Well folks, they're back. Tonight's a big one-rounder with Terry Tornek facing off against evil developer IDS.S-Nooze says Tornek can't vote but he's gonna fight from outside the ropes. Dormitas the Magnificent's prognostication: I'm guessin' this one's fought to a draw. McAustin's gonna like any project that brings money in to her water and power company. Holden's gonna like it and so's Robinson. Airheaderlein will sorta like it but vote no. Madison's gonna vote no. Gordo may go for it if it means jobs for his homeys and Bogus Bill's gonna abstain, which means I vote no but like you too much to shit on you outright. No doubt this one's gonna be prolonged.
Anyway. They're off. Everybody's here. Some Cub Scouts lead the pledge. Nice kids.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Wild man racist wacko Les Hammer rails about illegal immigration and ACORN. He don't like PWPimp McAustin either.
TORNEK GOES TO COG: He's got the Council of Governments shadow body appointment. What do these people do besides probly spend my money on stuff I never hear about?
ORDINANCES: No more dumping crap on the street after the Rose Parade.
YOUTH YAC REPORT: Robinson's baby with Madison as wingman. So what do they want us to do? Besides spend $$$ on a consultant who told 'em exactly what all the other consultants said. Squeeky talks about homicides in '07 and '08 but now it's way down in Pasadena. ACM Steve Mermel runs through the report. He says we have lots of service from non-profits and the city. They want staff to find a place where a new youth non-profit can find a home. They got lots of public commenters and so they're gonna cut comments down to 2 minutes. Morgan Lyons from the consulting company who's from Boston apparently and says they wanna get that non-profit done and have the council be leaders against youth violence. How about one of those non-profit that's out there already doing this and not costing me anything. I'd rather spend my money on more cops to stop violence. Gordo asks about the policy that's already there and what about the things that are already out there doing this. McAustin wants to know how to stop competition between non-profits for $$$. Mermel says we want to use somebody who's already out there, so maybe this won't cost me $$$ after all. Gordo sounds skeptical. Been there done that already. Beck says they can ask the non-profits who should be in charge. Public commenters: You got old white biddy Jeannette Mann from PCC Board who's fulla shit really, Prentice Deadrick who used to be on the school board and f+cked these kids up when he was there. All the non-profiteers are there sayin' give us another chance to suck up some public money, oh, sorry give us a chance to save the young Black kids in Northwest, even if we're all really pretty middle class and make a nice living off these kids. Oh yeah, the non-profiteers got a buncha kids in t-shirts to pimp for them, too.
If we hadda better public school system would we have as many problems? I think NOT! Send the non-profiteers to the PUSD board to demand a decent education for all the kids, then see what's left of the problems? My guess, what would be left is what the police department deals with. Fast forward an hour and they're basically doing what was recommended, which is look at a new commission but not commit to doing anything yet. Bogus says they reached a milestone by doing pretty much nada, but hey we had a Robinson led committee.
CONSENT CALENDAR: They don't have any money spent this time, for once.
Bogaard slips out for a few and Gordo takes over.
PUBLIC HEARING: They got a public commenter on the liquor store things that's put off. Carol Green disappeared. We're gonna borrow $9.8 million against what the state owes us from their budget balancing act of 2009.
STREET TREE CHANGES: Haderlein says the UFUCK committee needs to make sure everybody agrees about the trees they are doing. Public commenter consultant Mary Ann Liget says it was a good process for a one block street.
BIG OFFICE BUILDING vs. TORNEK: Tornek can't vote on it but he ain't gonna be quiet either. Bruckner leads off for the staff team. John Steinmeyer gives the basics about the project and says there are a lot of tall buildings in the area. Haderlein asks about transit orientation. Lenny Wu the staff guy says it's five stories and is gonna have a lot of extra parking for the Playhouse. They need a buncha extra permits and are gonna take out (gasp) some trees. The environmental impact says the project's gonna have some impact on El Molino but they're gonna haveta declare it a good project. Design Commission basically said it's ok. Planning shot it down. Staff likes it 'cause it fits the plan and is compatible with the buildings around it and creates 765 permanent jobs and gives public parking to the area where they need it.
Airheaderlein asks about transit use. Bruckner and Steinmeyer say people can use the gold line and buses to get there.
PUBLIC COMMENT: David Sieta talks for the project. He's excited to be there. He talks about being on the South Pas planning commissioner, councilman, mayor and Gold Line board member. This is their forth project in Pasadena. He better be careful there's a whole row of biddies behind him. They got cool graphics. He says they had 28 meetings with neighbors there and changed the project for them. He says it's respectful of the historic buildings around it. He says all the traffic is not bad and his project will mean less traffic and no trips reach Tornek's neighborhood. Robinson asks about the alternatives and Saita says they tried to scale it back but couldn't make it not trip the threshold for traffic considerations. Hot environmental blonde says they hadda consider it all as new trips 'cause the building is empty now even if it's not. Gordo sounds like he's gonna go for the project. Madison asks about the parking and Saita says they listened when people asked for more public parking and the extra 10% they want is to help pay for parking. Madison wants to know if less parking makes for less building. Gordo asks if getting rid of the public parking would make the project profitable with less building. McAustin's hostile even though it's Gordo getting shined on with a non-answer.
