From Steve Scauzillo's Opinion Desk

Congratulations to all the area graduates!

Tonight I'll be proudly attending the Temple City High School commencement for the Class of 2008. My son, Matt, 18, will be graduating, as will some 534 other seniors.
Here's a high school from which 15 students will be going to UCLA, and another 15 will be going to UC Berkeley (my son, included). That is just one aspect of the success story that is Temple City High School.

Respected TC businessman Jerry Jambazian wrote in an e-mail to me, after attending the TCHS senior awards ceremony: "In the graduating class there were 151 seniors who had a GPA of 3.5 and SAT (scores) of 1500 and above."

Call me biased, but you know the argument is easily made that this school, with its above 800 API, is one of the best in the San Gabriel Valley.

That's why I believe a recent editorial in a weekly newspaper (NOT affiliated with the Pasadena Star-News or any of our weekly publications) that criticized outgoing Temple City Unified School District superintendent Joan Hillard was harsh and inappropriate. The writer went so far as to suggest that Hillard not attend graduation and other promotion ceremonies this year.

While our newspaper (and even yours truly) have been critical of Hillard at times, she deserves to be present at the TCHS graduation tonight. As someone who was at the helm of this district for nine years, she contributed to the continued success of this district and its students. I want to thank her, the other administrators, counselors, coaches, the teachers at TCHS, Oak Avenue Middle, and the three elementary schools and all the staff for a job well done.

The school is a model of what a small district that promotes learning can do.

Posted by Steve Scauzillo at 3:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

AS Steve Jobs explained to a rapt audience of technofiles in San Francisco this week, Apple Inc. will release a new and improved version of its iPhone on July 11.

If what happened after its iPod release a few years earlier holds true, Apple will not be the only entity to see increasing profits. Common thieves and criminals will be eating better this summer as well.

That's because there is a direct correlation between every new release of the latest palm-sized Internet device and street crime.

In the year after the iPod was released, Los Angeles saw an increase of 34 percent of robberies of iPods and other similar electronic gadgets and San Francisco saw a doubling of such crimes, according to a report by Chris Hansen at Dateline NBC.

While Hansen was doing a yeoman's job reporting the dark side of the usually all-giddy new technology news reports, most of the bad news from the electronic revolution never becomes conventional wisdom.

Sure, techno-bloggers and some iPod and iPhone users know about the bulls-eye painted on their back -- even the increasing chance of becoming a victim of a violent robbery -- but most go about using the devices oblivious to the dangers.

I happened to be in the Bay Area the day Jobs was unveiling the new iPhone, which will be sold at a lower price ($199 for the 8-gigabyte model and $299 for the 16-gigabyte model). The price of the required service will, however, rise to $39.99 a month plus $30 for data.

While at an orientation lecture from a police officer from U.C. Berkeley, where I was with my son, Matt, who'll be attending there in the fall, the officer spoke in frank terms about these devices being magnets for "thugs" who often roam the city and campus looking for expensive electronic devices to steal from Cal students.

She mentioned, matter-of-factly, that the release of iPods and iPhones spiked the crime rate at U.C. Berkeley. As a precaution, students should not walk around campus with their iPods or iPhones visible, nor should they have both earplugs in their ears. "Those two white ear plugs are a dead give away," she told the freshman parents, who absorbed the message like dry sponges.

I have to admit, I had no idea these devices were such a problem. But I did recall my son getting a $300 iPod from his uncle in New York and remembering it was promptly stolen after only two weeks. Most likely, it was lifted from a backpack or gym locker at his high school.

The thefts of these video-data-music devices are quite common. Hansen reported that it has become such a problem on college campuses that some have banned them.
On more than a half-dozen occasions during my visit to the Bay Area, I witnessed a person take out an iPhone and begin surfing data. At the airport, at a Giants game, on the Berkeley campus, on the BART -- none tried to hide the device. Were they unaware they were sitting ducks?

Colleague Daniel Fritz, who was using his iPhone in the newsroom Friday, said he never uses the device unless he feels secure. When he does use it in public, he cups his hands around it "so it looks like any, ordinary PDA," he told me.

A very funny YouTube video by Flixxy Films shows how a bump-and-rob scenario can cost a person several hundred dollars in a few seconds. Also, some iPhone users are victims of identity theft as thieves download the owner's personal banking data and use it for fraudulent purchases. The video concludes with the owner pressing a remote control detonator that blows up the device and the thief.

