WPRA
West Pasadena Residents' Association 
Neighborhood Update
Saturday, April 4, 2015

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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Chuck Hudson
Co-Editor 

 

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).
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City Council and commission meetings
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MONDAY, April 6

City Council - cancelled

 

TUESDAY, April 7

 

Recreation and Parks Commission - cancelled

 

Historic Preservation Commission - Cancelled

 

WEDNESDAY, April 8 

 

Planning Commission - cancelled

 

Arts & Culture Commission

5:30 p.m.

175 N. Garfield Ave.

Hearing Room


WPRA in motion
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A debate between mayoral runoff candidates and current Pasadena City Councilmembers Jacque Robinson and Terry Tornek is scheduled Tuesday, April 7, at 7 p.m. at the Pasadena Convention Center. The WPRA, a co-sponsor of the event, has provided some of the questions. The debate, moderated by KPCC Radio's Larry Mantle, will be televised live on KPAS (channel 3 on Charter and 99 on U-Verse) and streamed via cityofpasadena.net/media and pasadenamedia.tv. The runoff election is scheduled Tuesday, April 21. 

Two public meetings on SR-710 set for April

Two public meetings about the SR-710 project and Draft Environment Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (DEIR/EIS) will be held at the Pasadena Convention Center, 300 E. Green St.

  • City Council will convene a meeting on Monday, April 13, 6:30 p.m. to discuss and accept the Pasadena Working Group's recommendations and, possibly, to vote on whether the City will formally oppose the tunnel option
  • Metro will hold a special hearing on Tuesday, April 14, 6-9 p.m., to receive official comments on the SR-710 DEIR Note: Official comments for inclusion in the DEIR will be accepted only at this meeting, not the separate City Council meeting April 13.

710 Freeway Draft EIR/EIS is available for review and comment 

The SR-710 Draft EIR/EIS is now available for review. Caltrans and Metro will receive comments until July 6. Once the comment period ends, it may be up to two years before the final DEIR is released and the "preferred alternative" identified.
  • The following public hearings will be conducted:
    • Sunday, April 11
      • Map viewing: 10-11 a.m.
      • Public hearing: 11 a.m.- 4 p.m.
      • East Los Angeles College, Rosco Ingalls Auditorium, 1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez, Montery Park
    • Tuesday, April 14
      • Map viewing: 5-6 p.m.
      • Public hearing: 6-9 p.m.
      • Pasadena Convention Center, 300 E. Green St.
    • Wednesday, May 6 
      • Map viewing: 5-6 p.m.
        • Public hearing: 6-9 p.m.
      • La Cañada High School auditorium, 4463 Oak Grove Dr.
    • Thursday, May 7
      • Map viewing: 5-6 p.m.
      • Public hearing: 6-9 p.m.
      • Los Angeles Christian Presbyterian Church, 2241 N. Eastern Ave., LA
  • Hard copies are available for review at:
    • Pasadena Central Library and all branch libraries
    • Shatford Library at Pasadena City College
  • Submit written or electronic comments:
    • Online: through the Caltrans public comment website
    • By mail: to Garrett Damrath, Caltrans District 7, Division of Environmental Planning, 100 S. Main St., MS-16, Los Angeles, CA 90012

The WPRA believes our service area would be significantly and negatively impacted by the tunnel option. As a result, a WPRA team of experts and volunteers has begun its exhaustive analysis of the DEIR/DEIS documents and will respond on behalf of west Pasadena area residents. To raise necessary funding, the WPRA has activated the Neighborhood Protection Fund. Please consider donating.
 

Neighborhoods
in motion
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Spring Festival and Egg Bowl

You and your family will have an egg-cellent time at the Rose Bowl Stadium Saturday, April 4, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with Pasadena's largest Easter egg hunt, scavenger hunts for all ages, face painting, live entertainment, food and much more. Admission is free. 

 

Form-based zoning is a relatively new and innovative method for managing growth and shaping development to achieve a preferred mix of land uses. It also addresses the relationship between public and private spaces. Pasadena Heritage invites the community to a special presentation Wednesday, April 8, at 7 p.m. in the Lecture Space at Ganahl Lumber, 3003 E. Colorado Blvd. Learn about the potential for establishing form-based zoning in Pasadena, how it could work with the existing Pasadena Zoning Code and more. The cost is $20 for members, $25 for non-members, $12 for students with valid ID.   

 

Mansionization meetings

The City of Pasadena will host meetings to hear community concerns about newly constructed homes and/or recently remodeled single-family homes in their neighborhoods.  

