Council Blow by Blow for 4-27-09

Trees! More trees! We love trees! We hate trees! We wanna be done with trees please!

CLOSED SESSION: They're not telling us what they hide in these meetings.

Everybody's there but Holden who's callin' in from Chicago.

COUNCIL BACK PATS: A teacher leads the pledge and gets it right. They've got a new seargent at arms to keep the council from killing each other. Kelly Evans comes from homicide detectives. Good idea! Senior Citizen Day certificate goes to Marvin Schecter. Senior Center dude yaks about a conference they're doing. They've got 16 high school essay winners. Good for the council to recognize the high schoolers for doing something good for human relations. Good job kids!

PUBLIC COMMENT: Ted Baily says May 9th is lawn Bowling Day and wants everybody to celebrate. Pasadena's got them in Central park and they have a open house on May 9th. Native American Victor Gonzales talks about sacred oak trees being moved someplace. Sarah Eagle from the Cancer Society talks about the Relay for Life at PCC. Chief Red Blood Anthony Morales talks about Las Encinas trees, too and says to stop something that's threatening the trees. Nobody's very clear about what's going on and Beck doesn't have any info. Matthew Moria talks about the trees, too. Guess there's some master plan that's getting considered and these guys don't want them to move any trees. Fritz Pulicker thanks the mayor for taking care of Edison's weeds. He bitches about development hapening before he knows about it. Greg Mosely thanks Jesus and talks about honoring the Robinsons at Robinson Park next weekend.

DR. WATAR REPORTS ON SWINE FLU: We have no cases here. It's not serious but Pasadena's prepared to take on the pig virus.

CONSENT CALENDAR: Hey! let's spend a ton of money but ask questions about an environmental review. Makes sense to me. Part if it's to do work in Robinson Park that needs it. So that's good. pastors and religious folks came to say fix the park. How come all these pastors think they gotta dress like they're sellin. bean pies?

ROSE BOWL PLAN FUNDING: They're tryin' to fix up the bowl again. They're gonna spend a million and a half this time to see how far they get before the Livvies stop it again. Gordo says there's no talk about NFL teams this time. Gordo says everybody likes the project. That right Claire B? UCLA dude and Tournament dude like the plan so far. it's all about getting in and out, and making the place make enough money to pay for the fix. Looked pretty cool. Vince Farhat from WPRA says they like it. Sue Mossman PH schoolmarm likes it too. Huh? This can't be Pasadena.

SOUTH LAKE PLAN: They did some trees, electrical, other stuff to make Lake look better. Tyler likes it, but hasta ask about trees.

ELECTRIC CONTRACT: We're spending more money on electrical stuff so I can get a higher bill. Good thinking folks!

BUDGET AMENDMENTS: Money for Health Department. More money from the power company to the general fund. Hey! That's more money outta my pocket, too.

CITY BUDGET: They talked earlier about power company and guess we're gonna see higher costs next year too. Dontcha think?

AMENDING THE FEE SCHEDULE: That's what shit costs us. Think anything's gonna go down? Ha, sorry I kknow I'm a funny dude.

OTHER SEWER TAX HIKES: Are gonna with until May 18th.

HOMELESS HOUSING REPORT: They gotta apply for some money soon so they're doing this hearing. They're gonna partner with non-profits and still haveta figure out how spend the money. Probly after they know how much they're gonna get, dontcha think?

TREES, PART 1 or YOU-FUCK UPDATE THE WORKPLAN AND PASADENA STREET TREE CLUSTER-FUCK, oh sorry, TIMELINE FOR TREE WORKPLAN: Holden wants them to THINK about what they're gonna do instead of completely go with the tree moratorium. They start off talking about what they're doing. Armina Durachy tree wacko who's on the YOUFUCK, er UFAC, wants them to be able to give their opinion, too. She says some trees are still getting planted. Carla Wollecky says they need to be consistent and treat every tree and district the same. Haderlein is pissed the plans are gonna mean trees that need to be planted won't get planted. Good point. We love trees so much we aren't gonna plant any, Haderlein says.

