July 10, 2010 Meeting Summary

Preparation

E-mail and some phone reminders

Acknowledgments

Susan brought carrot and zucchini bread.

Attendees

8 members

Meeting

Agenda Items:

• Emergency communications tower proposed adjacent to Edison lines
• Eaton Wash corridor recreational planning workshops
• Street classifications focus groups opportunity
• PCC community business center now at PCC-CEC
• anything else attendees wish to discuss
  • recent crimes in neighborhood
  • Alameda speed humps update
  • Sprouts store to open
  • A Noise Within live theater ground breaking July 20
  • Vons at Colorado and Sierra Madre Blvd closing schedule

The meeting began around 11:25 am

• Emergency communications tower proposed adjacent to Edison lines
  • A community informational meeting was held about this on June 30 at PCC-CEC.
  • City is proposing to build a 75 to 78 foot tall radio communications tower and 15 by 20 foot one story equipment room.
  • It would be located immediately north of the water well which is north of the Goodrich power substation. On city owned land between Eaton Wash and the Edison high tension electric lines.  It is described as being south of where the ice rink facility was proposed, but it isn’t clear how it could fit between and not take some of that land.
  • Site can be seen if you look directly west from the vehicle gates on Avocado immediately north of Alameda.
  • Purpose is to provide better emergency radio communication throughout the east side of Pasadena.  This means primarily police and fire.  Currently there are areas in East Pasadena that are dead zones or intermittent for portable radios.  Inside buildings are even worse.  Further, FCC is requiring switching from analog to digital signals and with digital you get complete loss of communication rather then just poor quality when signal is very weak.
  • This would be third repeater tower in Pasadena.  There is already one on far west side on Mirador Mtn and one at Police Dept.
  • This site has been determined to be ideal for best coverage with added benefit that from a view scape perspective it will blend in with Edison and Goodrich electrical infrastructure.
  • It has been determined that the high tension electric lines will not cause interference with the radio signals.
  • Pasadena is a member of ICIS, a group of 7 agencies and cities in LA County that are coordinating for joint interoperability of communications.  This is very important for major emergencies such as wild fires and earthquakes where multiple agencies are providing mutual aid.
  • Tower would be a steel lattice structure, 5 feet wide at the base and tapering to the top.  Because it is considerably shorter then the Edison towers (which are up to 180′ tall) it will not need any lighting.
  • Radio tower will operate at 480 Mhz with 100 watts of non-ionizing radiation.  Described as Not like cell phones.
  • Equipment is unmanned and the site will be monitored remotely.  There will probably be a weekly maintenance visit.
  • Construction is expected to take about 2 weeks and be done via the road from Foothill that runs adjacent to the power substation.
  • Environmental initial study is currently underway and is to be made available for public review and comment.
  • Project requires a Conditional Use Permit.  Expectation is to have the hearing for that in early August.  Then the project milestones follow:
    • August: site preparation work completed
    • November: equipment installation complete
    • November – December: optimization and testing
    • December: cut over and final acceptance  (want it done and in use prior to New Years)
  • Questions can be directed to:
    • Christina Kuo, Project Manager, Department of Information Technology, City of Pasadena
      117 E. Colorado Blvd. 3rd Fl., Pasadena, CA 91109 – 7215
      Phone (626)744-7376 | Fax (626)396-7273 | [email protected]
• Eaton Wash corridor recreational planning workshops
  • The Arroyos and Foothills Conservancy is developing a “recreational opportunities” plan for the Eaton Wash corridor using a grant from Southern California Edison.
  • The corridor runs from the Eaton Canyon Natural Area down to where it connects to the Rio Hondo in El Monte.
  • Two pairs of workshops to gather and discuss ideas and opinions have been scheduled.  Childcare and refreshments provided.
    • Workshop #1: Site Design
      • Thursday July 29, 7 – 9 pm, Altadena Community Center, 730 E. Altadena Dr., Altadena 91001
    • Workshop #2: Site Design
