March 14, 2009
Meeting Summary East Eaton Wash Neighborhood Association
Preparation
E-mail reminder was sent. Phone
calls were made.
Acknowledgments
Susan
C. brought scones.
Attendees
16 members
Meeting
Agenda Items:
Annual election of officers
Park - new pedestrian walkway planning
Ice Rink project status
Refuse fee increase and street sweeping surcharge
Street sweeping to daytime
Proposed "handbill" ordinance
Newsletter
Urgent Care Facility Project meeting summary
District 4 Community Meeting - March 18
anything else attendees wish to discuss
incident at Dog Park on December 19
Estado "mansion"
large scale map
neighborhood watch
post office has moved
directory of tradespersons references
ice rink management and project history
The meeting began at 11:20 am
Annual election of officers
Susan Chu, our Vice President for the past four years decided
not to run
for office this year. She intends to continue participating, just
not
as an
officer. We thank her for her longstanding commitment.
Kathy Vacio, our Treasurer for the past four years, stepped
up to run for Vice President.
Rosalie Gonzales agreed to run for Treasurer.
There were no volunteers for Secretary.
Voting result was 15 votes for Laura Ellersieck as President,
14 votes for Kathy Vacio as Vice-President, 1 write-in vote for Kathy
Vacio as Secretary, 1 write-in vote for Susan as Secretary, 14 votes
for Rosalie Gonzales as Treasurer. (Your president has to
admit she forgot to vote, which is why only 15 ballots were cast.)
Question was raised as to whether we shouldn't do something to
raise funds so we would have a treasury so that we would be able to do
more things. Discussed potentially having a neighborhood garage
sale to raise funds. Also some discussion of having a
neighborhood picnic/party/fair. We haven't done anything "fun"
since the June 2005 fair at the church parking lot (for which we got a
huge amount of outside organizing help.) No commitments
were made.
Park - new pedestrian walkway planning
Has been determined that Edison requirement to ground chain
link fence for buffer zone made that too expensive, so that fence would
be vinyl also. Creates the issue of an invisible space between
the buffer fence and the backyards/walls.
Entrance gate would be located across from southern sidewalk
on Las Lunas.
On February 23rd, as one of several adjustments to the Capital
Improvement budget in item 5B2, the City Council approved $50,000 for
this project
to complete
the park plan.
"Vina Vieja Park - lmplement Master Plan (78289) - Staff recommends
recognizing and appropriating $82,382 in Residential lmpact Fee
lnterest to this project. Of this amount, $50,000 will pay for the
installation of a pedestrian walkway fence. The remaining $32,382 is so
this project can be closed. The project received $19,731 less in
Private Capital (Norman's Nursery) than anticipated and went over
budget by $13,011 due to higher construction costs."
Ice Rink project status
Request for construction bids is out, bids are due March 25.
City planner says they are on track to bring proposal to City
Council in April.
(see additional topics below for more ice rink discussion)
Refuse fee increase and street sweeping surcharge
Every
residence should have received from the city a Notice of Public Hearing
for the City Council meeting on April 27 at 7:30 pm.
It
describes how the landfill cost has risen and therefore our refuse
collection fees should be increased by almost 3% per month. For
most of us, that will be an increase of 41 cents to $1.03, depending on
the size of your trash can.
It
also proposes a "surcharge" to pay for street sweeping. Up to
now, street sweeping has been paid for out of the City's general fund -
that is general tax receipts. So this would add a new fee of .79
per month to our bills.
The
fee increase is covered by Proposition 218, which requires that
property owners be notified of proposed increases and given the
opportunity to protest. The fee increase can be imposed unless a
majority of parcel owners send in a written protest prior to the
hearing.
The
information presented by city staff so far does not indicate one way or
another whether the street sweeping surcharge is subject to the same
ordinance.
The
chances of a majority written protest are nil, so in reality it is
totally up to whether the City Council wishes to increase the fee
impose the surcharge. There was no indication of any reluctance
on their part at the February 23 meeting where staff requested them to
agendize the hearing.
Here is a link to the Staff
Report requesting the City Council
to set the hearing date (which they did).
