Recently in Pasadena Category
I know presents are more important, so I saved these important weekend links for you. This is a one-time offer exclusive that you can't get anywhere else!
How did the past week's rainfall help our water coffers? Rebecca Kimitch has some answers.
After years of haggling, the city finally agreed to sell the site of a former bowling alley to a developer - taking an $8 million write-down in the process.
And finally, if you Christmas spirit and holiday hope is beginning to wane, read Hector Gonzalez column from Friday where he writes updates us on a story from long ago.
Email: daniel.tedford@sgvn.com | Twitter: @dgtedford @sgvtribune | Facebook: SGVTribune
Glendora Councilman Doug Tessitor was named the chairman of the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority Board of Directors (try saying that title in one breath).
A councilman since 2003 (up for re-election in March 2011) Tessitor has been the Pasadena City appointee to the board since Jan. 2009 and served on the Joint Powers Authority board since Nov. 2008.
"This is a very exciting time for the project and the Construction Authority, and I am honored to lead the board as we begin construction on the nearly $700 million project that will connect communities from Arcadia to Azusa to the entire L.A. County system, create thousands of jobs and generate nearly a billion dollars for our region," Tessitor said in a written statement.
Email: daniel.tedford@sgvn.com | Twitter: @dgtedford @sgvtribune | Facebook: SGVTribune
The last time we looked at how many cities posted their salaries online in the wake of the Bell salary scandal and state government officials calling for more transparency, we had just a few that had fallen in line.
As the days have worn on, more cities are jumping on board. To date, here is a list of San Gabriel Valley cities who post salaries online and links to those pages.
Walnut
Diamond Bar
San Dimas
La Verne
West Covina
Baldwin Park
Pasadena
Monrovia
Arcadia
Sierra Madre
Whittier
La Mirada
UPDATED: Lucky 13 is San Marino
UPDATED: Monterey Park joins in. (Note: I couldn't get some of the files to download. Let me know if you can.)
UPDATED: Karen Herrera, Assistant City Manager in Duarte, left me a message while I was away informing me that some city salaries were posted online here.
Only cities with a quick link on the city's homepage directly to a city salary page or document have been included in this list.
Email: daniel.tedford@sgvn.com | Twitter: @dgtedford @sgvtribune | Facebook: SGVTribune
I can hardly believe the recent events in Baldwin Park.
Last night the council unanimously agreed to suspect all DUI checkpoints due to protesting residents who felt local police were abusing their power.
This is unheard of (by me) to see a council suspend DUI checkpoints and for such protesting to occur.
DUI checkpoints, for most people, have just become a fact of life. Busy weekends, neighborhoods with bars, etc. all bring on the checkpoints proposed to help prevent or catch drunk drivers. Most of the checkpoints are run by local police departments, but are funded by the state through a grant program from the Office of Traffic Safety.
But the reality is most checkpoints don't catch drunk drivers and while they are hailed as a deterrent, there really is no empirical data to support that assertion.
Opponents often look at the checkpoints as more of a "papers" check, a place where police can happen upon unlicensed, uninsured, unregistered drivers, parolees, people with warrants for arrest, etc.
In fact, most people arrested or that have their cars impounded at checkpoints are of that variety than of the drunk driving group. Vastly.
Here is an editorial from a police Lieutenant defending checkpoints that makes a similar point that even without much DUI arrests, checkpoints serve the health and safety of society.
But is it constitutional?
At a recent Baldwin Park checkpoint leading up to the suspension, 150 cars were impounded but a source said the majority were unrelated to issues of sobriety.
Prior to that, Tom Himes reported about a woman suing the Baldwin Park Police Department for unlawfully impounding her car.
In El Monte last month, police checked more than 2,000 cars, impounded 27 vehicles and made one arrest for driving under the influence.
Those numbers are contradictory to the purpose of checkpoints. In 2005, the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals decision in Miranda v. City of Cornelius established that many impounds are "unreasonable seizures" that don't jive with the Fourth Amendment.
Still, police departments don't seem to be listening too closely to the appeals court decision, but this newspaper is.
Editor Frank Girardot took the practice to task in his column here.
The paper's editorial board also took a stance against the checkpoint structure and system.
More background on the issues in Baldwin Park here.
I think it is safe to say, that in Los Angeles Courty, a system of checkpoints that worked relatively under the radar without critique or oversight is finally getting a dash of its medicine.
What are your thoughts? Is using sobriety as a reason for checkpoints misleading? Should they no longer use the guise of DUI deterrent if they continue checkpoints? Are police officers stepping on the rights of citizens? Or, despite the contradiction between their name and the outcome, do the results of the checkpoints, (i.e. arrests of wanted individuals, impounding vehicles of unlicensed drivers, etc.) outweigh the potential infringement of the Fourth amendment?