Bogaard says they have 35 cards and asks about cutting people off after 2 minutes and they decide on 90 seconds. First up is Mike Dantwono from the Chamber of Commerce who says they endorse the project and it solves a lot of problems and brings vitality to the district. Teresa Grimes from Pasadena Heritage says the EIR is inadequate and shoudl be shot down. Schoolmarm Sue Mossman says we hate this 'cause it's too big near the playhouse. John Walsh neighborhood hobbit says it's devastating to the Playhouse. Tom Breen says he lives in Madison Heights and he's worried about traffic and appreciates this one won't hurt his neighborhood. Michelle Engelman from the Playhouse Board says they all love the project and it's good for them. Mark Smutny the pastor from the tv ad says the Playhouse District likes the project and wants the office development and like the design. Sheldon Epps artistic dude from the Playhouse is deeply moved by the care the developers had for the theater. Bill Youkropina is in favor of the motion. He tried to lease it before and couldn't get anybody to take it and they sold it to IDS and Saita. Philip Cutting individual and real estate professional who lives in Pasadena for 45 years. He has an office in the Playhouse District and likes the project. Abel Ramirez likes it 'cause it's gonna help business. Brian Kitty's an architect who says the project is excellent. Todd Donie from CB Richard Ellis says he's leased 1/3 of the Pasdena office space and he likes the project 'casue Pasadena needs office space. Mark Neigh supports the project and says the project is exactly why they started the playhouse district. He says it's a beautiful design adn important project. Tom Virgil is scared to death. He's an owner of the Arcade next door and they object to the project 'cause it's too big and it might hurt his building. Sid Tyler's back and asks about the economics and understands the project can get a profit but not a big enough one for the developer. He says this project doesn't meet the central district rules. Louisa Nelson from the General Plan Committee says people don't like big buildings and people aren't following the general plan and this building isn't what people want. Mike Vogler says he wants the out of town developers told no. Joan Hurst from West Pasadena Residents Association says vote no. It's too big. Carolyn Neighbor from Planning Commission and WPRA shows a picture and says she voted no on the project 'cause she doesn't like part that's not even in the project. Biddy Marcia Rude doesn't like the project and claims it breaks the rules. Everybody chuckles when Bogaard introduces Tornek as a member of the public. He says this project is not in compliance with the rules and it needs to be scaled down. He doesn't like the public parking either. Al Moses says it's a good project based on the economics. Richard McDonald from Planning Commission will answer questions says they voted it down but then voted to recommend going back to the specific plan for the area. He says getting rid of the public parking makes it work economically. Haderlein takes the guy to task and wonders why the planning commission disregards what the council did. McAustin tries to save the planning commission but McDonald digs the hole deeper. When the guy is talking the girls sitting in the first row falls asleep. Swear to God she does. Lawyer Scott Jenkins says they gotta approve it 'cause it meets all the rules and regs. He says it meets the general plan and specific plan. OK DUDE, call Marcia Rude and the biddies liars. I'm likin' this guy already. He says they're eligible for the bonus. The parking helps the historic structures. He says its only 200 new trips on El Molino. I want this guy as my lawyer if I ever need one. He's GOOD! Public comment's over at 11:30.
Council comments: Hell, they all talk but make not a lot of sense. Haderlein's going with it. Madison likes that it helps the Playhouse but he's worried about the bonus and the crosswalk. McAustin's carrying Tornek's water. She's agin it! It's too big for her. (I'll pass on the easy joke here... ) McAustin picks on the staff and she's not happy. Send it back she says! She's going with the Planning Commission. Haderlein bites back. Not so airheady tonight. Holden asks what massive means and gets told this one ain't so big. Haderlein likes the revised project not what fits the minus 10% version.
Bogus is wanting to push this one off sometime in the future. McAustin asks about studying more stuff and gets told it'll take six months. McAustin's falling asleep I swear! Radar O'Reilly's dad says it takes a lot of study and they need to look at it separate 'cause it's way complicated and will stop the whole project in it's tracks. Gordo's torn on this one. He wants to have a crosswalk that's not part of the project studied. Bogaard says they should look at reducing the project ten percent and consider not approving the project at all because if its impact on the playhouse. Economist says there's not a lot of money to be made from the extra parking.
But hey, we got real important things to think about like the new police chief, so let's spend a lotta time on one project.
The IDS guy's still got his sense of humor at 12:40 am, so I'm going with him. Hey, I'm shallow, what can I say?
Holy f+ck Batman, Peter Fonda's on Californication!
FYI: I love Kathleen Turner and if I hadda have a fat babe she's the one I want.
Gordo wants the IDS dude to pay for a crosswalk. The IDS guy says he'll pay for the study but not the rest. They're making that a requirement unless it costs a huge amount then I guess they come back.
Holden's wanting to get the project approved and other stuff studied later.
The lawyer babe says all this stuff had gotta get studied so just do it.
Beck's trying to cut through it all and get a decision.
AND
after two hours of Yadda Yadda Yadda about a crosswalk they approve the thing with PWPimp McAustin voting no. They require the developer to put in the crosswalk if a study the developer pays for requires it.
they do get done at like 1:45 a.m. in the a.m.
PUBLIC COMMENT CARD: Cutie Charlene Brown talks about a solar lighting initiative she's sponsoring and talks about people getting their power disconnected.