Street
sweeping to daytime
Presented within the proposal to increase the refuse fee and
add a street sweeping surcharge, City staff is also proposing to change
street sweeping to day time
"city wide".
Reason given is that there are too many overnight parking
permits in some congested areas, resulting in sweepers never being able
to
get to curb there.
Except it turns out they would not change sweeping to daytime
for
business areas
They
would spend $625,000 for no parking signs. Money would come from
Refuse fund, emptying funds currently in it. Staff told the
Council
those funds were intended to be used for purchasing new
equipment.
Instead those purchases would be delayed.
They expect only one side of a street would have no parking
at
a time. (Problem where one side of the street is always no
parking
not mentioned.)
Staff did not know yet how long a time frame they would need to
have
the no parking for. Could be 2 or 4 hours. Did not know yet
if they would immediately switch sides or if there would be a buffer
between during which cars could be moved.
No cost savings are expected from the change.
They think maybe they can keep daytime schedule better then
night
because more people available to fix breakdowns in the daytime.
Overnight parking restrictions would remain unchanged because
of perceived safety benefit.
Some Council members indicated that city staff
should do
public outreach and consider a test area first, not switching areas
that are not suffering from parking problems.
Councilman Holden brought up that he'd be in favor of
switching
to days because then the sweeper wouldn't wake him up at night.
Councilman Gordo indicated he was all in favor for many areas in his
district
where there is a chronic inability to sweep, but he thought it should
be determined on street by street basis.
Staff indicated reason they wanted to switch the whole city was
to
make their route planning easier. (But that doesn't exactly jive
with still doing business streets at night.)
Although
there does not seem to be any reason for this change to be enmeshed in
the same item as
the refuse fee increase and street sweeping surcharge, it is.
Originally
proposed public hearing notice did not mention this change, but the
notice that has been sent to everybody does. So this will be on
the
agenda at the Council meeting
on April 27 at 7:30 pm. Meetings are held in City
Council Chambers, room S249, City Hall, 100 N. Garfield Ave.
Send/deliver official
protest/comments, including name, parcel address, and title "City of
Pasadena Refuse Collection Fee Increase" to arrive by 4/27/09 at 5 pm to
Office of the City Clerk, 100 N.
Garfield Ave., Room S208, Pasadena, CA 91109
Proposed "handbill" ordinance
On
March 2, the City Council heard a proposal
to rewrite the existing
handbill ordinance. The City Attorney is to return within 60 days
with
the specific new ordinance language for approval.
Existing handbill ordinance from 1998 was found illegal by
court and therefore has not been enforced.
Now a new ordinance is being proposed which city attorney
thinks will pass muster.
Prohibit the distribution of handbills on residential
property (which includes apartments, condominiums, etc.) unless the
handbills are properly secured, affixed, or weighted so that it will
not be blown about or off the property, or by delivering the handbill
personally to the occupant thereon.
Prohibit the distribution of handbills on residential
property, if there is placed in a conspicuous location near the
entrance, a legible sign of at least 16 square inches bearing the words
"No Handbills", or a similar notice that the resident wishes not to
have their right of privacy disturbed or to receive any handbills, such
as a "No Solicitors" sign, unless the distributor has the resident's
prior authorization to distribute (subject to exceptions which include
pubic officials delivering public notices required by law and handbills
which have been requested by the resident [e.g., newspaper
subscriptions]).
Prohibit any person from distributing handbills in or upon
any automobile or other vehicle citywide. (This provision may not
be included due to concerns about constitutionality.)
Permit the handing of any handbill to a person who is willing
to accept the handbill.
Establish a rebuttable presumption that the person whose
message is on the unlawfully-distributed handbill has violated the
ordinance.
The
stated purpose of the ordinance is to reduce windblown litter and
reduce opportunities for accumulations at homes that might be
unoccupied.
Will
outlaw our distribution of newsletters or any other notice unless we
can find a way to ensure they are weighted/tied down in every case and
our distributing volunteers are careful to watch for signs.
Certainly complicates it. Not everybody has a door mat to
tuck it under. Door knob hangers require die cut, which is
expensive. Bags of pebbles are a nuisance for everyone as
well as an expense. Alternatively could only directly hand
them
to residents - a much higher time and effort commitment by volunteers
but with a higher contact success rate.