Email: daniel.tedford@sgvn.com | Twitter: @dgtedford @sgvtribune | Facebook: SGVTribune
Tonight is the night you can become a super hero!
That might be an exaggeration. Would you go for just a regular hero?
All right, probably just neighborhood watch member or an active community member ready to have some barbecue in an effort to combat crime community style. (I prefer Mutant Teenage Ninja Turtle style, but that's not cool anymore or something)
Tonight is National Night Out, where local departments host anti-crime events at parks and block parties.
For those looking to get involved, here is a list of participating cities. Contact your local police department for more information.
San Gabriel Valley cities participating in National Night Out:
Alhambra, Arcadia, Baldwin Park, Duarte, El Monte, Glendora, La Verne, Montebello, Monterey Park, Pasadena, Pico Rivera, Rosemead, San Gabriel, Sierra Madre, West Covina, Whittier
For more information call your local city police departments.
Email: daniel.tedford@sgvn.com | Twitter: @dgtedford @sgvtribune | Facebook: SGVTribune
After a survey of city manager salaries across the San Gabriel Valley, Pasadena and Whittier areas (coverage area for our three newspapers) none are making Bell type salaries, but no one is going hungry (or without a six figure salary) either.
And yet another story that shows what goes around, probably came around because of Bell.
Amid revelations that Bell city officials skirted state salary limits by becoming a charter city, Covina council members are shying away from the idea, which was up for their consideration.
UPDATED: Local FYI: Azusa has gone dark, that is to say, they canceled their council meetings in August. La Verne canceled tonight's council meeting, but will be meeting again on Aug. 16.
Email: daniel.tedford@sgvn.com | Twitter: @dgtedford @sgvtribune | Facebook: SGVTribune
I don't have any new perspective or rich commentary on the subject, but when I hear about this sort of thing it drives me crazy.
A man, doing his usual garage sale shopping, bought a box of pictures for $45. They turned out to be worth $200 million when experts agreed they were some lost photos taken by Ansel Adams.
I go to garage sales and I am ecstatic if I find a warn down piece of furniture I can maybe turn into something usable. But $200 million photos for $45. I would hate to be the guy that sold them, but luck isn't for the foolish.
Oh! And there is a local connection, Ansel Adams taught in Pasadena and possibly stored the photos there, so says an expert in CNN's story.
"Photography expert Patrick Alt, who helped confirm the authenticity of the negatives, suspects Adams carried them to use in a photography class he was teaching in Pasadena, California, in the early 1940s."
Email: daniel.tedford@sgvn.com | Twitter: @dgtedford @sgvtribune | Facebook: SGVTribune
Working on a story about how the economy has affected cities' ability to produce fireworks and Fourth of July celebration events.
In the process, I spoke with the president of fireworks company Pyro Spectacular, Jim Souza.
Jim said the average fireworks show starts at about $25,000 and goes up from there. At a place like the Rose Bowl's Americafest in Pasadena, the cost can be as much as $200,000, Souza said.
(Souza said the Rose Bowl show is his favorite show to produce and his favorite firework is the Golden Eagle, which he described as being like a weeping willow that stretches nearly to the ground and lasts for about 12 seconds)
Pyro Spectacular does the fireworks for shows in Monterey Park, Whittier, Irwindale, Pomona, South Pasadena, Monrovia, and San Marino, among others, Souza said.
The average show has a 24 foot rent-a-truck full of a ton of hardware, several hundred pounds of fireworks, has mortars, launching equipment, and a crew of 8 to 12 people that work on one show all day.
Each show lasts about 20 minutes, with the exception of the larger shows, he said.
As for some cities, Pico Rivera is spending $25,000 on fireworks and Monterey Park is spending about $35,000 for weekend events.
More to come in tomorrow's story.
The amount of violent crime in the San Gabriel Valley's three most populous cities dropped dramatically last year, reflecting a national trend, according to 2009 crime figures released Monday by FBI.
All three Valley cities of over 100,000 residents -- El Monte, Pasadena and West Covina -- saw a drop in both violent and property crimes with one exception. El Monte property crime saw an uptick from 2008 to 2009.
Highlights from each of the cities, according to the FBI and police chiefs:
- West Covina brought back a crime analyst in 2008, which allowed the city to aggressively target certain areas and criminals, Police Chief Frank Wills said.
- West Covina was also able to keep patrol officers on the streets, but had to cut its S.W.A.T. team to do so, Wills said.
- Murders in West Covina jumped from three in 2008 to eight in 2009.
