WPRA
West Pasadena Residents' Association 
Neighborhood Update
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2016
Published weekly since 2000


Welcome

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

   
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Send comments to update@wpra.net 

Chuck Hudson 
Co-Editor 

 

View the latest and past issues of the WPRA's quarterly magazine, The News, which is mailed to nearly 8,000 homes in west Pasadena.
Neighborhood Update
View past issues of this weekly WPRA eNewsletter, which is emailed each Saturday morning to more than 1,500 residents of Pasadena (and beyond).
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Important community meetings
>CLICK ON HEADLINES FOR MORE INFORMATION<

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8

City Council - Joint meeting with Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education
6:30 p.m.
City Hall, Council Chambers
100 N. Garfield Ave.
On the agenda: Update on City and PUSD joint-use projects; discussion of a conceptual plan to provide affordable rental and first-time buyer housing on district-owned sites for income-eligible faculty and staff and the general public; an overview of PUSD's effort to develop a five-year educational master plan

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9


6 p.m.
175 N. Garfield Ave.
Permit Center Hearing Room
On the agenda: Creation of a City Sustainability Manager staff position and comments on the Arroyo Seco Restoration Project; updates on City's efforts to deal with the drought's impact of public trees

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10

6 p.m.
233 W. Mountain St., Second Floor
On the agenda: tree removal from Hahamongna Watershed Park
 
6:30 p.m.
City Hall
100 N. Garfield Ave., Basement Training Room, S018
On the agenda: Convene a public hearing to receive comments from the public and commission members on the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the proposed Arroyo Seco Music and Arts Festival (formerly called the Rose Bowl Music and Arts Festival). The proposed project is an annual three-day music and arts festival that would occur at the Rose Bowl Stadium and Brookside Golf course sites. [For more, see note below in the "Neighborhoods in motion" section]
"Quote" of the week

"Occasions are transcendent, wherein people become more than themselves either in celebration or in anger. They become effervescent landmarks in memory. Our stories about cities are a series of events, like pearls on a string. More than anything else, I would say that we think about cities through those effervescent experiences." - UMass Sociologist Jonathan R. Wynn's assessment of the value of music festivals, such as the proposed Rose Bowl Music and Art Festival. Excerpted from "How music festivals shape cities," The Atlantic CityLab 
WPRA in motion
>CLICK ON HEADLINES FOR MORE INFORMATION<

The City has released the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Arroyo Seco Music and Arts Festival (formerly called the Rose Bowl Music and Arts Festival). The full text of the Draft EIR is available by clicking the headline above. The review period for the Draft EIR began Dec. 21) and ends on Feb. 19 at 5:30 p.m. There will be one last public hearing:

Wednesday, Feb. 10, 6:30 p.m.
Planning Commission meeting
Pasadena City Hall, Council Chambers (Room S249), 100 N. Garfield Ave.

Review WPRA comments submitted during the scoping period.

Effective Feb. 25 through March 10, the Metropolitan Water District will shut down its Weymouth Treatment Plant for a planned upgrade. This means Pasadena will receive no water from the MWD, which normally provides 60% of the city's total water supply. In January, City Council temporarily approved implementation of a Level 4 Water Supply Shortage Plan during the shutdown period. This action prohibits all outdoor watering, including hand watering.

The Pasadena water-savings gauge dipped to 21% between June 2015 and January 2016, but the target remains 28%. Fortunately, given the recent rains, the State Water Resources Control Board extended the deadline of its statewide conservation mandate to October from February.
Neighborhoods in motion
>CLICK ON HEADLINES FOR MORE INFORMATION<

Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) schools are celebrating African-American history in the month of February with culturally relevant activities in schools and the community.

The Pasadena City Council will consider certification of the Final Environmental Impact Report and approval of the Non-Potable Water Project at a public hearing to be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 22, at City Hall, Council Chamber, 100 N. Garfield Ave., Room S249. The purpose of the project is to provide nine to 10 percent of Pasadena Water and Power's overall water needs from local, non-potable water sources. The proposed project involves the construction and operation of a new non-potable water distribution system to deliver water from three local water sources to customers within the service areas of PWP, Foothill Municipal Water District and their member agencies (including Lincoln Avenue Water Company, Valley Water Company, Las Flores Water Company, and Rubio Canyon Land and Water Association), and California American Water Company for landscape irrigation, cooling, and other non-potable uses.
Editor's top news picks
>CLICK ON HEADLINES FOR MORE INFORMATION

"From Coachella, Glastonbury, and Stagecoach to Governors Ball, Lollapalooza, and Ultra, music festivals clearly play a role in the economies of cities. They bring in huge numbers of tourists and revenue, attract large audiences, create significant platforms for musicians, and help to build city brands." The Atlantic Citylab
 
"Pasadena's Paseo Colorado shopping center has been purchased for an undisclosed sum by Texas real estate property development and management firm Cypress Equities. A spokesperson for Cypress would not discuss plans for the property's future." Pasadena Now
 
"The Pasadena Unified School District is conducting a survey among current, former, prospective and private/charter school families to gather data that would help PUSD set its priorities and policies and provide insights toward improving the quality of education for current and future students." Pasadena Now [Additional information]
 
"Joining the ranks of numerous Southern California cities who have raised their wages and fought wage theft, the Pasadena City Council voted unanimously in favor of a pathway to $15, and in support of wage enforcement. The Council made explicit that the wage would go to $13.25 by 2018 with one incremental review to review the economic impact of rising to $15/hour by 2020, and that future raises beyond 2020 be indexed to annual cost of living adjustments." LA County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
 
"Celebrate Black History Month 2016 by attending the parade and other special events, lectures and activities in Pasadena beginning Saturday, Feb. 6, through Sunday, March 20." The Pasadena/San Gabriel Valley Journal

"From February 12-14, Southern California [at the Pasadena Convention Center, 300 E. Green St.] becomes the rare book capital of the world as thousands of book lovers, booksellers and scholars converge at the 49th California International Antiquarian Book Fair." Business Wire
 
"Huntington Hospital announced today the election of three members to its board of directors, effective January 1, 2016. Bill Bogaard has been elected as a new board member and Ellen Lee and David Kirchheimer have been elected as returning board members." Pasadena Now
 
"Two registered nurses who supported moves to unionize at Huntington Hospital and were fired from their jobs scored a major victory when the National Labor Relations Board ruled in their favor on Friday, Jan. 29." Pasadena Weekly
Leisure
- CLICK ON HEADLINES FOR MORE INFORMATION -

 

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 ... 

... to serve your community and do it with a group of your neighbors who are equally dedicated. 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.