet completed though, since the city wants more time.

The second is for the North Marengo Bicycle Boulevard, a bike lane expansion which is paid for mostly with state grants. That project was supposed to be completed by spring of 2009, but complications with a storm drain that needs to be altered have delayed it. The city wants until spring of 2011 to finish it.

The city also will look at approving using MTA grants for a real time vehicle arrival system (used to track bus routes, perhaps? not a lot of detail on this) and to buy some new vans for the Dial a Ride program.

Elsewhere on the agenda, the city will also be looking at the Topflite janitorial contract. There are some city employees that are concerned about a change in management- they showed up en masse at a meeting earlier this month to raise their concerns. They were supposed to get a chance to meet with new managers since then, so we will see tonight whether those concerns have been allayed or not.

The city will also have a public hearing on creating a zone along North Los Robles Avenue where density requirements would be changed to allow more multi-family residential units. The new requirements would be above the state standard, but would be legally permissible as long as the city used the extra apartments to build affordable housing- which is the city's intent in creating the zone in the first place, according to the staff report.

There are a few other routine contracts, and landmark building matters on the agenda as well. Also the city will discuss urgent care clinic properties in closed session once again.

Today's story by reporter Doug Padilla is a key read for all marathon participants. It answers the basic questions I have: will the event be rescheduled? will our money be refunded? The short answers are "not for a while," and "probably not."

The marathon may not be rescheduable until this time next year, according to event directors, because of the huge logistical challenges and scheduling issues that take place in Pasadena.

Also, the event is taking a huge financial hit, and will likely will not be able to afford refunds. From the story:

Race director Israel Estrada also said the marathon was insured for everything except cancellation, which means entry fees might not be refunded. Rescheduling remains in doubt.

I am amazed the event was not insured for cancellation- you've got to stop and think that during a time of year that has high potential for fire (yes I realize this is late in the "fire season" but even through winter this would have been a potential issue) this had a chance to happen. And, of course, any number of other things could have happened as well.

Perhaps the cost of insuring the marathon for cancellation would have made it financially unviable as an event. That is the best explanation I can up with for not doing it.

Even worse, though of us who paid for this event will not get to run in a rescheduled event without paying more:

Not only are refunds to participants in jeopardy, but Estrada wasn't sure if the race would even be able to give a credit to runners for use in next year's Pasadena Marathon, assuming there is one. Early entries were $80, while those paying after August were charged $90.

At least they are being honest about this. That is the only positive thing I can say here.

A team of Pasadena firefighters has been assisting at fire sites since last week. According to city spokeswoman Ann Erdman, a team that was sent to Montecito last week to help with the raging fire there, is now down in Orange County dealing with the Yorba Linda fire.

It is pretty typical for city departments to get sent all over SoCal in times of crisis, but still that is a tough task- and really they are getting sent from one corner of SoCal to the other, likely with little or no rest between.

I've just returned from a morning jaunt around Pasadena..... no, not a 26 mile jaunt. Just the hell-as-long-as-I'm-up-anyway-might-as-well-bike-around jaunt. Why was I up? My promised 4:00 a.m. email did not come. Nor was there any update on the website. Would that have been too much to ask?

So I got up and started biking over, with my girlfriend (who was doing the 5k, having signed up too late for the half-marathon). Two minutes in, we came across a sign saying it was canceled.

Lots of people were pulling up to Pasadena Community College, only to be turned away. Several overheard conversations indicated a lot of people had no idea there was a possibility of it being canceled. What a fiasco! I'm glad I live 1.5 miles from the starting line, instead of being from out of town.

At least I got to see a nice sunrise and got the first Europane pastries of the day.

Some notes:

-What next? Rescheduling? Will there be a new marathon? Presumably , they will actually update the website at some point. I believe we have a reporter on this story today. If not, someone will definitely be on it tomorrow.

-Do I get my money back?

-Overheard from a pack of bikers: "Well what do we do now?" Reply: "Let's head up to Mount Wilson." No idea if they really intended to do it.

-Around 7:00 marathon participants began running through the Lake/Colorado Avenue.....I guess, like us, they figured they might as well since they were awake anyway.

-It will be interesting to hear why they decided to schedule this marathon in November. It is pretty late in fire season, but still a date that had a chance of having smoke inhalation problems.

