December 8, 2012 Meeting Summary

Agenda Items:
Preparation
Attendees
Meeting

Preparation

E-mail and telephone reminders

Attendees

5 members

Meeting

Agenda Items:

The meeting began about 11:26 am

  • Summary of Council District 4 Community Meeting on Nov 13
    • On November 13, Council member Gene Masuda hosted a District Community Meeting at the A Noise Within! theater.
    • It started with an Introduction by Sheila Lampson (sp?), a director of A Noise Within! and a District resident. She spoke briefly about their education program.
    • Noreen Sullivan, the District 4 Field Representative, announced the Rose Parade and Game ticket raffle (now finished, winners to be announced on Monday Dec 10).  She also spoke of the Fire station 32 reopening event on Dec 8.
    • Gene Masuda then spoke.  He extolled the District’s commissioners and volunteers.  He then went through a list of happenings in the city and district over the past year.  Including:
      • Sidewalk project under the freeway on Sierra Madre Villa.
      • Getting a letter of cooperation from Edison last January
      • City instituting a healthy food policy.
      • City instituting the plastic bag ban.
      • The windstorm
      • The state dissolving redevelopment agencies and that being a big loss of revenue to the city
      • The PERT event in March.
      • The Council adopting its first balanced budget in 10 years in May.
      • A first meeting of an Edison corridor committee in June.
      • A community meeting about Fire Station 32 in June.
      • Termination of the red light camera program.
      • City pension reform.  60% of city employees are now paying their full pension contribution obligation. It will be 70% by the end of the year. Negotiations continue with the remaining bargaining units.
      • The tree planting event in Daisy Villa on Sept 29.  150 volunteers planted 115 trees.
      • Monrovia rescinding its law attempting to ban food trucks.  (Unclear what his point was about this topic.)
      • In 2011, Green Dot Corporation took a 10 year lease of the former IndyMac building (former Loral /  EOS) on Halstead.  Green Dot issues Mastercard and Visa prepaid cards sold in retail locations.
      • Progressive Insurance is building a 20,000 sq ft office building where “Gentleman’s Club” was on Foothill.
    • Police Chief Phillip Sanchez then spoke.  Some of what he said:
      • Generally, serious crime is low in the area, but Hastings has been experiencing a rash of burglaries again after they’d stopped for awhile after a number of arrests.
      • Burglary task force has arrested 110 burglars in a year.
      • Are now at a peak of parolees being released ahead of schedule. Those arrested for burglaries in 2011 are also out.
      • Burglars average about 67 days in jail before release.
      • Pasadena Police has received 0 money from state so far to compensate for all the extra duties the state has transferred.
      • Pasadena has just joined with other area cities to form a regional San Gabriel Valley burglary team, which will also do compliance checks on parolees.   It will have 8 full time detectives, 3 from Pasadena, 1 each from the other agencies. Trend in law enforcement is regionalization.
      • Have “retooled and reprogrammed” Pasadena PD form a crime analysis unit including hiring a professional crime analyst to study crime trends.  So officers will know what they are looking for.
      • Three Lieutenants just have or are about to retire.  Losing a lot of tenure and experience.  But there is a large crop of eager Sergeants for promotion.
      • Prop 30 supposedly has $20 million for parole re-entry funding but the state has no mechanism for distribution except by passing it through the counties.  Strategy at LA County level is more jails.  Chief Sanchez feels the majority of the money should be spent on education and prevention.
      • In Pasadena there were 7 injury shootings in the past 7 weeks, including one death. Chief Sanchez thinks the violence mainly stems from hopelessness.
      • Dept of Defense says that 750,000 vets will become homeless in the next 3 years, primarily due to post traumatic stress.
      • Today roughly 1200 homeless people in Pasadena daily.
      • We should resist giving “homeless” any direct  donations.  Give it to non-profits that have a record of helping to get them off the streets.  HOPE team has brochure with info on the non-profits in Pasadena that help.
      • Chief Sanchez thinks the level of trust between the populace and the police in Pasadena is currently at the highest level it has been in years.
    • Director of Public Health Dr. Eric Walsh
      • Not happy about porn wave.  With its own Health Dept, Pasadena isn’t covered by the new ordinance just voted in.  Pasadena needs to look at making its regulations no different from County.
      • Pasadena Public Health has its own prenatal clinic, HIV clinic, restaurant inspections, drug testing, flu shots, …
      • Promoted Urgent Care Center on Del Mar.