Madison asks about Alex Padilla wanting to regulate smoking around schools. Madison wants ambulances required at high school football games. Robinson sucks up to Armina Derachy the tree hugger for putting up gates to keep Robinson's neighbors out of Armina's neighborhood.
D is tired and has gotta go back and look at some of it again 'cause they put me to sleep...
D. is done
Monday, November 16, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Pickpockets start the holiday season early
The month before Christmas
Twas a sunny southern California fall day
The temps were hittin' 7-tay
I heard a clatter upon my front porch
And turned to see the mailman approach
In his hand he displayed a missive I dreads
A political mailer from my local deadheads
Our school board is seems has its hand in my pocket
Even before I get to vote on a parcel docket
They mailed me a postcard to ask what I think
While hiding in text the clear fact that they stink
So I filled in my card and I mailed it right in
Bet mines not one that gets counted again
So all us furry little holiday mice
Get bent over once more by a PUSD full of vice
That uses taxpayer dollars to snare
Unsuspecting Pasadena with political mailers not fair
So beware this holiday creep
And mind your wallets around our PUSD
I got a political mailer from our school district asking a buncha loaded questions obviously intended to get me to like that idea they want to tax us all a whole lot more to pay for their status quo.
I told them my preference is to close down extra schools, cut everything that isn't an education program and keep their hands out of my pockets. I pay enough in taxes for a school district that's not good enough for me to put my kids in.
Parcel tax to maintain the PUSD status quo?
HELL NO!
D.
Twas a sunny southern California fall day
The temps were hittin' 7-tay
I heard a clatter upon my front porch
And turned to see the mailman approach
In his hand he displayed a missive I dreads
A political mailer from my local deadheads
Our school board is seems has its hand in my pocket
Even before I get to vote on a parcel docket
They mailed me a postcard to ask what I think
While hiding in text the clear fact that they stink
So I filled in my card and I mailed it right in
Bet mines not one that gets counted again
So all us furry little holiday mice
Get bent over once more by a PUSD full of vice
That uses taxpayer dollars to snare
Unsuspecting Pasadena with political mailers not fair
So beware this holiday creep
And mind your wallets around our PUSD
I got a political mailer from our school district asking a buncha loaded questions obviously intended to get me to like that idea they want to tax us all a whole lot more to pay for their status quo.
I told them my preference is to close down extra schools, cut everything that isn't an education program and keep their hands out of my pockets. I pay enough in taxes for a school district that's not good enough for me to put my kids in.
Parcel tax to maintain the PUSD status quo?
HELL NO!
D.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Council Blow-by-Blow for 11-2-09
Yawn. It's I hate the Buchanans night. Only bg item on the agenda is the middleweight bout where mayor bogus gets to show his preservationist cred by saying no Venetian crap when we are s'posed to get copper.
CLOSED SESSION: Bogaard says they talked about stuff like union contracts but won't tell us about what they did.
Looks like everybody's there but Gordo and Robinson. They get wacko Nancy Nelson to do the pledge. Methodist Hospital gets a commendation for doing hospital stuff, I guess.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Nancy Nelson's here to talk about her Eco-community dialogues. Next one's by Sandy Fox who's an instructor about Dr. Emoto and water. He's giving a book to every kid in the world. Hey, Dr. Emoto how about giving the kids clean water instead? Betty Duker from the Pasadena Art Alliance bring their artifacts book and pimps for contemporary art.
ELECTRIC BONDS: The city sold bonds to Wells Fargo for 3.3% that means saving $3.6 million. Sounds ok. Council's gotta ok it.
APPOINTMENT OF COUNCIL PAL: Vince Farhat goes to the Convention Center Board.
CONSENT CALENDAR: They're spending $750K for transit stuff, electric engineers and a water contract but they're gonna talk about trees.
NATIVE TREE GRANT: Tree wacko Laurie Paul says they need to talk more before they do this. Mary Barry from La Canada wants to tell us what to do, too. Hey, let's have La Canada decide on what Pasadena oughta do. Bogus Bill says it's just an application and there is no program at this point. McAustin wants trees near public transportation like on Lake Avenue over the freeway. Really, trees on the overpass! Great idiot idea. Tornek asks about suspicions people keep bringing up and wants to make sure info gets out there.
POWER PLANT CONTRACTS: They're spending money for a new power plant down at the end of the 110 freeway. The new one is gone use less energy and be more efficient. Hey! What's Pasadena Heritage got to say about knocking down the old power plant? PWPimp McAustin loves this one too. David Zemansky from the Sierra Club talks about the semantics.
RAYMOND THEATER PROJECT: Beck says staff says to let the change go ahead. Design Commission said the material is ok, but might not look good enough. Beck wants to leave it as it is. Poindexter from planning department says Design Commission can't make up its mind. Mr. Buchanan the owner says there's not much else he can say and tells them what they used is the best they could get. Tornek grills him a little about what it costs. Mrs. Buchanan says they are talking about what color it should be and the Design Commission said no green roof. So they're trying to do what looks best. Holden moves the recommendation that they use the new stuff with Madison supporting it. Tornek wants to stick with the Design Commission on this one and says they should follow the rules. Bogaard asks if the builder wanted to change the material would staff approve that or would the Design Commission have to see it. Poindexter sinks the staff recommendation by telling Bogus it would have to go back to the Design Commission. They vote. Haderlein, Holden, Madison and McAustin vote yes. Tornek says no and Bogaard abstains and sinks the new material so the Design Commission saying no sticks.
