East Eaton Wash Neighborhood Association
2012 Newsletter
No. 7 News from East Eaton Wash Neighborhood Association February 14, 2012
Voting time again!
Please vote in our Association’s annual election of officers at our Saturday March 10 meeting, held at Hastings Branch Library from 11:15 am to 12:45 pm.
Officer positions are:
President – chair meetings; officially represent the association to external parties
Vice President – support and act in place of President or Secretary as needed
Secretary – publicize meetings; record and distribute meeting minutes; maintain contact list.
Treasurer – receive, keep safe, track, report on, and disburse Association funds. (So far the Association has never had any funds.)
Nominations for willing candidates may be made via e-mail [email protected] or phone 626 792-2927 by March 6. Please provide the name, address, and a contact phone number for the candidate.
The “Neighborhood Association”
Anyone age 18 and above who lives within the boundaries is automatically a member of East Eaton Wash Neighborhood Association. The boundaries are from Foothill Blvd. north to the south side of Orange Grove Blvd, and from Eaton Wash east to Sierra Madre Villa Ave. There are no membership dues.
The Neighborhood Association mission is to help improve the quality of life in our neighborhood. It does this by:
- helping us get to know and communicate with each other,
- keeping us informed of local developments and issues affecting the neighborhood,
- helping us work together to safeguard and improve our neighborhood,
- providing an avenue for organized feedback and input to the city.
Meetings: Second Saturday of each month at 11:15 am at Hastings Branch Library.
Can’t make meetings? That’s ok. Sign up for e-mail and you’ll receive the meeting summary each month, and an occasional message when something comes up between meetings. We won’t share your e-mail address with anybody.
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: https://eewna.org
Emergency Preparedness
The recent windstorm has renewed interest in being prepared for emergencies. While it is impossible to be prepared for everything that could possibly happen, you can fairly easily make basic preparations for the most likely situations.
Keep a stash of water, food, batteries, flashlights, and first aid supplies in your home. Don’t forget a stash for pets. It’s good to have another stash in your car and/or at work.
Think through the various places you and your family members could be during all the various times of day and night. How might you reconnect, where might you go, how would you get there? What if your home has to be evacuated? What is critical to take and how might it be transported? What if you can’t get home? Will you have access to any crucial information you’ll need?
Just having the discussion is important. Too depressing? Taking steps to prepare is empowering, providing you more options and more confidence.
How will those who depend on you be cared for if you are not with them? Have a discussion with your child’s school teacher or care giver. Get to know your neighbors. Who is home when you aren’t? Would they look after pets or other dependents?
Many officials are now recommending that everyone be prepared to take care of themselves and their neighborhood without outside assistance for at least a week following a disaster. If you think about the disruption caused by just a windstorm hitting a fairly limited area, a large earthquake could leave us without help, utilities, functional stores, or transportation for quite a long time.
The city website has a page addressing various aspects of disaster preparedness at: www.cityofpasadena.net/disaster
Pasadena Local Emergency Alert System (PLEAS)
The City is encouraging residents to register for this emergency notification system. It will dial phone numbers, or send text messages, if there is an emergency in the area you register. If it dials a number and doesn’t get a live person who responds the way it expects, it will call back again until it does.
The system probably has the traditional land line home phone number for those residents who still have one. But it does not have cell phone, internet phone, or e-mail addresses unless you register. When you register you can pick which alerts you wish to receive.
Go to www.cityofpasadena.net/Fire/PLEAS for more information and a link to the registration page.
Emergency Response Class
The fire department has a free class called Pasadena Emergency Response Team (PERT). “PERT teaches you disaster preparedness, first aid, fire suppression and light search and rescue.”
They are holding a class for our City Council District on March 3, from 8:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. at the Church of the Nazerene, 3700 Sierra Madre Blvd. Registration is necessary. Visit www.cityofpasadena.net/District4/PERT or call Noreen Sullivan at (626) 744-4740.
The fire department will also schedule classes for a neighborhood or group. For more information, call (626) 744-7276.
Citizens Police Academy
The Pasadena Police Department’s Citizens Police Academy “provides community and civic leaders with an inside look at the internal workings of the Pasadena Police Department.” An academy session takes place over twelve weeks each spring and fall, meeting from 6 to 9 pm each Thursday evening. If you are interested, call (626) 744-4551.
Posting signs on public property
Did you know it is illegal to post private signs on public property, such as street trees, utility poles, light poles, sidewalks, parkways? Most people forgive looking for lost pets, but signs tend to proliferate and become an eyesore.
Worse then an eyesore, pounding nails or staples into trees can cause real damage. Nails and staples can push infectious material into the tree. If/when they are pulled out, the hole opens an avenue for bugs, fungus, etc. Maybe one or two nails won’t kill a mature tree, but each sign gives the notion to others to do the same, resulting in some street trees being abused repeatedly.
The trees are already stressed enough. Don’t nail or staple signs on them. And if you see someone else doing it, tell them to stop and/or report their vandalism of public property to the city.
(You may have noticed that when the city puts their public hearing notices up, they hold it up by wrapping plastic around it and the pole/tree they are putting it on.)