      • Putting in Dental Clinic in Fair Oaks facility.  A survey found dental was the #1 lacking item of health care.  Will have 5 chairs when all done.  Sliding scale on cost.  (#2 is specialty care, #3 is mental health)
      • Looking to work on mental health of homeless. Supportive housing less expensive then leaving them homeless.
      • John Muir High School now has a farm, 2 acres, some kids really taking to farming.  Beginning to look at how can do more local farming projects.
      • One of the driest years in history, so haven’t needed to spray for mosquitoes in Eaton Canyon this year. Police Dept helicopter has identified green pools.  They drain rather then spray. No uptick in West Nile in Pasadena this year.
      • Looking to create senior health care services like being a source of vaccines that seniors are supposed to get but often don’t.
    • Question and Answer session followed with Mr. Masuda, Dr Walsh, and Pasadena Police Commander Chris Russ
      • Ban on smoking in apartments/condos in the city takes effect on January 1.  How will it be enforced and what about marijuana smokers claiming they have to be allowed to do it because they are disabled?
        • Probably the sixth city in the state to ban smoking inside private dwellings.
        • Will be complaint driven enforcement.  Still working on exactly how to do it.
        • Likely to focus on habitual violations rather then one time.
        • Health dept will enforce tobacco smoke ban.  Call police about marijuana smoking.
        • Police have been focusing on tobacco vendors.
        • Health dept has programs to help people quit
        • Outdoor ban takes effect January 1, indoor July 1.
        • Outdoor ban includes within 20 feet of entrances to buildings.
      • City does not issue letter grades for restaurants.  Can go online to the health dept’s website to get full info about why a restaurant got the number grade they got.
      • 3175 Alameda problems.  (See separate item below.)
      • Pasadena Police Curbside Coffee and Chat program.  To build relationships between neighborhood and its patrol officers and to make the neighborhood more busy.   Group of neighbors puts together a gathering, usually with coffee, treats, food.   It needs to be out by the curb or other very visible location.  Officer is invited to attend.  If the officer is available when the time comes by, he/she will drop by to chat (and eat).
      • Illegal parking on Edison fields during Post Parade. Somebody breaks locks on Edison gates and sells parking to passing cars.  If Police come, the illegal vendor either just disappears or presents fake document supposedly giving Edison’s permission to use its lot.  Question is how to stop it.  Police can’t be there all the time.  Edison needs to post security and/or perhaps park cars/trucks just inside the gates that would block access even if gates are breached.
      • When see police activity such as circling helicopter, how can one find out what was going on?  Police Dept pages on City website has list of calls for service in past few days, and monthly statistics of crime by service area and Council district.
  • Local Development
    • LA Fitness taking over former Pacific Hastings Theater
      • City Council District 4 field representative reports that “LA Fitness” has signed a long term lease for the former Pacific Hastings movie theater.  They will lease the entire 43.360 sq ft building for a “full service health and fitness club facility”.
      • Construction to start soon with the goal of opening in the Fall of 2014.
      • (Sorry for misleading headline in the draft agenda mentioning 24 Hr Fitness. Had read the announcement incorrectly.)
    • Progressive Insurance building on former Pleasures / Charlie Brown site
      • Progressive Insurance bought the 2.5 acre site at 3570-3572 Foothill Blvd.  This is the site of the former Charlie Brown’s restaurant and then the Pleasure’s “Gentleman’s Club” on the south side of Foothill across from the Ralphs shopping center.  A 20,000 square foot office building is being constructed.
  • County Flood Control parcel fee proposal
    • All property owners were recently sent a mailer from the County of Los Angeles Flood Control District.  It is titled “Los Angeles County Clean Water, Clean Beaches Measure Official Notice to Property Owners of Public Hearing”.
    • It is about a proposal to add a yearly fee to property tax bills to be used to try to reduce water pollution and preserve and increase usable groundwater supplies.
    • The mailer specifies the proposed fee for the property to which it is sent.  For most of the parcels in our neighborhood that is probably $54.  The fee is supposedly based on “the average amount of runoff that properties generate, based on parcel size and land use classification.”  An engineer figured out the categories and percentages based on a notion of how much of each type of parcel is “impervious”, even though properties vary widely both in their native character and how they’ve been built upon.
    • 40% of revenue would go to the City the property is located in (the County for unincorporated areas).