GENERAL PLAN UPDATE: Stephanie DeWolf makes the presentation and tells us everybody's getting a chance to go to meetings. Emily Stork from the committee says thanks and they're doing a good job reaching out to everybody. Noelle Toro says its been a good experience since he's only been here one year. ONE YEAR! So he's gonna decide what happens when he can't even find the grocery store. McAustin says she hasn't seen any young people at any of the meetings. DeWolf talks about the whole process and stuff they did with youth like go on the Gold Line. They had speakers talking about some issues. They did community workshops and council district workshops. They got a big workshop on Nov. 14th at Macy's. She says they talked to 2100 people so far. They talk about density and traffic being big issues. Madison asks about how do we get the state to back of their requirements. McAustin says population is a question. Tornek likes the advisory committee facilitating meetings. McAustin asks about business community involvement. DeWolf says they heard form them when they came looking but business people don't come out for meetings. Haderlein wants to know how it all gets balanced. If people want no development he says that's not realistic. Bogus suspicious that staff's gonna change the info for the final reports. Stay tuned!
MUNICIPAL SERVICES: PWPimp McAustin says we're spending a lot of money on a project in the Imperial Valley but we have to pay lots of money and might have to spend a lot more. It's some kind of exploration for thermal power. The Sikh guy from PWP gives his report. Pasadena would won it. It's in California and should bring power in pretty cheaply. The risk is the whole thing might not work. David Zemansky from the Sierra Club says he likes this. Tornek's on board with it.
ORDINANCE: They're not allowing people to leave garbage after big events in Pasadena. No leaving couches and other crap behind.
COUNCIL YAKKING: They are trying to cut down on their meetings so they only have three meetings each month. Holden tells everybody that the FAA denied the Burbank Airport's application for some project that has to do with noise at night. McAustin asks about some cell tower placement laws.
They coulda skipped this one pretty much. Long report about the General Plan Outreach sham. Anybody know people who are really caring about this? They did a quick slap to the Buchanans who are doing the Raymond Theater condo project.
Otherwise, a real snooze fest. Lucky us next week's cancelled.
Over and done.
D.
CLOSED SESSION: Bogaard says they talked about stuff like union contracts but won't tell us about what they did.
Looks like everybody's there but Gordo and Robinson. They get wacko Nancy Nelson to do the pledge. Methodist Hospital gets a commendation for doing hospital stuff, I guess.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Nancy Nelson's here to talk about her Eco-community dialogues. Next one's by Sandy Fox who's an instructor about Dr. Emoto and water. He's giving a book to every kid in the world. Hey, Dr. Emoto how about giving the kids clean water instead? Betty Duker from the Pasadena Art Alliance bring their artifacts book and pimps for contemporary art.
ELECTRIC BONDS: The city sold bonds to Wells Fargo for 3.3% that means saving $3.6 million. Sounds ok. Council's gotta ok it.
APPOINTMENT OF COUNCIL PAL: Vince Farhat goes to the Convention Center Board.
CONSENT CALENDAR: They're spending $750K for transit stuff, electric engineers and a water contract but they're gonna talk about trees.
NATIVE TREE GRANT: Tree wacko Laurie Paul says they need to talk more before they do this. Mary Barry from La Canada wants to tell us what to do, too. Hey, let's have La Canada decide on what Pasadena oughta do. Bogus Bill says it's just an application and there is no program at this point. McAustin wants trees near public transportation like on Lake Avenue over the freeway. Really, trees on the overpass! Great idiot idea. Tornek asks about suspicions people keep bringing up and wants to make sure info gets out there.
POWER PLANT CONTRACTS: They're spending money for a new power plant down at the end of the 110 freeway. The new one is gone use less energy and be more efficient. Hey! What's Pasadena Heritage got to say about knocking down the old power plant? PWPimp McAustin loves this one too. David Zemansky from the Sierra Club talks about the semantics.
RAYMOND THEATER PROJECT: Beck says staff says to let the change go ahead. Design Commission said the material is ok, but might not look good enough. Beck wants to leave it as it is. Poindexter from planning department says Design Commission can't make up its mind. Mr. Buchanan the owner says there's not much else he can say and tells them what they used is the best they could get. Tornek grills him a little about what it costs. Mrs. Buchanan says they are talking about what color it should be and the Design Commission said no green roof. So they're trying to do what looks best. Holden moves the recommendation that they use the new stuff with Madison supporting it. Tornek wants to stick with the Design Commission on this one and says they should follow the rules. Bogaard asks if the builder wanted to change the material would staff approve that or would the Design Commission have to see it. Poindexter sinks the staff recommendation by telling Bogus it would have to go back to the Design Commission. They vote. Haderlein, Holden, Madison and McAustin vote yes. Tornek says no and Bogaard abstains and sinks the new material so the Design Commission saying no sticks.