-Several PCC security guards I spoke with were pretty unhappy to hear that there was no website notification of the cancellation.... must have been a long morning for them telling the same story again and again.

UPDATE: It appears that based on comments on this blog that some people who signed up for the newsletter list did get email notification this morning. I signed up last night, which apparently was too late. I wish it hadn't been as maybe I could have saved some other people some hassle by updating this blog. I still think the website should have been updated at 4:00. Here is the email (reproduced from comments section):

We regret to inform you that we have been compelled to cancel today's Kaiser Permanente Pasadena Marathon as a result of the significant wildfires in the Los Angeles area and resulting unsafe air quality. Pasadena Forward's decision was made in consultation with the Kaiser Permanente Medical Team and the City of Pasadena. Please know that it was extremely difficult to arrive at this decision, and we know that this is a disappointing outcome for all of us who have worked so hard for this inaugural event. However, the only appropriate response to this emergent situation, given that the safety and well-being of our participants is at the forefront of our concerns, was to cancel. Over the next several days, we will hold discussions to determine appropriate next steps. Once concrete plans have been developed, updates will be posted at www.pasadenamarathon.org. All registered participants will also be notified via email of all important updates. Thank you for your support and patience as we work through this challenge. We hope you are safe and well. Israel Estrada Executive Director, Pasadena Forward

Because of the smoke in the air, the marathon could be canceled. As of right now, it is still on, but everyone should check the marathon website before leaving tomorrow morning. You can also sign up for their email newsletter list there, in which case you can get an email with the status update sent. The decision will be made at 4 a.m. tomorrow morning. The official marathon message:

We are in consultation with air-quality experts, as well as health and fire officials, to determine if last-minute adjustments to our event must be made as a result of fires burning locally. If the event must be canceled due to poor air quality, this determination will be made at 4:00 a.m., and all persons who are signed up for our newsletter will receive a notification to this effect. We thank you for your support and patience.

I had a chance to speak with Tornek and it is clear his campaign message is going to be about putting Pasadena on a track to slow growth. Tornek, who was appointed to the Planning Commission by outgoing Councilman Sid Tyler, feels that the city's residential areas are becoming overwhelmed by high-rise condo projects.

He says his priority will be to look at instituting city regulations that disincentive larger buildings in residential areas (not in downtown) and limit new residential projects.

Tornek has opposed a number of projects that have gone through in the city, including the Granite Park condo project in the South Lake district, near California Boulevard. That one is happening right near Tornek's home, and he says he is personally distressed by the impact it will have on his neighborhood.

Tornek plans to do some fundraising and to loan his campaign some personal funds to make the race.

Not three hours after writing about the opening day for filing to run for March's council election, the first contender for the seat has identified himself (and sent out his first mailing yesterday).

Terry Tornek, a Planning Commission member from District 7, intends to run for Sid Tyler's seat. I will be in touch with him soon to talk about his ideas for the city, and will report back on his candidacy.

Some amateurish pictures I managed to snap of the Air Force jets flying over Pasadena this morning. In true amateur fashion, I missed a really great photo opportunity with the second shot, as the first plane (a B-52?) was so low it looked as if it was about to fly into the building shown.

Disappearing behind the building:

And the smaller jet (likely an F-16, I am now told):

Nomination papers are now available for anyone looking to run for city council (and school district seats) in March's election (read here for more details). Soon, hopefully, we should be hearing from some new candidates, including most notably whoever intends to run for Councilman Sid Tyler's seat, since the feisty septuagenarian is not planning on running for reelection.

Up for reelection, are Chris Holden and Victor Gordo, who will likely easily win their seats.

If the Big One ever does strike Southern California (and yeah, I know scientists say it will happen in the next 30 years) I would like to ride it out at Caltech. In fact, if I am in the newsroom (which is a 10 minute walk away) I will be tempted to go there for the following reasons:

1) they have generators
2) they have satellite phones and internet, and will be able to communicate with outside world
3) they have an actual emergency medical plan in place involving trained first responder students.

I, on the other hand, am about the worst prepared person on earth. No extra water, food, no fire extinguisher. I don't even usually have cash on hand to buy any of these things, should ATMs and banks cease to function.