E-mail is easiest distribution by far, but many of our
residents do not use e-mail and we still need to periodically try to
contact those with whom we do not already have contact.
For e-mails, we should put an opt-out line at the bottom to
make it easy for anyone who has changed their mind about being on our
contact list.
Newsletter
Fourth
annual newsletter was generated and distributed throughout the
neighborhood by seven volunteers. Would like to thank Susan C.,
Susan
S., Rosalie and her children, Linda, Gail, Amelia, and Laura.
Albert would have
also
distributed flyers if not for a mix up.
For
any future newsletters or flyers, we will have to provide the
paper.
This is a change by Neighborhood Connections to reduce city
costs. As
noted above, we will also need to comply with any new handbill
ordinance. Sharon offered assistance with future publication
issues.
Urgent Care Facility Project meeting summary
On March 5 there was a community meeting regarding the Urgent
Care Facility Project proposed for 3060 Del Mar Blvd.
The meeting was directed by the City's project planner.
Also
presenting were the project architect with a sketch plan, head of the
City's Health Dept., a representative from Huntington Medical
Foundation, a representative from CHAP (Community Health Alliance of
Pasadena). A city planner in charge of reviewing the project for
consistency with zoning and other requirements was also present for
part of the meeting.
The presentation plan was interrupted by a few very upset
meeting attendees who could not wait to make their statements.
The project is still at a preliminary physical planning
stage.
It will require a Conditional Use Permit. It is starting the
initial
environmental review process. A traffic study is in progress.
City's
hoped for schedule would have the public hearing for the CUP in May,
completion of design in June, and construction finished toward the end
of the year.
The physical plan involves remodeling the existing building on
the site. (The old Girls Club location.) A small
portion which is
unstable will be demolished. The outside facade will be redone
using a
"sustainable wood" product and stucco. The architect says they
are
aiming for a residential feel. All trees will be preserved, but
otherwise landscaping will be designed to use as little irrigation as
possible. They intend to qualify for a silver LEED certification
(a standard for environmentally friendly buildings).
The portion of the parcel to the south, which was dedicated as
a Nature Center in the 90s, will not be altered by this project.
(However, it remains endangered by its designation in the City's
Capital Improvement Program for future use for a police and fire
training facility.) Some attendees brought up a concern that
access to
the southern portion of the parcel would be further degraded by this
project. This was noted as a concern to be accounted for in the
environmental study.
A portion of the project space will be for Urgent Care, the
other portion will be for CHAP.
The urgent care would be managed and staffed by Huntington
Medical Foundation. It is a non-profit medical group that currently has
7 offices in the area (3 adult, 3 pediatric, 1 specialty). They
do
primary and ambulatory care. The representative said they are
looking
to expand their primary care base.
At this time they are looking at having the Urgent Care open
from 8 am to 8 or 9 pm
There would be basic x-ray and lab services, and very basic
medication dispensary (maybe top 20 items).
The CHAP portion plans to have only primary care, no
dental.
Hours from about 8 am to 6 pm. The representative noted that they
were
just notified of an award of federal stimulus money, so they are sure
they will have enough funds.
Attendees voiced concerns about
the fate of the Nature Center and its open space
distracted and senior drivers mixed with kids from nearby
schools, boys & girls club, park
increase in traffic on Del Mar and already existing traffic
issues with drop offs and pickups at Ability First, the schools,
the
boys & girls club, the park
lack of Council representation for the area on the issue (our
Councilman must recuse himself for conflict of interest reasons)
additional people from outside the area frequenting the area
District 4 Community Meeting - March 18
Wednesday
March 18, 6:30 - 8 pm
The Frostig Center, 971 N. Altadena Drive
(north of Mountain, across from Victory Park)
Hosted by Vice-Mayor Steve Haderlein
Commissioners representing District 4 to discuss what they do
City Director of Finance will discuss City's financial
situation
Information on red flag warning notification from fire &
emergency management reps.
anything else attendees wish to discuss
incident at Dog Park on December 19
Letter
to Star News on 2/24/09 by a Jana Monji asked for
witnesses to an incident where she was knocked down twice by a doberman
and her collie dog was fatally injured while the cell phone occupied
doberman's owner paid no attention and even when made aware was not
helpful and left. She requested any witnesses contact her at
Jana.Monji@earthlink.net
Estado "mansion"
The giant new house speculatively built at 3205 Estado and
listed for sale at least a couple years ago at a ridiculous $1.25
million finally sold for $650,000
in February.
large scale map
Idea
was raised of getting a large scale map for meetings to help
attendees better visualize locations being discussed.