GENERAL PLAN UPDATE: Stephanie DeWolf makes the presentation and tells us everybody's getting a chance to go to meetings. Emily Stork from the committee says thanks and they're doing a good job reaching out to everybody. Noelle Toro says its been a good experience since he's only been here one year. ONE YEAR! So he's gonna decide what happens when he can't even find the grocery store. McAustin says she hasn't seen any young people at any of the meetings. DeWolf talks about the whole process and stuff they did with youth like go on the Gold Line. They had speakers talking about some issues. They did community workshops and council district workshops. They got a big workshop on Nov. 14th at Macy's. She says they talked to 2100 people so far. They talk about density and traffic being big issues. Madison asks about how do we get the state to back of their requirements. McAustin says population is a question. Tornek likes the advisory committee facilitating meetings. McAustin asks about business community involvement. DeWolf says they heard form them when they came looking but business people don't come out for meetings. Haderlein wants to know how it all gets balanced. If people want no development he says that's not realistic. Bogus suspicious that staff's gonna change the info for the final reports. Stay tuned!
MUNICIPAL SERVICES: PWPimp McAustin says we're spending a lot of money on a project in the Imperial Valley but we have to pay lots of money and might have to spend a lot more. It's some kind of exploration for thermal power. The Sikh guy from PWP gives his report. Pasadena would won it. It's in California and should bring power in pretty cheaply. The risk is the whole thing might not work. David Zemansky from the Sierra Club says he likes this. Tornek's on board with it.
ORDINANCE: They're not allowing people to leave garbage after big events in Pasadena. No leaving couches and other crap behind.
COUNCIL YAKKING: They are trying to cut down on their meetings so they only have three meetings each month. Holden tells everybody that the FAA denied the Burbank Airport's application for some project that has to do with noise at night. McAustin asks about some cell tower placement laws.
They coulda skipped this one pretty much. Long report about the General Plan Outreach sham. Anybody know people who are really caring about this? They did a quick slap to the Buchanans who are doing the Raymond Theater condo project.
Otherwise, a real snooze fest. Lucky us next week's cancelled.
Over and done.
D.
We're open again
After much soul searching, and not a few brews I decided to open up comments to everyone sans moderation. So feel free to comment or even join the ranks of the privileged posters. E mail underpasadena@gmail.com to get posting privileges.
Only one person (so far) is banned from commenting or posting. You know who you are you evil, close minded, free speech-hating bee-yatch.
D.
Only one person (so far) is banned from commenting or posting. You know who you are you evil, close minded, free speech-hating bee-yatch.
D.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Council Blow-by-Blow for 10-26-09
Lightweight bout tonight folks. They even pulled the middleweight fight 'til next week.
Ho Hummmmm.
Gordo's in charge tonight. Bogus is someplace on vacation. He congratulates Nick Rodriguez who's the new chief assistant city attorney. He gets the son of the boxer they want a stature for to lead the pledge. He says they did't do the closed session.They swear in a council pal to northwest commission. Assistant Chief Vicino from the police talks about a high school internship program and intros the interns. Two of 'em look like twins.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Nancy Nelson the wacko is back. She talks about a book about the earth being one country and quotes a book by a guy named Huttleston. She talks about a eco-community dialogue with the United Nations local club president.
LA CARE RECOVERY PROGRAM: Bob Spence mouthpiece for LA County talks about the CARE program to recover from the fires and what they're doing to protect people in the fire area from mudslides this winter. They have a website people can check for info. Public commenter Michael Parenty is a scientist who says there's technology to reduce the risk from mudslides that he designed.
CONSENT CALENDAR: They're THey're spending almost $3 million on homeless stuff and 300K on streetlights on Orange Grove. They also decide what to spend money from the feds on.
CANTO ROBLEDO MEMORIAL AT VILLA PARK: Staff woman Cathy Wood says they want to do a wall relief for the blind boxing teacher. Bow tie Madison's sucking up to the people who want it. Seems fine to me, too. Lots of people speak in favor of this. Juan Lara wears a bow tie, too and he likes it. Manuel Contreras from the Mexican American History Association likes it, too. So do a buncha other people including a guy from the history museum. It's being paid for by the Mexican History Association. McAustin chimes in too.
FINANCE COMMITTEE: They got $300K to stop drunk drivers. They're hiring auditors to check on sales tax that comes into the city and are gonna sell some state bonds for cash.
RUSNAK AUTO PROJECT: Rusnak wants to build offices and three car dealerships on the old Chrysler car lot in east Pasadena. Haderlein asks about how big the buildings are and about landscaping. Tornek wants to add all the footage up including parking so it's 600K square feet. They don't know if he's moving dealers or bringing in new ones. Lisa Black from Rusnak explains the project a little. It's not five storys all over but is mostly 2 story.
COUNCIL COMMENTS: Holden compliments the Rose Bowl and police for putting on the U2 concert. Robinson squeaks her agreeing. Beck says thousands used shuttle buses and metrolink.
Meeting was booooorrrrrriiinnnnnggggg! Rusnak's gonna spend milllions to move car dealers over where all the other ones are. Makes sense to me. They gotta do public art so maybe the stoopid hats can go there. Robledo memorial's a good thing, too.
'nuff for now.
I'm done.
D.
Ho Hummmmm.