- I had my doubts about whether a room full of seismologists were actually going to get under the table. I thought maybe they would leave that for the larger masses of untrained people. They sure did get under there. Several times, in fact, to account for aftershocks. There were even sound effects.

-I'd rather not be in a crowded room of people during an earthquake. There was no extra table space for me.

-The TV reporters at Caltech asked questions with such intensity I was wondering whether they realized the earthquake was a drill. They would ask questions like "How many homes lost power? Do you have any preliminary estimates on the size of the earthquake?" in the present tense, as opposed to "How many homes would lose power in a quake like the one in this scenario."

-I was impressed by the dedication of some of the student volunteer victims. One of them burst into such a convincing set of tears that a concerned medic asked whether she was acting or not.

For anyone that has not heard, tomorrow is the Great Southern California ShakeOut, a massive earth quake drill involving 5.2 million people preparing for a massive earthquake. The idea is to practice earthquake preparation. Below is a pretty dire video of what you might expect if tomorrow's 7.8-scale earthquake scenario were to actually happen:

Pasadena's mid-year budget report doesn't look particularly bad at first gasp: a drop of $1 million in their projection of revenues, due mostly to a drop in the city's sales tax revenues. That is to be expected, of course, with a national economic downturn.

The concern the city appears to have, based on the staff report from a Tuesday council meeting, is that spending is already projected to go up strongly in the next few years, due in part to over $11 million in raises to city staff that were greenlighted a few weeks ago. At the same time, the city expects revenues to grow only marginally. The city is also unlucky because its payments on debt from bond issues in 1999 and 2004 are set to spike in 2010 and 2011, according to City Manager Michael Beck, who I just got off the phone with. That will make the next couple of years particularly challenging for the city, fiscally.

That means that the budget deficit in 2012 could be as much as $20 million, according to staff reports. That deficit is already about projected to be $15 million for this year.

Usually that deficit is generally closed because the city overestimates its spending, and underestimates its revenue, according to City Manager Michael Beck, who I just got off the phone with. Last year, for example, the city left the budget projection with a similar projected gap, and closed the deficit to $3 million by the end of the year.

However, that trend will not happen this year, according to the staff report. It warns instead, that the city needs to realize it could easily overestimate revenue from here on out.

Staff has recommended several solutions, including a hiring freeze, department reorganization, asking vendors for reduced rates. Worst of all from the employee perspective, could be the final suggestion on the list: voluntary furloughs.

Beck says most of these solutions are already being put into place, and the voluntary furlough system has already been in place a long time. He said though, that the city will be a little more active in promoting it.

The city will look more at these issues at another joint financial committee/city council meeting next month.

One final note: the city fudged on my $13.50 tape of the meeting (see previous post). I had to choose between waiting 30 minutes for a new tape to be made, coming back later, or relying on the staff report. I chose the latter, for now. It is pretty informative.

We'll be running an article on this, probably this weekend. Incidentally, I did not link to the staff report on this, because as far as I know it is not online.

I just requested an audio copy of a council meeting that was called last night to hear about the city's mid-year budget situation, and was quoted the price of $13.50. Now, I think I understand why the city failed to videotape it and put it online- it was originally scheduled to be a financial commission meeting, and the council decided to convene and maybe didn't want to pay for the video crew to be there, etc., etc.

However, I am pretty shocked at the price to view this meeting. Not only that I am being given a cassette tape to listen to. I had to get off the phone and call around the newsroom to see if we even have a tape player here (we do, fortunately).

As a comparison, when I covered the city of Covina and could not make a meeting, they were always able to provide a CD with an audio file to listen to on my computer for the bargain price of $1.

$13.50 just doesn't feel like the Pasadena Way to me.

UPDATE: I hear from the city that the audio from the meeting and the staff report will be put online before the end of the week. No word on when they plan to update their recording technology and switch to CDs (or, even MP3 files).

Today's regularly-scheduled city Finance Commission meeting morphed into a full council meeting on the state of the city's finances several months after the budget plans. Based on conversations I and other reporters have had with city officials, it sounds like there are some pretty solid concerns about the city's projections last summer.

Unfortunately, I am stuck finishing up some other stories and can't be there, but I will be giving it my full attention tomorrow, and looking into what's going on.