Hansen of Dateline asked if Apple can design such advanced technology, why can't they incorporate a way to track down the thief or render the device useless when stolen?
I'm guessing that will never happen. More reason why users of new technology should know the down side as well as the up.

Posted by Steve Scauzillo at 4:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Howard Jarvis, tax fighter

Today, as I write this, (June 6) it is exactly 30 years since the voters approved the historic California tax-cutting measure Proposition 13.
What do you give for the 30th anniversary? Hmm, I know a lot of school teachers worried about layoffs who would like to give the voters a sack of coal.

I've been in California exactly as long as Proposition 13 has been around. Yup, I moved here from New York in August 1978 to attend Univeristy of California, Irvine and like many, I fell in love with SoCal and stayed. Today, it still feels like we're living under the cloud of Prop. 13. Living here and reporting on communities in Orange, San Bernardino and now, Los Angeles County for almost those 30 years, I've seen and heard all sides of the property tax cutting measure.

My first experience was when I was still in New York. I got a phone call from my parents, who had heard from my brother, who had just joined the Los Angeles County sheriff's department. He was worried, very worried, that if this ballot measure was to pass, he would be out of a job.

Well, that didn't happen. In fact, in April, he retired from the department after 31 years of meritorious service.

Scare tactics were the first reaction to the measure. But California found a way (it was called reserves) to pay cities and schools for the shrinking property tax revenues. Then, as we saw in Tuesday's Covina Utility Tax vote (Measure C, approved by 65 percent of the voters), the use of scare tactics to convince voters to vote for a tax is still in vogue.

Which brings me to my next point. Utility Users Taxes came about after Prop. 13, after the state stopped the bailouts and started taking some of the money back. Then property tax revenue bond began to appear on our property tax bills. Almost every school district has one, some have two on the rolls. When you add community college districts and some water districts, it, well, almost adds up to a pre-Prop. 13 tax bill.

The point is: other taxes have taken the place of lowered property taxes. It is the old step on the snake illustration; step on the tail and you haven't killed the snake, you just fatten the head.

Posted by Steve Scauzillo at 2:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I almost drove by my polling place this morning because ... there were no cars parked in front of the church in Temple City. A poll worker opened the door for me and as I walked in, he and the other workers joked that he was out recruiting voters "and invited me in."

As I went through the process of signing in, getting my ballot and putting my "inka-vote" dot next to the persons I was voting for, I thought how this has become an archaic activity. It is almost like some ancient art, and I'm still doing it like they did in past generations.

It was not so much the paper ballot and the inky half-pen tied to a metal chain that I used to mark my ballot. But it was more the feeling that I was a select remnant: those who still vote in primaries! I had a colleague at work who saw my "I voted" sticker ask me what that was about. So, I guess I'm part of the ancient collective that still votes...

I know what you're thinking. This voting thing is done WAY too often. And splitting the primary this year (presidential held in February, all the rest held today, June 3) was a bit much. Remember how everyone said the presidential primary in California would make our state "more relevant" in picking candiates for president? Well, imagine what it would've been like had we kept our presidential primary in June? We would've had CNN and Matt Drudge camping out in California today and all week.

Oh well, water under the bridge....
About today's ballot. We here at the Star-News/SGV Tribune/Whit DN editorial board enjoyed meeting candidates for judges of Los Angeles Superiior Court. Our choices are in the newspaper today and on our web sites ("Our Picks: Election Day"). Check them out. There are considerable differences in many judicial candidates. Meanwhile go out and vote. You have until 8 p.m.

Posted by Steve Scauzillo at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was talking to a friend in Big Santa Anita Canyon, Glen Owens of Monrovia, who told me tomorrow's (Saturday) Mount Wilson Trail Race will not be held. He said it is the first time since the race began in 1908 it had been cancelled.

He and John W. Robinson, author of the best selling hiking book "Trails of the Angeles" were going to cut the racing ribbon at the start line.

I hear they may run it next weekend but I'm still not sure.

Owens was joking that the Santa Anita Fire in late April denuded some of the slopes adjacent to the trail, which leads from Sierra Madre to Mount Wilson. What is normally a treacherous drop becomes even more so, he said, because there is little brush to break your fall.

I've hiked it and have run it to Orchard Camp several years ago and remember thinking how one slip could send you down the canyon several hundred feet. And that was during good conditions. So, I think the organizers made the correct call.