Gordo's in charge tonight. Bogus is someplace on vacation. He congratulates Nick Rodriguez who's the new chief assistant city attorney. He gets the son of the boxer they want a stature for to lead the pledge. He says they did't do the closed session.They swear in a council pal to northwest commission. Assistant Chief Vicino from the police talks about a high school internship program and intros the interns. Two of 'em look like twins.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Nancy Nelson the wacko is back. She talks about a book about the earth being one country and quotes a book by a guy named Huttleston. She talks about a eco-community dialogue with the United Nations local club president.
LA CARE RECOVERY PROGRAM: Bob Spence mouthpiece for LA County talks about the CARE program to recover from the fires and what they're doing to protect people in the fire area from mudslides this winter. They have a website people can check for info. Public commenter Michael Parenty is a scientist who says there's technology to reduce the risk from mudslides that he designed.
CONSENT CALENDAR: They're THey're spending almost $3 million on homeless stuff and 300K on streetlights on Orange Grove. They also decide what to spend money from the feds on.
CANTO ROBLEDO MEMORIAL AT VILLA PARK: Staff woman Cathy Wood says they want to do a wall relief for the blind boxing teacher. Bow tie Madison's sucking up to the people who want it. Seems fine to me, too. Lots of people speak in favor of this. Juan Lara wears a bow tie, too and he likes it. Manuel Contreras from the Mexican American History Association likes it, too. So do a buncha other people including a guy from the history museum. It's being paid for by the Mexican History Association. McAustin chimes in too.
FINANCE COMMITTEE: They got $300K to stop drunk drivers. They're hiring auditors to check on sales tax that comes into the city and are gonna sell some state bonds for cash.
RUSNAK AUTO PROJECT: Rusnak wants to build offices and three car dealerships on the old Chrysler car lot in east Pasadena. Haderlein asks about how big the buildings are and about landscaping. Tornek wants to add all the footage up including parking so it's 600K square feet. They don't know if he's moving dealers or bringing in new ones. Lisa Black from Rusnak explains the project a little. It's not five storys all over but is mostly 2 story.
COUNCIL COMMENTS: Holden compliments the Rose Bowl and police for putting on the U2 concert. Robinson squeaks her agreeing. Beck says thousands used shuttle buses and metrolink.
Meeting was booooorrrrrriiinnnnnggggg! Rusnak's gonna spend milllions to move car dealers over where all the other ones are. Makes sense to me. They gotta do public art so maybe the stoopid hats can go there. Robledo memorial's a good thing, too.
'nuff for now.
I'm done.
D.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Council Blow-by-Blow for 10-19-09
OK. Light card tonight.
Haderlein and Tornek are missing.
Design commission babe says the pledge even if the mayor's not sure what commission she's on.
BACK PATS TO COUNCIL PALS: The design commission babe turns out to be a real troll who's back for Bungalow Heaven getting an award from PWPimp McAustin, Gordo and Bogus. Bungalow Heaven got a planning award and the troll and pals are there to get it. The troll talks for ten minutes, too. The new BH president talks too, she's not so trollish. Where are the people who started it 25 years ago? Don't they get credit. McAustin sucks up. Must be preparing for re-election. Gordo kisses some troll ass, too. Bogaard gets great pleasure giving the troll a certificate. Children Partnership gets kudos for after school stuff. This woman's wearing a scarf when it's 85 degrees out. YWCA gets a plaque for the Week Without Violence. These women deserve their award. We need a city without violence. And they do a photo op, too. Sister City dude introduces a kid who's an intern from Germany. There's some Russians here visiting places like Hillsides who get recognized. A couple are really cute, especially a tall blond one, so at least we don't import beasts like the ones on commissions. Oooo am I being too snarky Larry?
Pasadena's Washington lobbyist talks about what they do for Pasadena.
They're gonna adjourn in honor of Bill Cathy who died Saturday. He was on the Council when it was in Board of Directors.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Bogus is gonna cut it off after 20 minutes. Oldster Marvin Schecter talks about volunteering and AARP sponsoring volunteer activities. Antwon Cook talks about the same thing. Wendell Philips from Pasadena Management Association complains that some workers will get a 33 hour work schedule to cut city costs. He's bitching that fat city workers will lose $800 out of $3200 per week they get paid. WOW! Sounds like he says they're gonna get their pay cut from $166K per year to $124K per year. WOW! That seems like a lot considering I'm a middle manager at a decent sized company downtown and I make $85K without the fat pension and health bennies. I SAY CUT 'EM BACK TO ABOUT $75K PER YEAR! That's a decent salary for a manager.
CONSENT CALENDAR: They're spending money on the new health center in east Pasadena, spending $435K to get rid of brush in the Arroyo, $500K for prefab buildings for Robinson Park, $1.3 million for street improvements and $750K for street sealing. Oh, and they're applying for money for Nina Chomsky's backyard park, even if the neighbors are writing letters sayin' they don't want trails now after the Council spent millions of my dollars to buy it in the first place.
HOLDEN'S JUNKET: He gets to go to San Antonio for a conference that we get to pay for. Bogus volunteers as an alternate so maybe he's gonna go too.
SOME COUNCIL PALS GET APPOINTED TO COMMISSIONS: More trolls deciding for us regular folks.
