November 12, 2005 Meeting

Agenda Items:

Preparation

An e-mail was sent to each member who has provided a contact e-mail address.
Susan Chu and Laura Ellersieck phoned most other members who have provided a contact phone number.

Acknowledgments

Susan Chu brought delicious cookies and juice.

Attendees

5 residents attended the meeting.

Meeting

Agenda Items:

Park Renamed
Exploring Street Lighting
Preparing for meeting with City Engineer
Trash can reminder
Fancy pedestrian crossings

The meeting formally began about 11:25 am in Hastings Branch Library’s meeting room.

Park Renamed

At Monday night’s City Council meeting, the Council voted unanimously to change the name of Eaton Wash Park to Viña Vieja Park.

Todd Holmes, the city’s Landscape Architect presented the city staff’s recommendation. Our area’s councilman Steve Haderlein presented strong support and arguments for changing the name.
Special thanks to Kathy Vacio and Manuel Vargas for speaking with coherent and heartfelt messages to the council. Thanks also to Victor Gonzalez, Susan Chu, and Ruth Ellersieck for coming to show and lend support. And thanks to all who wrote letters.

Two opponents spoke to the council. One said she’d lived in a house backing up on Eaton Wash for 50 years and had never seen a vineyard, wanted a more euphonious name, and suggested Monte Vista because of the mountain view. Of course, it is now about 60 years since the vineyard was removed. And Monte Vista doesn’t conform to the city naming policy. Another speaker, Tim Brick, urged not changing the name because it would dishoner Benjamin Eaton who’s ranch was in the area and first provided water and irrigation.

Bricks

After the meeting we heard that there will be an upcoming opportunity for neighborhood children to design bricks related to the park. We should receive more information about this sometime soon.

Street lighting

City currently has funding to add lights to existing utility poles or increase wattage on existing lights if all the residential properties who will be affected by the increased light agree.

Where to add on existing poles without lights? Consider the following:

3178 Alameda	Portion of Alameda between the N and S Santa Paula segments is particularly dark and gets a lot of traffic.
494 Avocado Ave	No lights between NE corner w/Del Vina to 482 Avocado. Very dark area unless lights on side of house on SE corner of Del Vina are on.
469 Vineyard Pl
3217 Del Vina St	To light intersection with Santa Paula, particularly northernmost part of Santa Paula where cars are almost frequently parked and there are no sidewalks so pedestrians are mid-street. Tree trimming has helped.
3124 Alameda Ave	This area is dark w/o porch lights. Trimming trees to east may not be enough.
3171 La Tierra Street	Fairly dark area between Santa Paula and the first light to the east. This might fill the gap.

Where to increase wattage?

Planning a meeting with Dan Rix, City Engineer, for an evening tour of the neighborhood.

Who is interested in coming along and which days/time would work best for you?
What do we want him to see?
- lighting problems (Alameda&Santa Paulas, …)
- west side of Avocado
- ??

What questions do we want to ask? (including other infrastructure questions such as street maintenance, street trees, etc.) We would send to him in advance so he can do research if needed.

Can street lights be lowered some to avoid tree interference?
Does the city have recommendations for, or restrictions on, homeowner installed lighting (location, brightness, type, …)?
What is the best way to go about requesting addition of lights to existing poles or increased wattage on an existing light?
The city council asked recently for the staff to think about and propose the next street lighting upgrade program after the no-lights-at-all list is finished. Will citizens have an opportunity for input to that prior to it appearing before the city council?
Had heard that fees from local development on Sierra Madre Villa might be used to get a signal/ped signal at Electronic Dr and Sierra Madre Villa Ave. Is this true? How does the process work and what is the status?
If residents believe speed bumps or other means of slowing traffic is needed on a particular street, what is the process for getting the city to consider it?
Explain how street tree trimming scheduling is supposed to be working, and what plans the city has to make it actually work.
Which streets in our area are scheduled for resurfacing/rebuilding and when, how the choice is made, and explain what is meant by “resurfacing” and “rebuilding”.
When there are areas of the street that consistently have water standing because it doesn’t flow away, how can we get that fixed?
What can we do about all the dirt/sand now flowing down and left on our streets from Edison and city land when it rains hard?
Explain how getting repairs to street tree damage to gutters, curbs, driveway aprons and sidewalks is supposed to work? Who is responsible for what, what the city will and won’t do, and why.
Who is responsible for building curbs, gutters, sidewalks, street lights, street trees on a street in the first place? What triggers requiring some or all of those to be put in place? (Of course, I’m thinking of Avocado Ave.)
What’s the latest on ex-Altrio’s useless lines cluttering our utility poles?
There was recently a report on t.v. that the tops of old unfilled in cess-pools will increasingly be failing and front lawns collapsing. When houses were converted to sewer in Pasadena, were they required to fill the cess pools? (Actually, I bet many oldtimers know the answer.) Has anyone thought about the potential for this problem in Pasadena?

trash cans reminder

Through December, put all three trash containers (mixed, yard, and recycling) out and leave out until 6 pm even when empty. City has a contractor named GBB doing an audit.

Fancy pedestrian crossings

The Pasadena Department of Transportation announced five locations have been selected for in-roadway light installations to improve pedestrian safety. In-roadway warning lights are special flashing lights installed across the roadway surface to signal that pedestrians are entering the crosswalk. The installations are intended to warn motorists of marked crosswalks at locations not controlled by signs or signals. Locations were selected based on traffic volumes, pedestrian activity, geometric conditions and collision history. The five intersections are:

– Orange Grove Blvd. at Sunnyslope Ave.
– Paloma Street, between Altadena Drive and Sierra Madre Bl.
– Raymond Ave., at Grandview Street
– Lake Ave., at Elizabeth Street
– Los Robles Ave., at Buckeye Street

through traffic problem

Noted when traffic east east on Foothill was backed up during afternoon rush that numerous cars were turning north on Santa Paula, sped to Estado, went east on Estado, then turned north on Sierra Madre Villa.

city of gardens changes

Another neighborhood association has been campaigning for support of changing the current “city of gardens” ordinance which allows buildings on multi-family properties to be 3 stories high right up to the rear property line, even when that property line borders on single family residential areas. The intent is to change the ordinance to require setbacks from such property lines, with an increasing setback for each story of the building. We don’t have any multi-family lots backing up on residential lots in our neighborhood – we only have single family residential (though there are a few grandfathered two house on a lot properties).

Neighborhood history rememberances.

In the late 40s and early 50s, before Orange Grove was cut through and Eaton Wash was made into a cement channel, there was a dairy where Eaton-Sunnyslope (the hilly) park is now. The dairy cows grazed in the area of the wash, including under the Edison lines. Paloma went through the wash, but it did not have a bridge yet – it flooded when it rained. Foothill did have a bridge.
Next meeting is December 10, same time, same place.

Adjourned about 12:45