      • Saturday July 31, 10 am – noon, Rosemead Community Center, 3936 N. Muscatel Ave., Rosemead 91770
    • Workshop #3: Design Review
      • Thursday September 9, 7 – 9 pm, Garvey Center, 9108 Garvey Ave., Rosemead 91770
    • Workshop #4: Design Review
      • Saturday September 11, 10 am – noon, Altadena Community Center, 730 E. Altadena Dr., Altadena 91001
  • Questions should be directed to:
    Holly Thompson of Mark.Thompson.Thomsen Planning Group at [email protected]
• Street classifications focus groups opportunity
  • Councilman Haderlein is looking for representatives from our district to attend a focus group meeting being held by the city’s Transportation Department.  Meetings would be at most 2 hours.
  • The classification of a street has to do with its function in the community.  The classification of a street determines what “improvements” can be made to it such as those for “traffic calming”.
  • The Transportation Department is trying to determine whether there is interest in “pursuing new street classifications and designs”.   Apparently they have some proposed changes.  It appears this discussion is at a general level, not about particular streets. The results of the discussions will be used in preparation of the draft Mobility Element of the City’s General Plan.
  • The goal was to have these focus groups in early to mid-July.  If you are interested, send an e-mail and we will see if the opportunity still exists.
• PCC community business center now at PCC-CEC – Closed, as of July, 2015
  • Pasadena City College has moved its “business center”, formerly known as “Live Scan”, to the Community Education Campus located at Foothill at Santa Paula.
  • http://wp-content/archive.pasadena.edu/CBC/index.cfm?dept=CBC
  • It is located in a bungalow at the back of the campus by the rose garden.
  • Clients have to pay to park unless they park in our neighborhood.
  • The primary function seems to be Live Scan.  This is where fingerprints are scanned and submitted electronically to the Department of Justice.  Many employers now require potential employees to have this done as part of a background check.  This facility provides the service to the public for a fee.
  • They also do child identification packages and ink fingerprinting and provide notary services.
  • They plan to add DMV vehicle registration and passport services.
• anything else attendees wish to discuss
  • recent crimes in neighborhood
    • (as noted on crimemapping.com)
    • July 2, 11 pm, residential burglary, 3300 block Hermanos
    • June 29, during day, residential burglary, 3100 block Del Vina. Broke window at top of front door to reach in and open door.
    • July 5, 3 pm, armed robbery, 3200 block Foothill
    • June 25, midnight, battery, 3100 block Foothill
  • Alameda speed humps update
    • Kim has been told the city is on schedule to get bids this month with installation expected in September
  • Sprouts store to open
    • A grocery store named Sprouts is to open in August where the Circuit City store used to be on Rosemead Blvd.
    • It reportedly sells a lot of produce, both organic and non-organic, and is less costly then Whole Foods
  • A Noise Within live theater ground breaking July 20
    • The groundbreaking ceremony for the A Noise Within live performance theater is scheduled for July 20th at 10:30 am.
    • Expected opening for the theater is Fall of 2011.
    • This is the project that is renovating the west end of the historic Stuart Pharmaceutical building and adding on behind it.  Located on Foothill Blvd, right in front of the Gold Line station, west of the new apartments, east of the empty lot where condos are to be built someday.
    • A Noise Within is a classic live performance theater company currently located in Glendale.
    • If you want to go to the ground breaking, they are requesting RSVP by July 16 at 818 265-7959
  • Vons at Colorado and Sierra Madre Blvd closing schedule
    • Latest word is that even though the former Rite Aid next door is now being demolished, the Vons store and pharmacy will stay open to the end of the year.  There was some talk about trying to do the construction in pieces so the store can stay open as much as possible.  Conjecture at our meeting is they want to try to be open through New Years because they pull in so much revenue then.  Their original schedule would have had it closing this past January but the design and permitting process took too long.

Next meeting is August 14, 2010, 11:15 am, at Hastings Branch Library

Adjourned about 12:35 pm