November 8, 2014 Meeting Summary

Agenda Items:
Preparation
Attendees
Acknowledgments
Meeting

Preparation

E-mail and phone reminders

Attendees

8 members

Acknowledgments

Gail brought yummy donuts

Meeting

Agenda Items:

The meeting began about 11:20 am

  • Council District 4 meeting on Nov 13
    • Pasadena City Council Member for District 4, Gene Masuda, is holding a
    • Community Meeting
      • Thursday November 13
      • 6:30 – 8 p.m.
      • at Victory Park Recreation Center, 2757 Paloma St
    • Discussion topics include:
      • proposed Parklets and Reverse Angled Parking on Colorado Blvd in downtown Pasadena
      • Water shortages and rates
      • Glenarm power plant upgrades
  • Bear Tales
    • On October 16 a mother bear and cub spent the morning in the area of Rosemead Blvd just east of Sierra Madre Villa to somewhere past Carl’s Jr.
    • Television copters made a racket for hours on end, although finding that coverage on the t.v. was difficult.  Apparently it was readily accessed online.
    • The story was the bear cub couldn’t get itself out of a trash dumpster and the mother was unsuccessfully trying to help it out.  Fish & game (or some other agency) fired a bean bag at the mother bear, scaring her away long enough to stick a ladder into the dumpster.  The cub climbed out, the bears reunited, proceeded to a pool of a house on Rim Rd and took a swim, took a nap in the backyard, and eventually moved back up into the hills.
  • Watering Schedule
    • From November 1 until March 31, we are supposed to water with sprinklers just one day per week.
    • Pick one of Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday.
    • Turn off sprinklers when it is raining, has just rained, or is about to rain.
    • Drip irrigation and watering with a hand held hose, bucket, or can are exempt from the watering schedule.
  • Dealing with problem neighbors
    • If its just a rare noisy party by neighbors who are normally reasonable, consider yourself lucky.  You can call or visit and ask them to turn it down.
    • If they aren’t normally reasonable neighbors or it’s getting too wierd, call the police non-emergency number 626 744-4241
    • If there is something immediately serious going on like physical violence or a break in, call 911.
    • Start keeping a log of every incident/issue, whether or not police are called.  Date, time, and details.  Talk with your good neighbors and get as many people as possible keeping track.  This will be important in case legal actions are necessary.
    • Wondering what that police activity was about?  Pasadena Police posts a call log, with very short indicators of what calls were for.  It covers several days, up to around 1 pm of each day.  www.cityofpasadena.net/police/callsforservice.aspx  Note that action that wasn’t a result of a call to Pasadena Police, or action by a different law enforcement agency, won’t show up.
    • A pattern of problems combined with a neglected house and yard or other obvious code violations?  You can put a little pressure on to clean up by submitting a report to Code Enforcement through the Citizen Service Center.
    • Code Enforcement says its already been turned over to the City Attorney for prosecution?  Sorry, that’s probably going no where.  At best it seems to be a process that takes many years if the homeowner doesn’t choose to cooperate.
    • Is the house a rental or being lived in by somebody other then the homeowner?  If you aren’t sure the homeowner is aware of the problems and their potential liability, you could write them a letter.  If you don’t know how to reach the homeowner, you can ask the County Assessor’s office for where the property tax bill is sent.  You can get information for a single address using the online “Public Inquiry Form” at http://lacountypropertytax.com/portal/contactus/pubinquiry.aspx
    • Don’t want to interact with the home owner directly?  Consider contacting the Safe Streets Now coordinator in Neighborhood Connections.  www.cityofpasadena.net/NeighborhoodConnections/   Look for the Safe Streets Now link on the right side of the page under the Neighborhood Connections heading.  Safe Streets Now can help organize the neighbors to take action, but it does require some dedicated time and effort.
  • Local Crime Summary
    • For the last month, from crimemapping.com:
      • Sun October 12, 12:57 am, 3200 block Las Lunas St, Residential Burglary
      • Wed October 22, 5:45 pm, 3100 block Hermanos St, Residential Burglary
      • Fri October 10, 7:46 pm, Alameda St / Avocado Ln, Public Intoxication
      • Wed October 15, 10:18 am, 3200 block Del Vina St, Misdemeaner Malicious Mischief
      • Sun October 19, 5:34 pm, 3200 block Alameda St, Theft/Larceny of bicycle
      • Also a couple of residential burglaries across the wash in Daisy Villa neighborhood. But Hastings Ranch was unusually quiet.
  • anything else attendees wish to discuss
    • Margaret Sarmast
      • Amazing and remarkable Margaret passed peacefully this past week.
      • She was 100 years old and the original resident of her house on Las Lunas since 1947.
      • Always sweet, kind, thoughtful, gracious, optimistic.
      • She will be missed by a wide circle of friends and family.
    • County Sanitation Tax Rebates Received
      • Several of us received our rebates recently.  We applied last spring to the Sanitation District of Los Angeles County for the Residential Low-Water Rebate/Reduction in Service Charge.  We received the property tax rebate for at many as four years, from 2010 through 2014, plus interest on those amounts.
      • The reduction does not yet appear in our 2014-2015 property tax bills, so presumably we’ll get a rebate later for that.  Then going forward the property tax bill is supposed to be reduced until the property changes ownership.
      • Low winter-time water users can apply any time. You can only apply for a rebate for up to the last three years, but then it continues into the future.  It can be worth up to about $50 a year.
      • Details are available here in the April 12, 2014 meeting summary.

Next meeting is December 13, 11:15 am, at Hastings Branch Library meeting room

Adjourned about 12:30 pm