I was hoping to drive up Chantry Flat Road and check out the new store Saturday, but Owens tells me that the canyon got 2.5 inches of rain from the recent storm, causing a minor slide on Chantry Flat Road that makes it unpassable.

That's disappointing. I hope they can fix it this weekend, when I'd like to get some hiking in bertween raindrops.

Speaking of rain, the storm may have moved mud, but it also may have a silver lining. It may be just the right conditions to germinate seedlings in the soil, Owens said. It would be a good beginning to new life in the fire-damaged Angeles above Sierra Madre.

Posted by Steve Scauzillo at 3:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Thanks to the Azusa Chamber of Commerce, I got to drive the length of Highway 39 to the junction with Highway 2, also known as Angeles Crest Highway.

The last 6 miles or so of this state highway have been closed (hence the signs in Azusa and in La Canada that say "close to Wrightwood'') since 1978. That's right, 30 years. They are lobbying Caltrans to get that portion of the road fixed and reopened, so folks can make the loop from Azusa to Mount Waterman, Mountain High ski areas, Wrightwood and then down to La Canada and the 210 and back to the east San Gabriel Valley.

It's a worthwhile idea.
So would getting the road fixed that leads from the West Fork to Coldbrook Campground and Crystal Lake picnic area and campground. That's 350+ camp sites that just sit there unused!
I'll show you my pictures from the tour:

Above: Morning fog hangs amid the charred pine trees where the Curve and Bridge fires damaged the forest in 2002.

Above: Bill Larson, the Caltrans chief for Highway 39, opens the gate above Bear Canyon and Deer Flats, allowing our bus to go through to Highway 2.

Above: Highway 2 (Angeles Crest Highway) from the top left, meets Highway 39. The connection from 2 to 39 has been closed to the public for 30 years.

Above: A view from the top: Looking down on Bear Canyon

Posted by Steve Scauzillo at 5:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (96)

PINBALL machine production is way down. There’s one company left making them. They’re being replaced by home video games and cell phones. The machines manufactured today go directly to homes not stores, according to the Friday New York Times article.

The story sent me back to my childhood in Long Island and that lucky machine in the back of a candy store off Newbridge Road. If I had some money from my paper route I’d hop off my bike, go in and test my flipper skills and maybe enjoy a chocolate egg cream and a bonus score.

Today, kids rarely go out of the house to find entertainment. They flip on the flat screen and fire up the Xbox. Or they play across social networking sites at their home computer.

It’s not like I ventured into the great outdoors alot, either, unless it was to attend a ball game. You’re talking to a kid who flunked scouting. But ever since a day 20 years ago, when I hiked into the eastern San Gabriel Mountains with botanist Ann Croissant on an assignment, I’ve been hooked on wild plants.
Yeah, who’d a thunk it? Me and plants. It’s really not so shocking since I studied environmental science and took botany at Nassau College.

I had no idea, however, of the variety of species, nor the array of shapes and colors of wildflowers right here in our back yard.

“The San Gabriels, a home to biodiversity! Who would have thought that a mountain range so heavily impacted by people and urban sprawl in Los Angeles County would retain its rank as one of the most biodiverse regions in America,” was how Croissant so aptly stated it in her new book “Wildflowers of the San Gabriel Mountains,” (Stephens Press, 2007).

The window to the thriving world below my knees was opened. Croissant showed me purple thistles and orange-red paintbrush growing from craggy rocks. Later, I was the first to write about the discovery of the thread-leaved brodiaea along the Colby Trail in Glendora, an endangered plant that existed only in the intense flower oasis called the Santa Rosa Plateau, until this discovery. Glendora named it their city flower and celebrates its existence every May.

Blue dicks, chia, purple nightshade, phacelia, wild morning-glory, golden-yarrow are just some of my favorites. These and others are featured in her book, organized by color and spiral bound for use on the trail.

If you haven’t seen these flowers, now may be the best time. Plentiful winter rains have produced a rich bounty. Though the first bloom is ending, the second bloom — the blues and purples — are due in May and June.

And you don’t need a course in botany. Just a desire to get off the couch, drop the remote and head for the hills. Start by checking out the roadway flowers (I love the ones next to the 57/10 interchange). Going to the San Gabriel Mountains Regional Conservancy’s Web site (www.sgmrc.org) for info on hikes and nature center locations.