Nathan McIntire has the scoop in this week's City Beats column:

MONROVIA - High School students were treated Wednesday to a special presentation: "The 45 th Anniversary of JFK's Assassination: The Conspiracy, Some Accomplices, and some Cover-Ups!"

To view the scribblings that inspired this story, click here. It will be well worth your time.

With Janette Williams reporting today that the Pasadena Marathon has officially sold out of spaces (even after adding some additional spots) now is a good time to announce that I will be participating.

Though not in the really hard races- I will actually only be doing the bike marathon. For any of you who don't know much about biking, 26 miles is not considered a very long bike ride by any stretch of the imagination. For me, it is pretty long though. I'll be taking it slow

I should be easily recognizable for any of you spectators as the lone participant in the race not wearing spandex..... and also as the guy most likely bringing up the rear. Still, the idea of biking on the city streets with no car traffic is very exciting.

On a related note, I have been light on the blogging recently because I've had a cold and have been missing work. This is related because A) I have not been on my bike for almost two weeks now and B) I may still actually be dealing with the cold on Sunday. Neither factor bodes well for the already-likely prospect of me finishing last in the race. Fortunately, I'm just out there to have a good time.

County Supervisor and Measure R opponent Michael Antonovich had his staff take a look at what it would take for the half-cent sales tax that will fund county transit projects to fail. With around 600,000 votes (Antonovich's office says it is now 620,000) left uncounted, there is still a chance the measure did not pass. Antonovich's press release said the measure will need at least 65 percent of remaining votes to go in its favor (over 67 percent have supported it in votes so far.

However, when I asked for more details (I was not sure if they were accounting for the fact that many of the votes are provisional ballots, which could be thrown out), his staff told me the number may need to go quite a bit lower. From Michael Cano, the supervisor's traffic deputy:

There are at least 620,000 uncounted votes, with a few more possibly coming in. These votes represent potentially 18.7% of all votes cast if they are all qualified votes.

If these new votes support Measure R by less than 62.5%, to be safe, Measure R will likely fail.

The more votes that are verified, the higher the hurdle Measure R has to clear from this new batch of votes.

So if not a lot of ballots are disqualified the Measure might need closer to 65 percent support to pass.

The advantage that opponents have is that absentee voters may also be less likely to support the measure: in a preliminary count of absentee votes received in time to be counted Tuesday night the measure had only about 64 percent support. The conventional wisdom about absentee voters, I am told, is that they are older and tend to be more conservative, hence less willing to support new taxes.

But the downside is that based on Cano's analysis, that level of support from absentee voters would damn the measure if provisional voters did not also have similar levels of support. They are more likely to vote the same way other voters did, and the more of them those ballots that qualify, the more likely the percentage of 'yes' votes increases.

This is a preview of an upcoming weekend story where I will break down all the results for how the Crown City voted on county, state, and federal measures.

The teaser is that the whole city turned out in much greater numbers than 2004, the last presidential election. About 58 percent of registered voters showed up in 2004, and 68 percent showed up in Tuesday's election. I believe that number could creep up with some late absentee ballots coming in.

That is still low- nationwide in 2004, according to a U.S. Census report 89 percent of registered voters showed up to vote. There are no numbers I know of for this election so far, but this year's city numbers are higher than the county estimate of 65 percent for the county.

The question is how much that will rise once the 377,000 absentee votes are counted, plus any provisional ballots.

I mentioned in the last post that I was told by the Registrar's office that all that remains is an automatic recount for Measure R.

Not so, I am not now told. There are actually almost 600,000 uncounted absentee and provisional ballots (though some of the provisional ones may be thrown out). That could be enough to drain some of the support from Measure R to put it under the 2/3 voter requirement threshold.

We will likely know for sure next week.

With Measure R now likely passed (because the vote was so close there is a slim chance that the county's automatic recount process could change the result if there was a miscount) here are some key future points, from Roger Snoble, the MTA chief.

-The tax will start to be collected in July of next year. Cities will see their first serious infusions of cash about this time next year.

-The Gold Line's construction authority will be receiving cash allotments immediately, and will be able to begin construction as soon as it is able. The line will likely go no further than Azusa/Glendora, as Snoble said before the election in interviews (though on the ballot Measure R proponents claimed somewhat deceptively it would go to Claremont- it is permitted to go to Claremont, but the money is likely not enough to get it anywhere close.)