TREES, PART DEUX, or WE'RE ALL U-FUCKED AGAIN!: This is the Playhouse trees again. They start from the old motion to take Playhouse, Old Town and South Lake trees out of the moratorium. PUBLIC COMMENT: Carla Walecky sounds like she's got the swine flu says the Playhouse people will only have three people talk instead of the twelve who signed up. She says they all like the ginko trees 'cause they are good for business districts and get lots of enviro-points. Adam Spring says don't plant the trees and he's frustrated 'cause the city can't handle the trees and ginko ain't got the canopy. Nancy Nelson wacko says plant the trees 'cause of the Rose Parade. James Plokin says plant them in Old Town. Betty Cooper from Pasadena Beautiful says they wanna work for the future and be part of a team but she leaves out the business people in her list. She gets Gordo's name wrong, too. She says whatever trees would work have to be accepted. Guess she's not talkin' about the ginkos though. Laura Garrett from Audobirdie Society talks about golden eagles in Eaton Canyon and somehow thinks they're gonna live in Colorado Boulevard trees. She says Pasadena's violating a tree These folks are nuts. Marge Rulenback says the ginko trees are good and she lives in the Playhouse. Steve Mullheim says plant Old Town trees. Rhonda Bennett says let South Lake plant five trees. Bill Urban from West Pasadena says they like the moratorium. Joe Fineblatt says for the past ten years we learned a lot. Let's plan again and shade's more important than anything else. Ms. Kurasaki says she lives by the Playhouse and likes ginko trees and says exempt Playhouse from the moratorium. Kathy Mahoney is confused 'cause she thought the deadline to plant trees had gone by. Non Fam says plant the Playhouse trees even tho he don't live there and Asian dude likes ginkos. Alex Wong says Pasadena's beautiful and says the Council should be realistic and plant the ginko trees and not take a year to make a decision. Mark Nay says plant the trees. Armina Durachy says screw Vroman's and everybody else over and keep the urban wasteland and she's on the U-FUCK committee, too. Tom Miller gives it up after Bogaard tells him nobody's cutting down Greet Street trees. Nina Chomsky says pick a different tree. Phoebe Wilson says pick a different tree with bigger canopies. Crystal Balvin rounds out the bitching biddy trinity saying pick another tree. Polly says ginkos are stinko. Wayne Hunt says the design team did a good job after a long rfp process with lots of meetings with Pasadena Beautiful, Pasadena Heritage and everybody else. It's a great plan and followed the council process and even got an award for the plan. Stick with the plan and act in good faith. Ann Shide biddies it up to the podium and whines to stop the plantings too. She says what's the ruch, but hey didn't it all take twenty years? Scott Wilson tree planting landscape architect says Alice Frost would be disappointed Pasadena's planting palm trees. Alice Frost? Geez dude! Old white folks hate ginkos and palms. Mayor cuts the old dude off. Robert Ward says save the trees on Green Street and won't talk about what he doesn't understand.

Tyler opposes the tree planting and tries to argue a new task force would pick a different tree. He's trying to say more trees will get cut down if they plant these trees. Really, that's kinda what he said! Holden calls it in from Chicago and says elevate the plan so the Playhouse is successful but they shouldn't plant the trees 'cause the plan's gotta grow. But Old Town and South Lake should get their trees and some places in the Playhouse area shouldn't get stopped, too. Madison says it's perverse not to plant trees because we care about trees. He's going with Gordo on this one and so's McAustin and Robinson. Haderlein says get rid of the moratorium completely because other places are getting punished for no reason. Holden says he wants to plant some trees in the Playhouse and plant in Old Town and South Lake. Tough when Airheaderlein is the one who makes sense, huh? Regulations not allowing trees to get planted are stoooopid with a lot of ooooos. That's what comes of listening to bitching biddies. They vote for it and Bogaard goes for the motion so the bitching biddies go down in flames and Old Town, South Lake and Playhouse District get their trees.

RESIDENTIAL IMPACT FEE CHANGES: They're gonna use more of my money to prettify Nina Chomsky's backyard and to add more of Robinson Park to spend money on. I love spending money that's gonna be used for stuff that's not gonna help any people who really need help.

COUNCIL PALS GET APPOINTED, QUIT MOVE, AROUND: One guy quits the Pasadena Center Board after too much art crazyness.

GET OUT YER FOIL HATS THE CELL TOWER CRAZIES ARE BACK FOR THE WIRELESS ORDINANCE: Wackos are out in force again telling them to do what they want before the Xeron's rays penetrate their brains and make them zombies. Oh, not quite that, but it's close. Beck says the map is confusing and misleading so they have changed some stuff about it. Sounds like the city's stuck on this one 'cause the state and feds took the AT&T money years ago and bent over for them so we all get no say in any of this. They wanna make sure the cell towers and cable boxes aren't too close to houses or screw up neighborhoods. Can you spell A-L-T-R-I-O? man some people got way pissed at them. I got the service then Charter bought it and I was screwed twice over. They're gonna get rid of a map that said where the towers can go and everybody's happy with that, I guess. Public commenters are pretty much ok except one person whose house is next to the city yards and doesn't want them put there. Asian lady talks about graffiti. Nina Chomsky and others

HANDBILL PROHIBITION: Wacko Nancy Nelson's getting annoying and wants to save our civil rights even if I have to let somebody toss crap I don't want on my lawn. David Furtig says he wants to them to save trees by avoiding getting sued about this ordinance. Guy looks like he could be Jerry Garcia's lawyer. Marvin Schecter says don't do it. Lawyer Bonnerise says it's legal but the council holds off. All they are doing is sayin' I can put up a sign that tells people not to dump that crap on my driveway. What's the problem with that? Madison wants it put over.

WATER CONSERVATION: They're raising my rates so I can pay for all the workers at PWP and try to tell me it's 'cause I need to save water.

PROP 1a - 1f: Council supports these, so I think I'm votin' no. It's gonna cost me money. Marvin Schecter says AARP supports these propositions, too. I'm still thinking no, except maybe for the lottery one.

POST FIGHT WRAP-UP: man this one was long. They got back where they started on the trees and did the wireless thing. That took 75% of the meeting. The rest of the time they were basically either spending a lot of money or raising my taxes somehow.

I'm done.

D.