ARCHITECTURE DESIGN RULES FOR MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING: They want buildings to relate to the ones around them. Public commenters: The Bungalow Heaven troll talks about a load of shit but says she likes this. Pasadena Heritage schoolmarm Sue Mossman likes it too. Where's the biddies when we need them? They must love it, too. McAustin loves this too. She's been working on planning issues for 15 years and loves this plan. She's orgazmic about this one folks. She even talks about Phoebe Wilson, bitching biddy leader. I'm waiting for Madison to say how it reminds him of his days as a prosecutor. He does love it, too but he's worried about waivers developers can get if they want. Gordo wants to look at it after a year. It's gonna happen by new year's. Seems fine to me. I don't love lots of what gets built now, so maybe this will be better. What happens if a developer is building in a shit area, does he have to build shit to match?
This one's done in an hour and a half. Boooorrrrrinnnnggggggg!
I'm done.
D.
Haderlein and Tornek are missing.
Design commission babe says the pledge even if the mayor's not sure what commission she's on.
BACK PATS TO COUNCIL PALS: The design commission babe turns out to be a real troll who's back for Bungalow Heaven getting an award from PWPimp McAustin, Gordo and Bogus. Bungalow Heaven got a planning award and the troll and pals are there to get it. The troll talks for ten minutes, too. The new BH president talks too, she's not so trollish. Where are the people who started it 25 years ago? Don't they get credit. McAustin sucks up. Must be preparing for re-election. Gordo kisses some troll ass, too. Bogaard gets great pleasure giving the troll a certificate. Children Partnership gets kudos for after school stuff. This woman's wearing a scarf when it's 85 degrees out. YWCA gets a plaque for the Week Without Violence. These women deserve their award. We need a city without violence. And they do a photo op, too. Sister City dude introduces a kid who's an intern from Germany. There's some Russians here visiting places like Hillsides who get recognized. A couple are really cute, especially a tall blond one, so at least we don't import beasts like the ones on commissions. Oooo am I being too snarky Larry?
Pasadena's Washington lobbyist talks about what they do for Pasadena.
They're gonna adjourn in honor of Bill Cathy who died Saturday. He was on the Council when it was in Board of Directors.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Bogus is gonna cut it off after 20 minutes. Oldster Marvin Schecter talks about volunteering and AARP sponsoring volunteer activities. Antwon Cook talks about the same thing. Wendell Philips from Pasadena Management Association complains that some workers will get a 33 hour work schedule to cut city costs. He's bitching that fat city workers will lose $800 out of $3200 per week they get paid. WOW! Sounds like he says they're gonna get their pay cut from $166K per year to $124K per year. WOW! That seems like a lot considering I'm a middle manager at a decent sized company downtown and I make $85K without the fat pension and health bennies. I SAY CUT 'EM BACK TO ABOUT $75K PER YEAR! That's a decent salary for a manager.
CONSENT CALENDAR: They're spending money on the new health center in east Pasadena, spending $435K to get rid of brush in the Arroyo, $500K for prefab buildings for Robinson Park, $1.3 million for street improvements and $750K for street sealing. Oh, and they're applying for money for Nina Chomsky's backyard park, even if the neighbors are writing letters sayin' they don't want trails now after the Council spent millions of my dollars to buy it in the first place.
HOLDEN'S JUNKET: He gets to go to San Antonio for a conference that we get to pay for. Bogus volunteers as an alternate so maybe he's gonna go too.
SOME COUNCIL PALS GET APPOINTED TO COMMISSIONS: More trolls deciding for us regular folks.
ARCHITECTURE DESIGN RULES FOR MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING: They want buildings to relate to the ones around them. Public commenters: The Bungalow Heaven troll talks about a load of shit but says she likes this. Pasadena Heritage schoolmarm Sue Mossman likes it too. Where's the biddies when we need them? They must love it, too. McAustin loves this too. She's been working on planning issues for 15 years and loves this plan. She's orgazmic about this one folks. She even talks about Phoebe Wilson, bitching biddy leader. I'm waiting for Madison to say how it reminds him of his days as a prosecutor. He does love it, too but he's worried about waivers developers can get if they want. Gordo wants to look at it after a year. It's gonna happen by new year's. Seems fine to me. I don't love lots of what gets built now, so maybe this will be better. What happens if a developer is building in a shit area, does he have to build shit to match?
This one's done in an hour and a half. Boooorrrrrinnnnggggggg!
I'm done.
D.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Council Blow by Blow for 10-12-09
Ok. We got Tornek hating a big office building that's going up in his district across from the Playhouse.
Everybody's there but PWPimp McAustin. Must not be any water and power contracts for her to push.
Robinson squeaks the pledge.
Ceremonial stuff: Council back pats and oaths to council donors.
The main attraction gets pushed to November 16th. Tornek's hate-the-office deal has gotta wait. If you look at the agenda online, the dude has been stirring up people to come out and express their hatred for this office building, too. So everybody's gotta wait on this one.
PUBLIC COMMENT: April Hicks comes to push to get me to pay for the ice rink for her out of town kids. She's pushing Gordo to bring it back. Gordo tells her it's a project that anybody could revive if they want to build it wit their own money. WOW! I'm liking this guy on this one. Wack job Nancy Nelson's there for the United Nations Association pimping an event on October 25th.
CONSENT CALENDAR: Haderlein wants to know about helicopters, Robinson wants to know about background checks for employees. They spend $650K for PWP without the PWPimp being there and they say they won't spend more than $216 million this year. The best they did was spend a couple of hundred thou to make the police helicopters better.