Laura
will see if already have one; otherwise look into printing one.
neighborhood watch
question raised about relationship of our association to
Neighborhood Watch.
Neighborhood Watch is managed by Police Dept's community
services.
Neighborhood Watches are organized in much smaller units then
our association. A block or other contiguous area where the
neighbors can visually observe each other's houses.
(We could invite PPD's community services officer to give a
presentation at one of our meetings if that is desired.)
post office has moved
The East Pasadena post office has moved from the long-time
location on Colorado & Vinedo to its new location on the south west
corner of Colorado and Kinneloa. In the new development
kitty-corner to Target.
directory of tradespersons references
Sharon
Stockdale presented her idea for a publication she proposes for our web
site and
periodic distribution
A flyer including a form would be distributed to all the
houses in our neighborhood requesting referrals of tradespersons with
which the resident has had good experiences. Form would request
contact info for the tradesperson, what service they provide, a
comment, and who is making the referal.
Completed forms would be mailed or delivered to
Sharon. Could also do online form.
Sharon would compile a directory of the referrals.
Only referrals would be accepted, not requests by the trades person for
inclusion.
Maybe sometime later could include paid advertising, clearly
marked as such.
ice rink management and project history
Fred Culick, who lives elsewhere in Pasadena, introduced
himself. He had received a copy of our newsletter and wanted to
fill us in with his perspective on the ice rink situation.
He is a founder and still partial owner of Pasadena Ice
Skating Center (PISC), the company which operates the ice rink located
at the Civic Center. It was founded in order to make a rink
available in Pasadena. It was opened in 1976 with a 25 year lease
on the site, with two 5 year extensions.
He said he started the process of getting a new rink in 1997
when he had a coffee with Councilman Sid Tyler.
As the end of the 25 year lease approached (2001), he said
the Civic
Center management tried to make a case that PISC was not in compliance
with the lease and therefore in default and should not be granted an
extension. They had already decided they wanted the space back
and wanted to expand the convention/civic center. A large sum,
basically all the savings of Pasadena Ice, were spent on lawyers in
successfully
fighting that; the lease was extended.
Initially city staff worked with PISC in looking for a new
ice rink location and understanding the requirements.
After a while in the design process for the new ice rink
project it became clear the city staff didn't care what PISC thought
anymore. City staff and the architect indicated that they felt
they knew the business better. They stopped consulting with PISC
or even returning calls.
The organization recently identified in staff reports to the
City Council as "Los Angeles Kings / Polar Ice Ventures" was originally
involved in the project by city staff to do a review of the expected
costs and revenues. Then all of a sudden they were being
described as the organization with whom the city will contract to
manage the new ice rink. There was no discussion with PISC about
the change, just as there has been no public indication of the reason.
Reading between the lines, there seems to be a belief that
Polar Ice Ventures offers an opportunity to bring in more business.
Mr Culick said he has had difficulty getting information
about Polar Ice Ventures and what relationship allows them to use the
Los Angeles Kings name. There is a known friendship between the
Polar Ice Ventures owner and a famous player, but it is not clear
whether there is a financial relationship with the L.A. Kings.
He said he now has a very low opinion of the way the city
operates.
He
said that an Ice Rink is not a "vast money machine". It is best
run as
a small business by people who are directly involved, not by the
central office of some large organization.
In the
early 80s, PISC contracted for a time with Ice Capades to operate the
rink and all they managed to do was upset everybody and run up a big
debt.
He
said he met with the new City Manager a few weeks ago and told him that
he believes that legally the City now has to open up the
management agreement to public competition. They can't just make
a back room deal with Polar Ice Ventures. He said the City
Manager told him he would look into the situation. He has not
heard back.