WPRA
West Pasadena Residents' Association 
Neighborhood Update
Saturday, November 9, 2013

Welcome

Founded in 1962, the WPRA is dedicated to maintaining the character of our neighborhoods and enhancing the quality of life in West Pasadena. 

   
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Editor  

Chuck Hudson

 

View the latest and past issues of the WPRA's quarterly magazine, The News, which is mailed to more than 7,000 homes in West Pasadena.
Neighborhood Update
View past issues of this weekly WPRA eNewsletter, which is emailed each Saturday morning to more than 1,100 residents of Pasadena (and beyond).
 

 

 

 

City Council and commission meetings
- CLICK ON HEADLINES FOR MORE INFORMATION -
 
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11
 

City Council meeting scheduled for this date has been cancelled 

 
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12
                   

Design Commission

6 pm

Hale Building

175 N. Garfield Ave.

 

Council of Arroyo Seco Organizations (CAS) - special meeting

7 p.m.

Pasadena Humane Society

361 S. Raymond Avenue, 2nd Floor (near Del Mar)

On the agenda: Developing a sustainable plan for the future of Hahamongna

                                 

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13

 

Planning Commission

6:15 pm

City Hall

Council Chambers

100 N. Garfield Ave.

On the agenda: public hearing on the proposal to designate the South Grand-Covington Place Landmark District.

   

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14

Transit-oriented development code

6:30 p.m.

Pasadena Presbyterian Church

585 E. Colorado Blvd. 

Gamble Lounge

On the agenda: proposed changes to the City's Zoning Code regarding transit-oriented development. [Free parking is available on the north side of East Union Street.]
WPRA in motion

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701 forum to be hosted by North and East Arroyo Neighbors

The North and East Arroyo Neighbors will host a 710 Forum for the public. It will be held at the Rose Bowl Stadium media center on November 9, 10 a.m. to Noon.

 

Neighborhoods in motion
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ROSE BOWL TRAFFIC AND CROWD ALERTS:
  • The RG Canning Flea Market will be held at the Rose Bowl on Sunday, November 10. Gates open at 9 a.m. Expect a crowd of 20,000+.
  • The UCLA Bruins will play the Washington Huskies at the Rose Bowl on Friday, November 15. Game time is 6 p.m. The inflow of traffic is expected to start around Noon, peaking just before the game, which could impact commuters returning to their homes. If you live on a street that is barricaded during major Rose Bowl events, you can get your 2013 resident vehicle parking passes at the Rose Bowl Administrative office, 1001 Rose Bowl Dr. between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., on any weekday. Passes will NOT permit access through the Event Parking toll plazas in the Arroyo and serve as event parking passes. Rather, they're intended to provide you with access to your home only. 

TODAY: City hosts e-waste recycling & document shredding event 

Residents and businesses can safely dispose of electronic waste and have personal documents shredded at the City's electronic waste collection event from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, November 9. The event, which is sponsored by the City's Department of Public Works, takes place at Parking Lot I, near Brookside Park, 360 N. Arroyo Blvd., south of the Rose Bowl Stadium. E-waste includes computers, keyboards, printers, monitors, laptops, docking stations, scanners, shredders, fax machines, computer mice, telephones, televisions, flat screens, VCRs, DVD players, PDAs, cassette players, tape drives, stereos and household batteries. You can also request shredding of up to five small boxes of sensitive documents and files during the event. [Note: Only City of Pasadena e-waste collection events offer the paper-shredding service. The Los Angeles County and CLEANLA events do not include paper shredding.]

Public invited to Veterans Day event at City Hall

Pasadena's annual Veterans Day Ceremony will be held on Monday, November 11 at 10 a.m. in front of Pasadena City Hall at Centennial Square, 100 North Garfield Ave. The public, especially all veterans, their families, friends and all uniformed military and first-responders, are encouraged to join together to honor the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces.

   

City Hall and many City services will be closed on Monday, November 11 in observance of Veterans Day. The Pasadena Police and Fire departments will continue to be staffed for all patrol, jail, fire, paramedic and other emergency services. For any life-threatening emergencies, call 9-1-1.

 

PUSD priority enrollment-registration scheduled for November 12-26

Priority enrollment-registration for siblings of children attending Pasadena Unified School District schools of choice, Willard 5th graders and Dual Language Immersion Program (DLIP) 5th graders begins Monday, November 12.  Pre-registration takes place at schools, not at the District office, and must be completed by Noon on Monday, November 26.

  • Siblings: Pre-registration for 2014-15 is offered to brothers and sisters residing with students currently attending a PUSD school on a permit. To qualify, siblings need to be attending the same school together next year.
  • Willard and DLIP 5th Graders: Willard students who do not live in Blair's attendance area but wish to continue with the International Baccalaureate Programme (IB) in middle school and transitioning San Rafael Dual Language Immersion Program-Spanish students continuing in DLIP may pre-register directly at the Blair campus. Students in Field's Dual Language Immersion Program-Mandarin Chinese who plan to continue in DLIP for middle school pre-register at Sierra Madre Middle School.

A&FC signs to save 11 acres of wilderness in San Rafael Hills 

The Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy has signed an agreement to buy 11 critical acres of wilderness in Pasadena's Cottonwood Canyon in the San Rafael Hills and is now raising the money to save it. Cottonwood Canyon runs due west from the northernmost holes of Brookside Golf Course. The purchase price is $1.6 million, of which AFC expects to raise $300,000 from the community to acquire and steward Cottonwood Canyon and help secure and enhance extended wildlife corridors.