-Snoble does not think looking for federal money to get the Gold Line beyond Azusa is a good idea, since there are other county projects seeking federal money. He continues to advocate a Metrolink connection to Claremont or some other solution. The fight will go on, as angry Measure R San Gabriel Valley opponents will be looking for some way to get money for the rest of the project.

-The agency will freeze fare prices in place until 2010, avoiding an expected fare raise in 2009. It also is holding student, senior, and disabled discount fare prices in place until 2013.

-The agency will now defend a lawsuit from South Pasadena and La Canada Flintridge about its decision to put $780 million in funding for a 710 tunnel extension in the measure. If MTA loses, the money will go to other San Gabriel Valley road projects, said Snoble. There is some possibility the money could go to the Gold Line, he added, but rules about transferring money between road projects and transit projects that are written into the measure might prevent that from happening.

Steve Hymon, over at the Bottleneck Blog, interviews 17 Pasadena voters on the sales tax measure.

Last night I had a dream where John McCain was my step-father.... he wanted me to stump for him on the trail. When I told him I didn't want to do it, he made a jerky comment about how my brother and I were raised without discipline. Never have had a political dream like that before.

Funny thing is after obsessing about the race for over a year, yesterday I finally decided there was absolutely nothing else to think about as far as the race is concerned. So I guess my subconscious decided to fill in.

I voted today around 10:30 a.m. at the Lamanda Park library and waited about 10 minutes. No problems. Anyone with interesting voting experiences out there?

Go out and vote tomorrow Pasadena, no matter who you vote for. But if you haven't thought out your positions on the state, county, and local propositions, here is what the City Council and Chamber of Commerce think. Probably the better idea would be to do your own dang research, but here is what your city organizations think (they only took views on a limited number of props).

The city's positions:

Oppose

Proposition 5- Rehabilitation for Nonviolent Drug Offenders- The city feels there are too many loopholes for felons to fall through.

Proposition 7: The green energy proposition. Most green energy companies and environmental groups oppose this one too

Support

Measure TT- Pasadena school bond measure. No surprise here.

Proposition 11- Redistricting.

From the Chamber:

The Chamber Board voted unanimously to oppose Proposition 7, Renewable Energy because the benchmarks required for renewable energy acquisition are likely impossible to meet. It was also felt that the measure would increase utility rates without putting any value back into the electric system.

The Board voted unanimously to oppose Proposition 10, Renewable Energy & Alternative Fuel Vehicles because it is a narrow, special interest supported initiative that will likely not increase use of alternative fuel vehicles.

The Board voted unanimously to support Proposition 11, Redistricting which creates 14-member redistricting commission responsible for drawing new district lines for State Senate, Assembly, and Board of Equalization districts.

On a split vote, the Chamber Board voted to support Measure TT, the Pasadena Unified School District school bond. It was felt that, while the local public school district needs to focus on classroom achievement and significantly improve oversight of expenditures, the $350 million in construction and modernization funding would improve the educational environment for schoolchildren and enhance the ability of PUSD graduates to go to college or be meaningful contributors as members of the local workforce. Specific concerns expressed by the Board included the constitution of the Citizens' Oversight Committee, apparent lack of specific details about projects that would be funded under Measure TT, and concerns about the financial responsibility and oversight by the school district

Previously, the Board had voted to oppose Measure R, the MTA half-cent sales tax. It was felt that, though transportation projects are necessary in Los Angeles County, the apportionment of revenues was not favorable to Pasadena or the San Gabriel Valley

The city was slated to look at putting their campaign finance records online at tonight's meeting, but it was delayed until December 2 to give PUSD a chance to look at the idea. Then possibly both the city and the district could go online at the same time.

As a journalist I enthusiastically endorse the idea of the most open records friendly process. For PUSD it would be a step in the right direction, though not as good a step as actually answering current open records requests.

I wrote in today's city council preview post that the city had a couple of routine contracts to look at- you never know when a contract becomes not-so-routine. About 20 employees of the city's janitorial staff came in to talk about a new contractor for the city's janitorial services- they are concerned that their hours may be cut or that some employees may lose their jobs with the new contractor.