- El Monte Police Chief Tom Armstrong said the drop in murders to three in 2009 from 12 in 2008 is proof that the spike was an aberration.
- Pasadena had five murders in 2009 compared to three in 2008.
For more, read the story here.
Final note: We keep track of homicides in the San Gabriel Valley, as well as the FBI which relies on data provided by the law enforcement agencies. In some cases, we have a couple more murders than the FBI's tally. Here are the totals from 2009, and what we have so far for this year. (The map pictured above shows all the 2009 murders across the San Gabriel Valley and Whittier areas.)
Email: james.wagner@sgvn.com | Twitter: @jmswgnr @sgvtribune | Facebook: SGVTribune
Pasadena officials may have identified an easy way to save millions in crucial city dollars -- identify retiring employees and then decide whether to fill their positions.
Dan Abendschein reports the city has identified 35 employees who are likely to retire this year and are studying the potential savings of keeping their posts vacant.
There's no telling who will actually retire and its still unclear if city officials would actually keep their positions open, fill them or opt for some kind of solution in between.
But the move could potentially save the city millions.
If you were lucky or connected enough to score some Rose Bowl game tickets last year through a Pasadena official, that may have been the last time.
The Pasadena City Council has tightened the rules behind giving out complimentary tickets to the annual game, Star-News reporter Dan Abendschein reported last week.
This comes after a California Fair Political Practices Commission decision last December ruled in favor of disclosure.
That means now, council members have to submit the names of people to whom they give tickets and a reason for the gift.
And there's a special list of "qualified ticket recipients," too, which includes business owners, family members, volunteers and residents who do work on behalf of Pasadena.
Each council member gets 90 tickets to distribute, and the mayor gets 150.
No, the tickets aren't free.
But considering how fast the Rose Bowl game sells out, it would be nice to have the option of buying tickets without having to stand in line for hours, or purchasing tickets at three times the price online.
Thinking of lugging that old couch to Colorado Boulevard to watch the Rose Parade this year?
Well you better think twice -- city officials are looking to ban such items and other bulky furniture from the parade route as a way to ease New Year's Day clean-up.
Star-News reporter Dan Abendschein reports the Pasadena City Council is mulling an ordinance that would allow police to issue citations to people who bring in big furniture or lots of chairs to the route.
"The prohibition will likely be against anything that can't be moved by one person alone," said Nicholas Rodriguez of the City Attorney's Office.
Apparently, it costs the Old Pasadena Management District several thousand dollars each year to clean up old barbecues, mattresses and couches along four blocks of the route.
While Keith Hanks is running for reelection this March on the Azusa City Council, he is also hoping for another election in the coming weeks.
Hanks sits on the board for the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension that is now chaired by La Verne Mayor Jon Blickenstaff. Blickenstaff is leaving the La Verne council at the end of his term this year.
When the board is restructured, Hanks has his fingers crossed in hopes of becoming the new chair, or at least the vice chair, told me today (Wednesday).
I can't say I would blame the board for the decision. Hanks has a firm grasp on engineering and transportation issues. The man just gets excited about things like this and you always want that out of a representative.
In terms of engineering, I would probably be described as a novice and I would take that as a compliment.
But when Hanks, who works in the public works department for the city of Los Angeles and focuses on sewer systems, was explaining to me different parts of how sewers work, not only was it interesting, but I understood.
It takes someone who really knows what they are talking about to not only taking something like how sewers work and make it interesting, but to also allow a Lehman like myself to understand the basics of some complex issues.
This isn't politics, but I couldn't resist writing about it.
It was pretty cool, not to mentioned surprising, when I happened to call a famous, and somewhat well known, movie director when calling various little leagues for this story.
When I first looked at Pasadena Southwestern's little league website, I saw the presidents name and thought it looked familiar: D.J. Caruso.
I, by own definition, consider myself a movie buff. I haven't been as involved in recent years, but it wasn't too long ago that I could tell you the best movies to see from American, Korean, Polish and French filmmakers.
So, when I noticed a name that was familiar, I did what any sane person would do - I Googled it. When Caruso's name came up as the director of Eagle Eye, Disturbia - and most notably for me - The Salton Sea, I was skeptical. What are the odds that a president of a local little league was also a director of films that have grossed more than $100 million.
I talked it over with fellow Tribune reporter Rebecca Kimitch and we both agreed the scenario was unlikely. But still, I promised I would ask.
During the interview about his little league program, I decided I wasn't sure if I wanted to ask. The guy probably gets that all the time and I didn't want to annoy him.
But I went through with it, although somewhat backhanded. I asked what he did for a living, and then he responded, without much pressure but with a laugh "I actually direct movies."