“It (family hikes) is something that has been lost in the heritage,” explained Croissant, founder of the group. “A lot of families don’t go out; it is a consumer culture.”
Whenever she hikes with kids, either through scouting or the “Hike It!” program her group sponsors, she finds young people are absorbed.

“You only have to take kids on a trail once time and it is amazing how much they pick up,” she said.
And you don’t have to be young or in excellent physical shape to go wildflowering.
“It is for the kid in all of us,” she said with a smile.

Posted by Steve Scauzillo at 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Torch relay press pass, 1984

WHEN I was 26 years old, I was one of those young reporters who believed that my next story would be bigger than Watergate.

I was, as we say in the business, hungry for news. As my mentor Gary Granville, a former investigative reporter used to say, I was looking for “red meat.” So when my editor at the Orange County Register told me to cover the Olympic Torch relay in Garden Grove, I thought this was vegetarian fare.
In fact, it smacked of a public relations event cooked up by the U.S. Olympic Committee to promote the upcoming games in Los Angeles, which by the way, were being boycotted by the Soviet Union and were being bashed from within and without as something that was dead on arrival due to LA’s bad air and choking traffic.

Not to mention, a few days before, I covered the raising of Olympic street banners in Garden Grove, which was my beat and where the torch relay would travel. I remember the banners were done up in those garish colors — hot pink and light green.

Needless to say, boy was I wrong. And so was the rest of the media prognosticators.

Not only was the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles one of the most successful in the history of the games, it was a shining moment for L.A. and Southern California. It had many storylines, including one of celebratory athletes and unmatched camaraderie among the U.S. swim team (gold medalists); joyous celebrations; free-flowing freeways; cleaner than imagined air and cooperative, peaceful fans all enjoying a nearly crime-free two-week event.

I believe the tone was set during the torch relay.
Southern Californians of all ilk came out of their homes to cheer on total strangers holding gold-plated torches burning a kerosene flames.

In Garden Grove, I watched a handicapped runner carry the torch his assigned mile to the cheers of well-wishers lined up three rows deep. Then, I witnessed something that melted my heart: The crowd spontaneously hoisted that young man on its shoulders and carried him several hundred more yards. I remember the ear-to-ear grin from his proud father. I have never forgotten that day, not even 24 years later.
I only wish I had kept the article. A search of the OC Register archives was fruitless. I don’t even remember the runner’s name.

But the event touched me deeply. So deeply, that I broke a journalism cardinal rule: I helped the competition. Let me explain.

The next day, the torch was in Newport Beach/Irvine and my wife, Karen E. Klein, was covering it for our rival, the Orange Coast Daily Pilot. I got up at the crack of dawn with her thinking I’d be a spectator. I stationed myself along the other end of Von Karmen, one of the sterile boulevards that criss-crossed the planned community of Irvine. Again, like magic, the people came out to cheer the runners and I was swept up, taking quotes and recording history, as they waved American and Olympic flags in a show of unity.

I have never seen that many people in the streets of Newport Beach or Irvine since. I have never witnessed a sporting event with such pure excitement like the torch relay of 1984.

There were no protesters. No police in riot gear. No conflict, really. Unlike today, when the torch relay for this summer’s Olympics in Beijing was marred by riots in Paris and London. And earlier this week, in San Francisco, where anti-China demonstrators had lined the Embarcadero Wednesday morning. The mayor changed the route at the last minute and the relay proceeded nearly without spectators.

The wife of local torch runner Eric Burke was kept in the dark and missed her husband’s historic run. The Pasadenan was chosen for his work with “at-risk” students.

He enjoyed the experience, he told Staff Writer Kevin Felt, even though a few protesters threw water balloons in an attempt to extinguish the flame.

I am embarrassed for those torch runners, who were trying to unite the world and run for an ideal. I am all for protests, only this was the wrong venue.

I guess back in 1984, my news story did not change the world, not like Watergate or Iran-Contra. But it changed me. It taught me to be on the lookout for the American spirit — it can surprise you. I only hope that now, in a much more cynical world, there are pleasant surprises left.

Posted by Steve Scauzillo at 4:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The walls were filled with posters that you'd see in a 1970s record shop. You know what I mean, the one with Jimi Hendrix and his guitar in black and red ink.

But this wasn't the '70s and it wasn't a record shop. It was the inside of the Pasadena City College screen arts and printing lab.