HEALTHCARE REFORM POSITION: Right, these guys are concerned about what I have to pay for health insurance and what I get for benefits. They're not gonna do any particular proposal but do their principles. YAWN! The Dems on the Council support the Demish principles. Madison talks about how much people spend on health care. Public Comment: bitching biddy League of Women Voters shills Shirley Spencer, Susan Gray, Partrice Stands, Carol Watt and others pimp for universal health care. Mayor lets them talk and talk and talk and talk.
RAYMOND THEATER PROJECT: They are being raked for using cheap substitutes for copper on part of the building. There's a complicated report by a nerdy Black guy but it's fairly simple after all of it. Make 'em do what they agreed to in the first place. They want to plant more trees instead of doing the copper thing. Staff wants to take what they're offering. There's some talk about other cases. Gordo wants to ask the builders what they were thinking.
Public Comment: Gene and Marilyn Buchanan say they misunderstood the process. They thought they had approval already. Even though they did a lot of projects before they never did design commission before. They say this looks just as good as real copper. Neighbor Dan Wolf says it looks just like the real thing to him. He4itage schoolmarm Sue Mossman says copper was probably the best choice but it wasn't what the decision was based on. She says there should be consequences but redoing it may not be the best way. Holden pitches for the builders. They go on about this for 45 minutes. I swear. And they end up back where they started and table it for a couple of weeks and send it back to the staff. Finally they don't think the builders are doing enough to make up for changing the cornice which is a little piece up at the roof. So back it goes in two weeks with a report about what they put up there and if it's gonna last and what's the development going to do to be prettier in place of copper roof. Seems a lot of talk for no resolution. Holden thinks making them sit through the hearing is punishment enough. I'm kinda agreein' with him on that one. But it's coming back in two weeks.
ORDINANCES: Some changes to residential development standards and projects get extra time to get built because of the economy.
Madison wants to know about meeting schedules to make sure they get enough meetings off in December.
Folks, without a major bout on the card, we still end up with a slugfest over another project about something that nobody's ever even gonna look up at.
Put a fork in me, I be done people.
D.
Everybody's there but PWPimp McAustin. Must not be any water and power contracts for her to push.
Robinson squeaks the pledge.
Ceremonial stuff: Council back pats and oaths to council donors.
The main attraction gets pushed to November 16th. Tornek's hate-the-office deal has gotta wait. If you look at the agenda online, the dude has been stirring up people to come out and express their hatred for this office building, too. So everybody's gotta wait on this one.
PUBLIC COMMENT: April Hicks comes to push to get me to pay for the ice rink for her out of town kids. She's pushing Gordo to bring it back. Gordo tells her it's a project that anybody could revive if they want to build it wit their own money. WOW! I'm liking this guy on this one. Wack job Nancy Nelson's there for the United Nations Association pimping an event on October 25th.
CONSENT CALENDAR: Haderlein wants to know about helicopters, Robinson wants to know about background checks for employees. They spend $650K for PWP without the PWPimp being there and they say they won't spend more than $216 million this year. The best they did was spend a couple of hundred thou to make the police helicopters better.
HEALTHCARE REFORM POSITION: Right, these guys are concerned about what I have to pay for health insurance and what I get for benefits. They're not gonna do any particular proposal but do their principles. YAWN! The Dems on the Council support the Demish principles. Madison talks about how much people spend on health care. Public Comment: bitching biddy League of Women Voters shills Shirley Spencer, Susan Gray, Partrice Stands, Carol Watt and others pimp for universal health care. Mayor lets them talk and talk and talk and talk.
RAYMOND THEATER PROJECT: They are being raked for using cheap substitutes for copper on part of the building. There's a complicated report by a nerdy Black guy but it's fairly simple after all of it. Make 'em do what they agreed to in the first place. They want to plant more trees instead of doing the copper thing. Staff wants to take what they're offering. There's some talk about other cases. Gordo wants to ask the builders what they were thinking.
Public Comment: Gene and Marilyn Buchanan say they misunderstood the process. They thought they had approval already. Even though they did a lot of projects before they never did design commission before. They say this looks just as good as real copper. Neighbor Dan Wolf says it looks just like the real thing to him. He4itage schoolmarm Sue Mossman says copper was probably the best choice but it wasn't what the decision was based on. She says there should be consequences but redoing it may not be the best way. Holden pitches for the builders. They go on about this for 45 minutes. I swear. And they end up back where they started and table it for a couple of weeks and send it back to the staff. Finally they don't think the builders are doing enough to make up for changing the cornice which is a little piece up at the roof. So back it goes in two weeks with a report about what they put up there and if it's gonna last and what's the development going to do to be prettier in place of copper roof. Seems a lot of talk for no resolution. Holden thinks making them sit through the hearing is punishment enough. I'm kinda agreein' with him on that one. But it's coming back in two weeks.
ORDINANCES: Some changes to residential development standards and projects get extra time to get built because of the economy.
Madison wants to know about meeting schedules to make sure they get enough meetings off in December.
Folks, without a major bout on the card, we still end up with a slugfest over another project about something that nobody's ever even gonna look up at.
Put a fork in me, I be done people.
D.
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