My voice jolted.
"I knew it!"
This is a man who is buddies with Steven Spielberg, has directed Val Kilmer, Shia Lebouf and "The Shield" and I just happened to talk to him for a story about local little leagues hitting hard times. Crazy coincidence.
He said he gets that all that time. In fact, sometimes people come up to him and say "You know, you have the same name as a movie director." And not knowing they are one in the same, Caruso just lets them carry on. "Ya, I get that all the time," he says.
When I asked him how he ended up the president of the board for Pasadena Southwestern, I expected...well I didn't know what to expect but I half expected it to be something elaborate or out of the ordinary.
Instead, it was very similar to any dad or mom's story. He has five kids, all going through the little league at one time or another and he had helped out as a coach or volunteer over the years.
One year, he took a board position looking over the maintenance of the fields, something he said he was interested in.
This year they asked him to be president and since he is in-between movies, he decided to do it. He felt grateful to the league for all they had done for his family and wanted to give back.
Sometimes this job has some pretty cool surprises.
A comment I frequently hear when I am out and about is that residents want to help their community, but they just don't know where to go. Now that Obama has called on our public service, I am hoping to provide regular information on the blog about where people can go to help.
I'll post more as I find them. If you have any ideas, want to volunteer, or need volunteers, keep us posted.
1. One agency is Women At Work, a Pasadena-based career counseling agency aimed at helping women find work. They need volunteers Monday through Thursday. To find out how to volunteer, call 626-796-6870.
2. Cory's Kitchen in Irwindale also needs volunteers. Cory's Kitchen is a food bank that provides groceries to the needy. To contact them, call (626) 305-0392.
Anybody living in a home connected to the area's history should check this out.
Two homeowners in La Verne are applying for the Mills Act, a program that gives property tax back to families that promise to fix up and maintain their old houses. The program can save thousands every year.
The program is popular in some of the area's older cities, such as Pasadena, Monrovia or Whittier.
Reporter Daniel Tedford called the city, and they said about 10 people in La Verne have applied.
The leader of the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership says cities should stick together, literally.
Ron Wood, the partnership's CEO, said plenty of area cities could save cash by combining.
He said Covina and West Covina could become more efficient by becoming one municipality. So could Pasadena and South Pasadena. He also mentioned Temple City and Arcadia and El Monte and South El Monte.
The idea has been floating around for years, but he wonders if economic hard times will make people take it more seriously.
"I think it's one of the answers to economic problems in the San Gabriel Valley," he said. "It's an opportunity for people to take a fresh look."
He doubts politicians could set aside their egos to accomplish such a huge change, but he says people are more receptive to the idea than in the past.
"Sometimes crisis brings about changes in people," he said.
Full disclosure: Wood used to be the publisher here at the Tribune.
Think your city is hot stuff?
Find out this weekend. Reporter Daniel Tedford is working on a story about the top cities in the San Gabriel Valley. Tedford is using a CNN/Money Magazine formula to rank the cities based on housing affordability, job growth, marriage and divorce rates, commutes, school test scores, and crime rates.
Just a heads up, you'll likely be VERY surprised to see whose at the top and bottom of the list.
Smoking bans in cities have become pretty popular over the last several years.
The latest city to join the club: Pasadena.
According to reporter
It takes effect in November, would prohibit smokers "from lighting up in outdoor restaurant patios, at bus stops, in ATM lines and within 20 feet of the entrance to any commercial building."
It doesn't look like enforcement is going to be very rigorous though.
But exactly how the smoking ban will be enforced -- and whether the city will actually issue citations to violators -- is still up in the air. And given the city's past history with a previous no-smoking law adopted in 2004, an aggressive crackdown seems unlikely.
********
Enforcement will be primarily the responsibility of several employees at the Health Department, not the police.
Health Department employees will not be out patrolling for smokers, said Wilmore. But like Calabasas, they will respond to complaints from businesses and individuals, he added.
Pasadena police will be trained about the new law, but enforcement will be a low priority, Chief David Melekian said. Don't expect a cop to show up if you complain about illegal smoking, he added.
Other valley cities that also have smoking bans include South Pasadena and Baldwin Park.
Look for Dan's story in tomorrow's paper.
Police are telling us that a Pasadena woman lit her house on fire before shooting and killing herself yesterday morning, a day before she was supposed to be evicted because she couldn't pay her mortgage. Our reporter is out there now.
At times like these, any information about avoiding foreclosure will help.
On Oct. 17, there will be a foreclosure prevention seminar hosted by Congresswoman Hilda Solis from 5 to 7 p.m. at 4100 Baldwin Park Blvd. in Baldwin Park.
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