  • Thursday, April 9, 4 to 6 p.m. at La Pintoresca Branch Library, 1355 N. Raymond Ave.
  • Thursday, April 16, 6 to 8 p.m., Lamanda Park Branch Library, 140 S. Altadena Dr.
  • Thursday, April 30, 6 to 8 p.m., Allendale Branch Library, 1130 S. Marengo Ave.

Regulations are being prepared to address neighborhood compatibility in targeted single-family zones. The meetings will not cover designated historic homes or hillside overlay areas, which will be addressed at a later date.  

 

Celebrate Mayor Bill Bogaard 

Pasadena's first citywide elected mayor will end his 16-year tenure in May. Join Bill and Claire Bogaard on Saturday, April 25, from 3 to 5 p.m. at Centennial Square in front of City Hall for an afternoon of live music, children's activities, art exhibitions, gourmet food trucks and more. Share your memories and thanks by writing a note and dropping it off at Central Library or any branch library, writing in a special memory book during the celebration or sharing your reflections online.

 

PEF sets date for 2015 spring event, "Celebrating our schools"

The Pasadena Education Foundation will hold its 2015 spring event, "Celebrating our schools," on Wednesday, May 20, 6 p.m., in the Courtyard of the Pasadena City Hall. In addition to introducing Pasadena Unified School District's new superintendent of schools, Dr. Brian McDonald, the event will feature Dr. S. Dallas Dance, a nationally recognized leader in education and one of 10 White House Connected Educator Champions of Change. Also, the PEF will present its 2015 Exemplary Service Award to the Helen and Will Webster Foundation.

Editor's top news picks
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Coachella at the Rose Bowl? A music and arts festival is on the horizon

"It took Darryl Dunn just one visit to San Francisco's beloved Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival to be convinced - this is the future of Pasadena's Rose Bowl. Last month, the Rose Bowl Operating Company Board signed a letter of intent with concert juggernaut AEG Live to throw a weekend-long music and arts festival in the Arroyo. The contract spans 10 years, with two five-year extensions possible. Dunn says the inaugural event could take place as early as next summer." KCRW

 

Stuck in Seattle: The aggravating adventures of a gigantic tunnel drill

[Editor's note: Could this "adventure" be in Pasadena's future?]

"About 20 workers wearing hard hats and reflective vests clump together on the edge of a chasm near Seattle's waterfront, peering down a hole 120 feet deep and 83 feet wide. The last men have been craned out of the pit in a yellow metal cage. Gulls squawk. A TV news helicopter hovers overhead." Bloomberg Business

 

San Gabriel Valley cities clash over 710 Freeway options

"What's the best way to get traffic from the end of the 710 Freeway in Alhambra to the 210 in Pasadena? The Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State Los Angeles and the League of Women Voters Pasadena hosted a forum on Monday, where council members from Alhambra, Duarte, Glendale and South Pasadena sparred over whether building a tunnel or constructing light rail and making traffic modifications to the existing roads best answered that question." KPCC

 

Governor issues first-ever mandatory water restrictions, as PWP’s outdoor watering rules go into effect

"Gov. Jerry Brown announced mandatory water restrictions for the first time in California history on Wednesday, as here in Pasadena special summer limited watering rules went into effect. As part of the City's Level 1 Water Supply Shortage Plan Pasadena property owners will be limited to watering outdoors three days per week, on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, from April 1  to October 31." Pasadena Now

 

JPL announces more bad news about California's water supply

"A new Jet Propulsion Laboratory study finds the Tuolumne River Basin snowpack in California's Sierra Nevada - a vital water source for all of California - has decreased by about 60% over its maximum volume at this time last year." Pasadena Now

 

AS&F Conservancy secures grant for study of San Rafael Hills, Upper Arroyo Seco

"Monday night, local open space advocates garnered help in their efforts to preserve more land as the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy approved a grant request by Pasadena-based Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy to conduct an important regional open space study. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy granted $16,667 to Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy to prepare a Conceptual Area Protection Plan covering a portion of the Rim of the Valley Corridor from Big Tujunga Wash through the Verdugo Mountains and the San Rafael Hills to the upper Arroyo Seco." Pasadena Now

 

Should a 710 Freeway tunnel allow trucks and will it be safe?

"While the debate over extending the 710 Freeway is six decades old, a new angle involving doing it by tunnel is grabbing most of the air time, even though four options are being examined by Caltrans." San Gabriel Valley Tribune

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 and "like" our Facebook page  

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

 

Joseph Stoddard's watercolors: The WPRA is grateful to local artist Joseph Stoddard, who has generously allowed us to display his watercolors in our quarterly newsletter, The (WPRA) News; on the WPRA website; and in this publication. To explore Mr. Stoddard's work, visit josephstoddard.com.