The Council was concerned enough to put off signing the contract to give the new contractors a chance to speak with the staff and allay their concerns. City staff said the new contractor had conveyed their intentions to keep all the old employees (many of whom have apparently have worked for several different contractors) on staff.

The complaint is centered around the allegation that the Obama camp used campaign funds to travel to Hawaii to visit his sick grandmother. From the California Republican Party:

Obama for America violated federal law by converting its campaign funds to Senator Obama's personal use. Senator Obama recently traveled to Hawaii to visit his sick grandmother. This was the right thing for any grandson to do-at his own expense-but it was not travel that his campaign may fund. In Senator Obama's own words, his travels took him "off the [campaign] trail for a day." The trip featured no campaign events of any kind its 22-hour duration and his decision to travel was "not driven by political concerns," according to an Obama spokesperson. Since the trip's purpose was entirely and admittedly personal, the fact that he made campaign telephone calls and talked with staff aides while traveling does not convert this purely personal trip into a proper campaign expense. Therefore, the Obama Campaign violated the FEC's ban on "personal use" of campaign funds when it paid over $100,000 for the Campaign's charter to fly to Hawaii without obtaining reimbursement from Senator Obama

Sounds like they might have a legitimate complaint (does it count as campaign travel if you bring your staff members with you but don't actually campaign?), but it makes little sense to me from a PR standpoint. I guess they are looking to make this a campaign issue considering that people are voting tomorrow, and that this issue has already been raised by cable news pundits.

Of course, if Obama does win tomorrow, it sure isn't going to look good for him to be hit with a campaign violation in a couple of months.

The state party also filed a complaint about Obama's association with ACORN, though I am not sure why this is a legitimate complaint:

Obama for America unlawfully hid its interaction with Project Vote, an affiliate of scandal-plagued Acorn. According to recent court testimony by an Acorn whistleblower, the Obama Campaign provided Project Vote with its major-donor list in an effort to further Project Vote's registration of left-leaning voters.

Is the issue that the Obama campaign should have disclosed who it gave its major-donor list to? I have never heard that campaigns have to disclose this, but I am no election law expert. I just dispatched an email to an expert.... if I get a response I will post it.

Update: As I was typing this I got a news alert that Obama's grandmother had died. Bad timing for the CRP to be making this complaint.

The cupboard is kind of bare for today's city council meeting, with few actions of immediate impact. However, I do believe there will be an interesting discussion about the city's future water plan.

Last month, after a long-discussed water savings plan was shot down by the City Council, several members expressed a lack of confidence in the Pasadena Water and Power department, and accused Phyllis Currie, the chief of the department of being unprepared and not thinking through the plan carefully. They asked her to revamp her thinking about water and present a new plan in six months, with a preview in one month.

That preview is tonight, and the staff report has some ideas worth kicking around, specifically water rate structure plans that would incentivize saving water. I wrote about similar plans used by the city of Irvine that have made it one of the most efficient water-using cities in the state:

Commission Chairman Michael Hurley joined some council members in recommending the department use a "budget-based" billing system. Under that system, officials determine how much water each household uses, based on occupancy and the lot size of the property. The amount is billed at a certain rate, with progressively higher rates charged for exceeding the amount.

The water report also deals with the possibility of spending $37 million to treat some local water sources that could account for 5 percent of the city's water use. It also warns that the city's water funds are dangerously low, and rate hikes may be needed in the future, and asks the Council for direction on what its priorities should be over the next few years: focusing on a new water incentive use plan, or crafting a plan that potentially penalizes people who waste water more, or working on increasing water supply.

On non-water issues, the city is also asking the Council to authorize it to put campaign fiscal disclosure forms on the website for city and local school board candidates. Good on the council if they vote to do this, and huge raspberries to them if they do not. They would be one of a select few cities that do this, I believe Glendora does it, and the city staff report says Los Angeles, Glendale, and Burbank do it. I notice Pasadena likes to be in the company of Glendale and Burbank in what they do (i.e. those cities have quiet night helicopters, then Pasadena got them).

The city will also meet in closed session once again and continue negotiations for several locations where it might want to locate an oft-discussed urgent care clinic.

Finally, the city is looking at a number of routine contracts and landmark home designations. The usual business.