 

Pasadena's Water and Power (PWP) Department is launching a new, citywide Outage Management System (OMS) in early 2014 that will, among other improvements, streamline customer communications and enable more efficient deployment of line personnel during outages. In preparation of the launch, PWP is asking its customers to update their emergency telephone numbers by December 15 either online at PWPweb.com/OMS, by phone at (626) 744-4005, or by returning the form enclosed with a recent account statement.

 

 
Rose Bowl Legacy "brick" campaign
The long-awaited Rose Bowl Stadium "brick" campaign is up and running. You now have an opportunity to make your mark at our iconic stadium ... literally. You can inscribe a brick with a personal message in remembrance of a person, event or game, a special memory. Each personalized brick will be incorporated into the iconic plaza in front of Gate A, leading to the main entrance of the stadium. Premium 8" x 8" legacy bricks ($425-$350) take center stage, as they will create the iconic rose pattern. The 4" x 8" ($100) bricks will make up the plaza bands surrounding the rose design. Premium rose brick options also include a keepsake replica brick. Replica bricks are made of the same material and inscribed with the same personal message as the installed stadium brick (premium replicas will be rose red). Become part of history "one brick at a time" to ensure the Rose Bowl's future for generations to come.
Editor's top news picks
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Activists: "We were railroaded at Devil's Gate public review"

"Community members and environmentalists at the first public review meeting for the Devil's Gate Reservoir Sediment Removal project said the Los Angeles County Public Works meeting Wednesday was tightly controlled and of little use." Pasadena Now

 

Barnes & Noble will close Old Pasadena store

"The Barnes & Noble bookstore in Old Town Pasadena is set to be shut down at the end of the year after the company was unable to negotiate the renewal of its lease for a location it has occupied for almost 20 years." Pasadena Now

 

WSJ erroneously reports Pasadena spends 43% of General Fund on pensions

"In a feature story last week, The Wall Street Journal erroneously reported that the City of Pasadena spent 43% of its General Fund on pensions in Fiscal Year 2012, when in fact the City reports it was actually only 9.7%." Pasadena Now

  

"A century ago, Los Angeles opened an epic waterway that ran 233 miles from the eastern Sierra to sate the thirst of its expanding city. But the L.A. Aqueduct wasn't enough." Pasadena Star-News

 

Selvidge wins tight PCC Trustees race

"After a tight race between to seasoned educators, Ross Selvidge was came out on top to be elected Area 1 seat on the Pasadena City College Board of Trustees." Pasadena Star-News

 

Study shows Pasadena is 2nd most creative mid-size city in USA

"Pasadena ranked as the second most creative mid-size city in the U.S., according to a major real estate research blog. Movoto Blog based its study on five main factors: art stories and galleries in the area, music stores and instructors, bookstores nearby, proximity to colleges and universities and number of nearby theaters." Pasadena Now

 

City reveals plan to rebrand Pasadena's ARTS bus system

"In an attempt to avoid confusion, the ARTS bus will be rebranded as "Pasadena Transit" as early as January 2014. Fredrick Dock of the Department of Transportation said the change was in response to the public's confusion that an ARTS bus might be a shuttle to art museums and not the city's main transportation device." Pasadena Now

 

Review: Pasadena Symphony's David Lockington signals new direction

Pasadena has changed little over the past half-century. What's new, of course, is Old Pasadena. But much of the city remains recognizably old Pasadena." Los Angeles Times
Leisure
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Looking for other ways to entertain or educate yourself and your family? 

For current events around the area, we encourage you to visit our local news outlets. Click on the publication title to visit that publication's events section (alphabetical order).

Attend WPRA board meetings each month 

Monthly WPRA board meeting dates and locations are on the WPRA website. Click on the headline above or visit our website and look under "Meetings and Events."


The WPRA needs you ... 

If you'd like to serve your community and do it with a group of your neighbors who are equally dedicated, the WPRA encourages you to join your neighborhood residents' association. If you live within our service area, we'd welcome your help. 

  • Got the local news bug? Just curious about your city (and would like to share news with 1,000 or so of your closest friends), consider serving as a co-editor of Neighborhood Update. It will only take a few hours a week (on your own schedule) in the month or two a year in which you'd serve. We'll train you.  
  • We have lots of opportunities to serve on one of our many committees:
    • Land use and planning
      If you care about how we use our land  
    • Education
      If you want to help save public education for West Pasadena  
    • Open space & conservation
      If you care about preserving open space and conservation of land and resources 
    • Membership
      If you'd like to help us continue to build our membership so we can do more  
If you'd like to chat about ways we could help you become more involved or, more likely, more effective (by helping us), send an email to WPRA President. Tell him about your interests.   
To learn more

Visit wpra.net or click on one of the following links

 

To submit information for the Neighborhood Update, send it to update@wpra.net. 

 

Joseph Stoddard's watercolors: The WPRA wishes to express its appreciation to local artist Joseph Stoddard, who has generously allowed us to display his watercolors in our quarterly magazine, WPRA News, on the WPRA website and in this publication. To explore Mr. Stoddard's work, visit josephstoddard.com.