Council Blow by Blow for 1-26-09

We got a new president. We got the same councilmembers. We're gettin' at least one new one this spring but won't be gettin' any new ideas, I'm bettin'.

No report about what they talked about in closed session. Spending money without accounting for it, I'll wager. Holden's missing. Robinson's there. Madison's there and wants to adjourn in honor of Gloria Delaney who was a PUSD person. Deputy Chief Christopher Vicino leads the pledge. He was chief when the chief was city manager. Vicino intros Sgt. Shupe who's the new sergeant at arms. Madison wants to adjourn the meeting for Gloria Delaney who died. She worked for PUSD and was principal at Madison Schools and was an assistant Supe.

PUBLIC COMMENT: Erminia Ortiz who speaks English but insists on a Spanish translator complains about people getting evicted and thanks the council for helping out. Ortiz says she made the thing worse but got help from the city in the end. Gordo thanks his field rep for helping out. Betty Cooper from Pasadena Beautiful wants the city to save the Playhouse trees. Tyler wants to save them, too.

Playhousers show up and want their trees put in. Tyler's gonna get it redone. Pete Cutzer from Armory Center thanks council for what it does for the Armory.

710 FREEWAY TUNNEL: Two Indian guys and a lady tell the council about where they're diggin' test holes for the tunnel. There's five routes their checking out to see where the best is for earthquakes and boulders and shit like that. Pasadena freeway guy David Worell says it's gonna be a long time before anybody does anything real on the tunnel. (Like digging.)

CONSENT CALENDAR: They're buyin' med supplies for $450K, puttin' in a traffic signal on Washington at Catalina, spending $70K for something called LEED Commissioning for a power building, and changing some ethics rules.

APPOINT A MAYOR PAL TO PLANNING COMMISSION: Mayor's bud is in.

THEY'RE NOT ADJUSTING HEALTH COSTS: Mayor says they're puttin' this one off.

PUBLIC HEARING: They change the Historic Preservation codes. They're changing how Mills Act contracts get done. Planning babe says their tweakin' some rules and letting the commission call projects for review. Mills Act gives tax breaks to people who fix up historic properties. They already got 104 tax exempt properties. The big change is not letting people in houses worth $1.5 million or more get the tax breaks.

FINANCE COMMITTEE: They're refinancing some Rose Bowl debts. City manager does a report on the budget and people we are f+cked unless the council stops spending like spoiled debutantes on 5th Avenue. Expenses are growing by something like $20 million and income's not going up. Beck says they're gonna fix it by the year after next. But there's still personnel costs and $146 million in retirement costs to cope with. The council's wish list is something north of $300 million with no $$$ to pay for any of it. Madison tries to put a happy face on it all and really wants to make sure lots of money can still get spent on his Livvy pals. McAustin asks about pension costs. Airheaderlein asks about the electric transfer that's about $11 million and wants to know about using more to do council pet projects. So, guess who'd pay for that? Doh! It's us. He asks about doing a 15% reduction. Bogus says they'll be doing the budget in the next six months and says they'll be serious about it. Beck even quotes Obama. Bogus Bogey thinks we oughta not worry and be happy. McAustin verbally does Beck and maintains her June Cleaver composure.

TYLER'S TREE QUESTION: Tyler wants to stop the Playhouse tree removal so it's coming back next week.

ART PLAN FOR THE CONVENTION CENTER: Bogey says people care about this. Me, it's all sorta stupid. Art's cool, but why ya gotta put wiggly lights and big hats in front of my $200 million convention center? Art Director babe tells us there was a group of people who decided on the guidelines for the project. Oops. Nice try but a buncha art wonks picked two pieces of shit to adorn the Civic Aud. Good idea. Man, the woman's decent lookin' but she's effeete as f+ckin' hell. Lots of Qs about sightlines but nobody asks about the stoopid factor. Like, if it's stoopid can we get rid of it? So far they spent $150K on this. Without gettin' anything. Art consultants got $50K. man, I can pick stupid art, too. Pay me $50K.
Public Comment: Dale Oliver Daddy Warkbucks lookin' dude from Art Commission says their not to blame. Art Commission says the council's gotta decide. Tom Seefert from the Pasadena Center wants to kick the whole thing back so staff can start over. Steve Nowland from Art Center College and Arts Council wants the art to stay put like it is. Joan Abbey sculptor likes public art and wants the hats to stay. Mr. Cornwell takes after Madison for asking about what it costs and is pissed it's taken so long and staff wants to start it over. Marcia Rude, founding bitching biddy doesn't like the art. Nina Chomsky comes down to represent for the Livvies and she hates it too. Ann Shide another not-so-trollish bitching biddy wants the art out, too. Kelly Southerland McCloud for Pasadena Heritage wants to keep the sculptures out. Sue Mossman says she only knew about the vision statement but not about the art works. Shauna Clark says go with the staff. Mrs. Duker likes the artworks and thinks the process should be honored. Miss Bayer says we need bold leadership and nonconservative trajectories and compares Pasadena to Paris and talks about IM Pei and the Louvre but calls his building a sculpture.
Council kicks the stoopid art to the curb and starts it all over with convention center people involved. Holden says be careful the new shit may be worse than the stoopid shit that's proposed now.