As students worked the silk screening equipment, Professor Kris Pilon, of the engineering and technology division, explained the illusion of four-color art using a two-color screening process.

"(Students) learn exactly how to do it," she said, adjusting the print of a student-designed poster on the table. Pilon explained that printing is still a vibrant art -- and can be a lucrative business as well. And that was the point of the first ever Career and Technical Education Day Tuesday at PCC.

"Students today want to know not only how to do things, but how much money can I make doing it," said President Paulette J. Perfumo. "They want to know how much bling they'll make," she told me and Larry Wilson, our public editor, during a campus visit Tuesday.

Pilon said silk screening can be done on more than just paper and T-shirts. "We can print on any surface, on glass, on textiles, on wood ... even those temporary tatoos they give away at Dodger games are screen-printed products."

About 800 students from high schools in Arcadia, Temple City, El Monte, Pasadena, Alhambra, San Gabriel and San Marino visited the campus to get a first-hand look of PCC's vocational arts side.
We also visited the industrial arts/auto mechanics shop where students learn to work on cars and trucks for a living.

I left the campus impressed, wondering if they can work on my 2003 Volkswagen Jetta which is hesitating just a bit upon acceleration.

The new industrial arts building is under construction on the west end of campus, which will be its home in Spring '09.

Posted by Steve Scauzillo at 2:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was driving up Santa Anita Avenue and a church marquee caught my eye. The black plastic lettering spelled out a terse message: "Easter Sunrise Services, March 23, 6:30 a.m.

Now, those early birds in the crowd may be used to doing things in the a.m., but I’ve always been a late bloomer. Getting me to a sunrise anything is tough, even though Easter is my favorite time of year.
But now, even Easter itself comes earlier than ever. Easter in March? And it's not even the last Sunday of the month but the fourth Sunday. Palm Sunday is March 16 -- that's next weekend! I'm just getting over Valentine's Day, give me a break.

Is it just me, or is everything earlier this year?

At the newspaper, we were excited about California participating in the presidential lottery four months earlier. Instead of June, Californians went to the polls to nominate Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain on Feb. 5. While that was a smart move, it was done because other states pushed up their primaries and caucuses (Iowa and New Hampshire held their earliest contests ever). It was like that schoolyard game where you grab a part of the bat until the one at the top gets to go first.

Michigan and Florida also caught early-bird fever. But after they moved up their primary dates to January against the wishes of the national Democratic Party, the process got sicker and sicker. The Democratic Party said those delegates would not be seated. Now, there's back-room discussions over a "re-do," meaning another set of Democratic primary elections in Michigan and Florida. The Republicans also penalized the two states for earlyness but not as severely; they stripped their delegates in half.
Why is everyone in such a hurry?

The press thought Super Tuesday would be the end of the nominating process. Or wished it would. Maybe they had vacation timeshares in Florida or Aruba that were burning holes in their pockets. Or CNN had a long list of has-been celebrities lined up for Larry King to interview.

But end it did not. Hardly. At least not for the Democrats, whose top two candidates are locked in a battle for the nomination that could lead all the way to the Democratic Convention in August.

It's so rushed that the whole thing reminds me of that Army saying, "hurry up and wait." We rushed. We got our primary earlier. And now, we wait for the Democratic nominee. We wait for Michigan and Florida, who were so early, they may end up last.

Tomorrow, we go into Daylight Saving Time. Yup, it is early this year. Again, what is the rush? Do we really need that extra hour of daylight in the evening, sooner rather than later? That's just code for taking away an hour of sleep.

If I was a conspiracy guy, I'd say that the Congress, Howard Dean of the Democratic Party, and the farm lobby got together with the retailers to move everything earlier.

Those retailers are the ones who turned Thanksgiving — once a four-day weekend of family time, good meals and well, thankfulness -- into one day of "turkey" and three days of shopping. Friday after Thanksgiving is now “Black Friday.” It’s really early Christmas shopping days so people can started "early" on Christmas and get those "early bird" bargains at 4 a.m. What they don't mention is you’re so early for Christmas, you shortchange Thanksgiving.

I used to feel guilty when I heard people had shopped so early they were “done” with Christmas by Dec. 1. I'm the type who enjoys the holidays (even if the shopping is not done until the last two or three days before Christmas). I don't get guilty anymore.

