May 8, 2010 Meeting Summary
East Eaton Wash Neighborhood Association
Preparation
E-mail and phone reminders made.
Acknowledgments
Susan brought cookies.
Attendees
7 members
Meeting
Agenda Items:
The meeting began around 11:22 am
- Proposed U-Verse box installation on Santa Paula at Del Vina
- City of Pasadena's Public Works has sent letters to nearby property
owners stating
that it is planning to permit AT&T to place a Project U-Verse
cabinet at 3214 Del Vina. The actual location is on the east side
of Santa Paula, just south of Del Vina, in front of that resident's
wood slat fence. There is no sidewalk here. This location
is directly across Santa Paula from the existing AT&T phone line
cabinet for our area.
- The public has 30-days from April 26 to ask questions or raise
concerns about the proposed location. The contact information
given in the letter is
- Danny Wooten, Project Manager, Public Works Engineering, 626 744-7401
- Dan Rix, City Engineer, 626 744-4267
- In June of 2008, city staff informed the City Council that:
- AT&T's Project U-Verse upgrades "its existing network by providing Pasadena residents with cutting-edge
digital television, internet and telephone service"
- "This upgrade requires the placement of new above-ground cabinets in the public right-of-way"
- U-Verse
cabinets must be placed within 350 feet of existing Serving Area
Interface (SAI) cabinets. SAI cabinets are the traditional phone
line cabinets.
- Under
a state law passed in 2006, the city has very little ability to
regulate whether or where boxes are placed. But AT&T
reportedly agreed to some conditions with staff for agreeing on
specific locations rather then fighting in court.
- "The priority of cabinet location will be to the adjacent side of a residential property."
- "There shall be no more than one cabinet Placement in front
of any one residence." (Presumably why the new cabinet is to be across
the street instead of next to the existing cabinet.)
- A public outreach program for affected property owners including:
- "After staff has approved site location, AT&T must
notify the abutting property owner of the site location by written
correspondence approved by the Department of Public Works."
- "The letter shall include a "frequently asked questions and answers" sheet and must mail via USPS with Delivery Confirmation."
- "If the abutting property owner has additional questions
and concerns regarding site location, Public Works and AT&T staff
will meet with the abutting property owner to discuss concerns and
answer questions."
- "Prior to issuance of any encroachment permit, AT&T
shall distribute door tags approved by the Department of Public Works
no later than 48 hours prior to cabinet installation to properties
adjacent and within a sight line of the installation location. Door
tags must inform residents of start date, hours of construction and a
projected completion date of cabinet installation."
- There was also supposed to be a communications plan including
community meetings in each Council District, a television program, and
information on the website. There is no sign of any of that
taking place. (Maybe dropped because it became obvious AT&T
just took it as an opportunity to advertise it's new product.)
- "AT&T shall restore the parkway to its original
condition prior to cabinet installation. At the discretion and approval
of the Department of Public Works, AT&T shall landscape the area
surrounding the cabinet. Landscape shall be of a sufficient height and
density to soften the visibility of the cabinets from the public
right-of-way. AT&T is not required to maintain the landscaping."
- Kinneloa/Walnut extension status
- It appears to be nearly ready to open.
- An item on Monday's City Council agenda mentions completion is expected this month.
- Library branch open hours cutbacks
- Starting this week, all branch libraries are closed on Sundays.
- Six branch libraries are also closed on Fridays. Hastings
Branch continues to be open on Friday, along with La Pintoresca and
Villa-Parke.
- The Central Library will continue to be open every day.
- Water rates and hearing
- Everybody that gets a Pasadena Water and Power bill for water
should have received a notice last week about a public hearing for
"proposed water rate adjustments".
- Basically two parts to hearing.
- One is getting rid of the highest rate block approved last year and lowering the price
of the highest remaining block. This is made possible because the
Metropolitan Water District (MWD) subsequentally adjusted the criteria
it had proposed to be less onerous to the city, and the city reduced
its usageenough to avoid the penalty rates.
- The
other part is passing through rate increases from the MWD effective
October
1 this year and an even higher increase on October 1, 2011.
Although it has previously been stated that the size and cost of block
1 water was based on the lower cost local water used by PWP, the
proposal appears to distribute these MWD increases evenly across the
rates of all the blocks.
- Note
that this hearing does not have anything to do with the
water service rate increases approved last June that take effect this
July 1 and next July 1. Effective this July 1, the fixed charge on
each two month bill will increase from $22.14 to $28.10. In July
2011 it increases to $35.
- Rose Bowl Stadium games
- The city is publicizing and trying to get support for renovations to the Rose Bowl by holding this event.
- Admission is free.
- "learn first hand about the proposed Rose Bowl Renovation and have fun on the field!"
- "Games and activities for all ages on the Rose Bowl field "
- Sunday, May 16, Noon to
3:00 pm. Gates open at 11:30 am.
- For more information: http://www.rosebowlstadium.com/games/
- anything else attendees wish to discuss
- Vehicle burglaries on Hermanos Street
- A couple of weeks ago, late at night on a weekday, someone went to
all the vehicles parked on driveways on Hermanos and went through the
contents of every one that was not locked.
They apparently took their time, including sorting through the contents
of glove boxes. And apparently were not concerned about being visible in
security lights.
- The Pasadena Police crime mapping program does not show that
any of these crimes were reported. (There are a large number of recent
reports from the Best Buy shopping center area).
- Even
if a theft is minor, it is very important to report it. The
Police Department depends on reports to figure out patterns and where
extra patrolling or detective work might be useful.
- For small crimes that are not in progress you don't even need
to call the police, you can now just fill out a report online. See
http://ww2.cityofpasadena.net/police/online-reports/start-report.asp
- A reminder to everybody to lock your car, even in your driveway. Lock your garage too.
- Don't leave anything visible in your car that looks like it
might have value, or anything that looks like it could be hiding
something valuable.
- Consider having each driver of a car carry a copy of the
registration in their wallet rather then leaving it in the glove
box. There is no requirement it be kept in the car; only that the
driver be able to produce it. Consider doing the same thing with
the insurance card.
- Be careful about leaving anything in the car that would be useful to an identity thief or such things as keys to your house.
- Resident garden awarded a Golden Arrow award
- Linda on Estado has won a Golden Arrow award from the Pasadena Beautiful Foundation for her front yard drought resistant garden
- Trash trucks and Vineyard Ln
- A resident noted that recently the trash collection trucks are
having a lot of difficulty due to the way people are parking on
Vineyard Lane.
- The trucks are sometimes unable to get around the corner with
Estado and have to back up all the way to the previous corner, or else
they squeeze through dangerously.
Next meeting is June 12, 2010, 11:15 am, at Hastings Branch Library
Adjourned about 12 pm