New shit, old shit, even if it's bold shit, it's still arty farty shit to me.

CONTRACT FOR ARTS BUS: Council extends the contract to July. Because taxes are dropping they need to find more money to run the bus.

2009 LEGISLATIVE PLATFORMS: We want more money! Gimmee Gimmee Gimmee.

CITY STRATEGIC PLAN: Gets pushed to next time.

PUBLIC COMMENT REDUX: Blissed out BBW says the Lord is takin' over.

They're done in honor of Gloria Delaney and Joyce Nagapuchi.

Lots of wasted time on the stupid art project. Who really cares if the process is good if the art sucks? Somebody in all this should have done the stop and think thing, maybe they'da stopped the hats sooner and not wasted so much money on it all.

Long meeting with not much to show for it. Probly better for us anyway. We gotta wait another week to hear about priorities.

D.

Obama is IN!

And he rocks!

Great acceptance speech. A kick ass first coupla days on the job. Man, the dude's got it happenin'!

Now about that economy shit...

D.

Council Blow by Blow for 1-12-09

First one of the new year and they're startin' on time.

Nothing to report from the closed session.

Not much to get worked up about. Robinson's actually there and Madison, too. Holden's missing this time. Guess he finally got that wax thing right. Dr. Sondra Thomas leads the pledge.

CEREMONIAL BACK-PATS FROM THE COUNCIL: Dr. Thomas gets kudos for the Bright Futures Scholars program for kids who have a 3.0 GPA from PUSD. The kid right in front'swearing a t-shirt with a big skull on it. Way to go kid! They give a certificate to Bogaard and Beck. Bogaard gives a proclamation declaring February as scholars month.

Jacque Robinson talks about being sick at the end of the year. She asks everybody to remember Roy Haines who did a lot for youth sports in Pasadena. They're gonna adjourn in his honor. He deserves it. Gordo chimes in too.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

Kurt Thorgerson: Wacko's back talking about eco-events he wants to have in Pasadena but he's got no clue about really doing anything.
Laronda Heartfield: She's talking about a program she thinkin' about to help kids stay on the right path via God. Sounds like she's got a bad cold. She's down on capitalism and greed.

CONSENT CALENDAR: Madison makes Water and Power goddess Phyllis Curry dance a little explaining why a consultant deserves $550K to do what the staff oughta be able to do. They're spending more money on consultants and our cops are gonna provide radio dispatch for Montebello cops, too. Parsons is doing soundwalls by the freeway for $800K. McAustin wants pretty ones. Tyler asks why Parsons from Pasadena got the job. Another one with no clue. Parsons's in Pasadena, dude. Playhouse people want good trees and waste a buncha time talking about what they're gonna do anyways. Tyler loves trees, man. Sure be nice if neighborhoods north of the 210 got the same kinda consideration from him. They spend 20 minutes talkin' 'bout the trees then pass the thing anyway.

Council passes it all except they gotta hear from La Canada white folks about leasing a parking lot to JPL. La Canada horsey folks don't want the biggest job generator in Pasadena to have someplace for their workers to park. Good thinking people. Like there's not any space up there for those horse people from La Canada. (LA CANADA!) Geez peeps! AND they took an 1 1/2 hours on this stuff.