The early-birders push us so hard to be early, that we don't know what to do with the time we save. Usually, that means on the very holiday we so urgently rushed into, we are planning the next one.

Posted by Steve Scauzillo at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

WHITTIER -- Talk about your heartbreak.
The city of Whittier has been trying for 20 years to convert an abandoned Union Pacific tracks right of way into a biking/walking trail. As part of the finishing touches, they hire a contractor to pave it and put in lamposts. A few days later, vandals smash more than 80 of the 100 lamposts, tear out the conduits and steal the copper wiring, too.

I took a walk with former Whittier Daily News editor Bill Bell Tuesday morning to see for myself. Bell, who is Mr. Whittier, was taken a back by the extent of the damage.

A class from a nearby elementary school use the trail (next to a damaged lamp).

Damage to the new lamposts is extensive:

Over at Five Points, the new railroad bridge has been installed (as shown below).

It's a worthwhile project. One that many cities would love to have. Having it lighted would help residents ride their bicycles or walk it in the evenings or at night. Getting exercise at night is a tough thing to do. Having a little incentive -- a trail near your home -- could persuade even the most stubborn couch potato to go take a walk.

What do you think? Should the city put in replacement lamps? Should they stop lighting the trail? Is there a better way?

Posted by Steve Scauzillo at 3:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wes Roemer, the former standout baseball pitcher for the Glendora Tartans and more recently, the Cal State Fullerton Titans, pitched in an intrasquad game Wednesday for his new team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Roemer was the 50th draft pick last year and went to the National League Diamondbacks in the first round, supplemental.

This was the first time Wes has pitched against major league hitters in his still young career.

Unofficial results: one inning, one unearned run, the outs came on ground balls and fly balls (no strikeouts). And of course, what Roemer is known for, his control -- no walks. MLB.com's story said the three young D'back pitchers, including Roemer, "threw the ball well."

Most likely, Roemer will pitch in camp for the Diamondbacks and then return to the minor leagues in April.

As a CSUF Titan, Roemer was a 2-time All-American and won the NCBWA Player of the Year award. In 2006, he threw 62.5 innings without giving up a walk.

Posted by Steve Scauzillo at 9:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the face of tragedy, most of us don't know what to do.

Joe Naylor, owner of a sandwich and salads eatery on Huntington Drive in Duarte, was in that category. That is, until he copied a photo from the Star-News and began pasting them onto empty paint cans. The result so far has been about $10,000 in donations raised for the families of 16-year-old Sammantha Salas and 19-year-old Brandon Lee who were killed in separate shootings recently in the Duarte-Monrovia area.

"We've had people donate food stamps, anything they can," he told me Friday. "We're working with Cal National Bank ... 100 percent of what we get goes to the families."

Naylor told me the effort was the community's response to the recent gang shootings in the area and the killing of these innocent bystanders. The money will be used to help the families defray the cost of burying their children.

"When we saw that picture, it really hit us hard," Naylor said, referring to the Feb. 1 photo showing Jeanette Chavez, Sammantha's mother, receiving comfort from Willie Lee Jr., father of Brandon Lee. The two parents in a poweful show of unity, called on gang members to stop the violence.

Joe's Place employees placed cans in 30 different locations, including other restaurants, Cal National Bank, even golf courses. He's received checks for $5, $10, $200 and up to $1,000. (Checks should be made out to FBO (For the Benefit Of): Salas/Lee.) "It is a good way to show the community will pull together to help someone in need,' he said.

Posted by Steve Scauzillo at 5:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The above images were sent to me by an anonymous reader who lives in Baldwin Park. His querry was a simple one. He wrote: "Why can't a tree look like a tree in Baldwin Park? Trees are beautiful -- give shade and improve the air we breathe -- but not in Baldwin Park. Why, oh why?"

Now, I know some cities purposefully sculpt parkway trees. They think it looks neat or unique, I'm not sure. Glendora comes to mind. They are fans of the lolipop trees on Glendora Avenue between Foothill and Bennet. Many say they look great when adorned with Christmas lights. There's also the trees of St. Alban's in San Marino. But this display in Baldwin Park lacks imagination.

Some say the trees are strangling. Or have been barbered to the extreme.
Funny how trees can be so important to residents.

One is near the redevelopment zone. There is no redevelopment plan that will add trees, as far as I know.

Posted by Steve Scauzillo at 4:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)