    • 50% of revenue would to the “watershed authority group” for watershed the property is located in.  According to the mailer, we are in the Rio Hondo River Watershed.
    • 10% of revenue would go the the County Flood Control District.
    • Projects that could be funded include: putting screens over storm drain entries, street sweeping, diversion of runoff through filters for recharge of underground drinking water sources, education programs.
    • Officially the mailer is a notice for a Public Hearing by the County Board of Supervisors.  That is the first step required by the California Constitution before the fee can be imposed.  If the Board has not received written protests against the fee from a majority of affected property owners (extremely difficult to accomplish), then the board can authorize an election to approve the fee.  An election would be the second step.
    • The mailer includes a “Protest Form” that can be cut out and mailed.  To be counted, a protest must be in writing, must include the Assessor’s Parcel Number and the Parcel Address, and be signed by the property owner.
    • The hearing is on January 15, at 9:30 am, at the Hall of Administration in downtown Los Angeles.
    • The Board could choose not to authorize an election, even if there has not been a majority protest.  For example, if they do not agree with the proposal, or there has been enough protest that they don’t believe an election would be successful.  They could also change the proposal during the hearing, and/or put off a decision, continuing the Public Hearing to a future date.
    • The County is under pressure to take action because current pollution levels are in violation of various federal and state laws.
    • Have heard there is at least one person going door to door advocating sending in the protest form.  Do not know how widespread that effort is.
  • Local crime summary
    • For the last month, from crimemapping.com:
      • Wednesday December 5, 9:42 am, Residential Burglary, 3100 block Alameda Street
      • Daisy Villa neighborhood, directly across the wash from us, is once again being hit by a rash of residential burglaries and petty thefts.  All but one in the daytime.
      • There was another residential burglary on Rida Street (same street as the library.)
      • Upper and Lower Hastings and above the golf course on Sierra Madre Villa are still showing a lot of residential burglaries and petty thefts.
      • The area around 24 Hour Fitness is being hit hard with vehicle break-ins again also..
      • The Gold Line Station and/or the shopping centers on Foothill are showing numerous commercial burglaries, a strong arm robbery, several vehicle break-ins, an assault, several drug and alcohol violations.
  • 3175 Alameda status
    • This is the boarded up derelict house at the north end of lower Santa Paula Ave.  It has been a disaster for at least 5 years.
    • In November, somebody broke into the boarded up back house (illegally converted garage) and started living there.  Although the police were called and the CRASH team notified, the occupation continued for several weeks.  Neighbors reported the resulting stink was terrible.
    • Within the past few days, the CRASH team re-boarded up the building, cleaned the yard up, and repaired the fence.
    • During the Question and Answer at the Community Meeting on Nov 13, the neighbors pleaded for help with the situation.  Commander Russ suggested the possibility of using the Safe Streets program technique of getting all the neighbors in the vicinity to sue the property owner for loss of property value, threat to health and safety, …    The goal is to get the property owner (thought to be in prison) to sell the place, either willingly or upon the order of a judge to resolve the suits.  Obviously, this could be a very long process, but it would be one way of adding pressure to resolve the situation
    • The City should have finally filed a lien against the property to pay for the repeated cleanups, but it is unknown to us if that has been done.  The city has a long standing court case, from 2006, for the illegally converted garage.  It is unknown to us if additional charges have been filed, what might happen as a result, or when.  The City Prosecutor for the Abandoned Properties Division,  Kimery Shelton, 626 744-4611 is reportedly handling the case.
    • Surprisingly, the County property tax website shows that property tax payments are up to date.
    • It is believed there are no banks or other lenders involved.
    • Zillow now shows the property was listed for sale twice in the last six years, both times at ridiculously high prices.
  • Library raffle
    • You can enter a raffle at the Hastings Branch Library for a pair of Rose Parade tickets. The raffle runs until December 18. Price for one raffle ticket is $10, which goes to support programs at the library.
  • anything else attendees wish to discuss

Next meeting is January 12, 11:15 am, at Hastings Branch Library

Adjourned about 12:50 pm