GENERAL PLAN COMMITTEE: Staff people are hiring consultants to tell us all what we want. They're putting a committee together to lead the public process and bring new people in. They want to teach us all what we're gonna wanna do. It's all gonna make us all ready to take whatever the staff wants to jam down our throats. Gordo asks how the committee's gonna include diverse people from all over town, and gets a dance from the staff guy. Madison's saying there's gonna me some balance but it's all his folks who are gonna get appointed.
Public Commenters: Earth child Emily Stork wants people other than commissioners on the committee. Richard McDonald from Planning Commission likes staff and sucks up some. Roberta Marti representing the bitching biddies says she wants the whole commuinty heard but really means only if they do what the biddies want. Mick Hanson who's another biddy complaining about the same shit we keep hearing about from the wealthy white ones. Phoebie Wall Wilson wants two councilmembers on the committee. She wants to committee to do real work not just do community outreach. Christal Balvin, bitching biddy honcho, harps on the same shit all the old white women say. She don't like the planning department. She wants a citizen task force. Audrey Kelly dittoes it all for West Pasadena and likes the planning idea so that must mean most people on it are West Pasadena people. Marcia Rude says it needs to be a peoples plan not staff. Gotta go along with that. She wants 20 people on a citizen advisory commission. Sue Mossman from Pasadena Heritage wants the consultants to bring people together. Nina Chomsky loves Balvin's biddiness. Some troll sits in the first row and looks like somebody farted through the whole meeting. Turns out she's a Livvie who wants neighborhood people on the committee. Mary Berry from La Canada (LA CANADA!) joins the biddies. Bob Kneisel, so far the lone dude to talk except for the planning dude, agrees with the biddies too. Who choreographed this dance, anyway?
I'm sorry but I think it's kinda sad when our city staff needs to hire somebody to help them listen to what people have to say. Staff's running it already and not letting their own committee pick the consultants.
McAustin wants to bring the biddies into the process. Yikes! Put your finger in the dyke and stop progress. She wants council people on the committee. Madison's equivocating on it trying real hard not to have to work at it. Airheaderlein wants the two sentence description. REALLY! He asked for that 'cause he couldn't figure out what the group is supposed to do. Bogus Bill talks about Vancouver and wants to know about the balance between housing and jobs and sounds like he wants to push the whole thing off a year. In the end they add two spots for bitching biddies on the committee. Council spends most of their time talkin' 'bout how they can get outta spendin' time on this. Guess it ain't so important to Bogus Bill and Co. They end up with twelve people on the committee with the Chamber appointing somebody, too.

COUNCIL PALS appointed to committees.

PREAPPLICATION CONFERENCE REPORT ABOUT ST. LUKE'S: It's outta wack with the General Plan whatever it is. It's got 352 senior units and assisted living apartments. It's gonna take a year to get permits for this one. Marvin Schecter comes out to complain about it. He wants Pasadena to take it over and make it a hospital again. Dr. Jacqueline Jacobs is more lost now then when she was on the school board. Now she's yakkin' for PCC and wants a medical facility there. So, why ain't PCC buyin' it then? She says PCC wants it to have urgent care. Patrick Perry says let it get developed. Woodland Road neighbor says it's gonna screw up their neighborhood.

SCIENTOLOGY REMODEL PLANS: They wanna redo the old building at Raymond and Colorado in Old Town. Looks like Groucho Marx's kid's the planner on this one. Sounds like the Tom Cruisers wanna make it from a commercial building to a religious one. They just aren't comin' outta the closet yet. "Come out of the closet Tom Cruise!" the best South park ever. Architect babe talks about the project and says they want to cooperate with the city.

FINANCE COMMITTEE: They're gonna spend a coupla million to cut Kinneloa Street under the freeway. Shoulda done that 40 years ago people instead of spending my money on it now.
Annual Financial Statements: This is the audit of last year's spending, so let's rush right through it all. The new finance director is a black dude named Andy Green. They blast through it without explaining anything, like why it's unqualified, and no talk about where $200 + million went and what we bought for all that $$$.
Weird bond deal: I didn't get this at all. Something about what they're doing about bonds nobody wants to buy.
They're paying $1 million for planning consultants to do work 'cause they are shorthanded two people. Dude, pay me a half mil and I'll check all you're f*ing plans for ya!

There's some talk about the five goals. And they talk a little about general plan principles. Sounds like they're gonna talk about it all on the 26th.
McAustin wants to talk about 1% arts money 'cause some loser whined about it in the paper a coupla weeks ago. Tyler wants to know about city support of non-profits.

Six hours of talk with nothing much done. The Livvies are gonna get lots of clout with the general plan. So the surrender monkey's gonna be happy. The rest of us'll get screwed. But hey, that's our Pasadena Way: process the f* outta everything so it comes out the way the wealthy white folks on the hill want.

D.

Happy New Year Gift from the Council

No meeting this week.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Did you see the skateboard dogs?

Kewl!

D.