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.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Council Blow by Blow for 4-13-09
It's 6:30 and they're starting on time. Amazing. And we got trees again, folks.
CLOSED SESSION: They're not talkin' 'bout what they talked about in secret 'casue we only pay the bills and don't get to know.
Madison and Holden are gone. Library Woman leads the pledge. Get's it right.
COUNCIL BACK PATS TO: The library getting a 5 star customer service award. They give a proclamation for Pasadena being a TREE CITY and excellence for growing the trees in Pasadena. Oops. Guess the bitchin' biddies can't f*ck with this one. Tony Longo from the insurance company is happy they're gettin' trees planted.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Charlene Brown yaps about her Arbor Day fest at Victory Park. Tony Castaneda complains about Edison lots in east Pasadena and says his wife has bad allergies and I guess Edison is to blame. Affordable housing bunny Michelle White talks about the ACLU and says police shootings should have independent reviews and citizen review panels for police. Hey! I like having the gangsters afraid to f*ck around in my neighborhood. If White likes protecting the criminals, then let them hang in her 'hood, not mine. She thinks Pasadena Police should have told them they were getting a review and not got ACLU all worked up when the police were doin' it anyway. So... what's she complaining about exactly? Well, she's just there to bitch about something, even when there's nothing to bitch about. At least she's not selling more units in my neighborhood.
CONSENT CALENDAR: They're spending money on raises for firefighters and management.
WATER SHORTAGE PLAN: Hey, my rates are going up but they're calling it a water shortage plan. McAustin says it's a new way to look at water. She says they should call a water shortage so people can't water their lawns. They're also gonna "adjust" water rates so we pay more and they make more. They're saying they're changing water rates so we all pay more and somebody uses less water.
WATER RATE CHANGES: McAustin says they're gonna change the rates, too but sometime in June after they tell us all why we gotta swallow this. PWP director Currie says we have a water shortage and even if it rained more this year, we gotta deal with less water so we can save fish up north. Klinker from the department talks about adopting the conservation plan from before even if nobody knows about it and doing a water shortage plan. WHAT HAPPENED TO ASKING US WHAT WE THINK BEFORE MAKING SURE I PAY A F*CK OF A LOT OF $$$ MORE FOR WATER? THey're gonna do something about using "price signals" to encourage conservation. That means I pay through the nose for H20 without no say in it.
The water guy want us all to use less water but want us to pay the same for it. So this is about keeping water revenue up, not saving water. Commercial growers are exempt. Public parks are exempt, so they don't gotta follow their own rules they're making us do. AND THEY'RE GONNA HIRE SEVEN NEW PEOPLE TO MAKE SURE I GET FUCKED IN THE WALLET WHEN I PAY MY WATER BILL.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Bob Hutty says lets stop wasting water on cotton and sugar beets and says the city needs to stop wasting water and give people water timers. Gordo goes along. He wants to make sure residential users don't get fined more and have business people pay higher fines. Gordo wants to know if schools are exempt too? Michelle White bunnies up to the podium and wants non-profits exempt if they do affordable housing.
AND PWP is hiring a consultant to see about how to raise my rates. GEEZ! Where do these people come from?
McAustin's all over gettin' my water rates up. Tyler talks about water workshops everybody should go to. Bend over folks, we're all gettin' screwed.
They talk about how putting all this in writing is someway tellin' me what it's gonna cost me. They're talkin' about coming around an jammin' it down our throats.
BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING: Bogey talks about how they talked about it earlier and then they don't talk about it now. Tyler punts to Beck who talks about the budget for next year. Basically, we're still f*cked next year with not much different. We will pay more for trash, street sweeping, electricity and get less in return. It only works if employees don't take raises next year. Good luck on that one. Bet we're gonna have to pay more when the guys in orange jumpsuits and vests say NO to pay cuts. Tyler's happy as shit with this. Dude, what happened to lookin' out for taxpayers? This all is gonna cost me cash, when me and my neighbors are havin' to cut back ourselves.
SOME MORE COUNCIL PALS GET ON COMMISSIONS: We got contributors on preservation and northwest commissions now.
PLAYHOUSE TREES: It's back again. Bogaard offers up his take on this and keeps it to trees controlled by the city and not every one on public property. And we're gonna keep the cutting of trees at bay and they're only dealing with downtown trees. Gordo wants Playhouse to be able to plant trees they want. Gordo thinks the Playhouse was exempt anyway and oughta be able to plant the trees they want to, especially the palm trees. Tyler says Gordo is right, but he's changed his mind.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Multitudes are here for the trees. Funny, our water rates are gettin' us screwed and one guy shows up for that, and he likes it! Rhonda Bennett from South Lake wants their tree plan left alone so they can do the trees they want. She says the council needs to keep faith with the business districts. Paul Jacoy from Playhouse wants his plan back. You gotta admire these guys for coming back every week to get shit on by the Pasadena City Council. Linda Ramos from the Playhouse kisses up some and asks for help getting their trees planted. Steve Manheim from Old Town wants his trees, too. Gina Teal from South Lake wants her trees too so they can build a greater Pasadena. Bitching biddy Phoebe Wilson likes stopping the planting plans so we can stop global warming. Serious she said that trees in Pasadena will stop global warming. She says fuck the business people 'cause they won't be here for 50 years like the trees will. She disses Gordo, too. Nina Chomsky bitches about the plan that's presented and says people can arrange the trees around the streetlights. Biddies hate the staff and love the fuckus trees. She's shocked! me too, that anybody's gonna pay attention to this bitching biddy and her pals. Crystal Balvin, head biddy, says there's much to do about nothing. She's happy spending the Playhouse area's money for them. Laura Paul says the sidewalks haven't been repaired but the tree wells filled in. Armina Durachy from Pasadena Beautiful says trees aren't a preference and she likes the fuckus trees and wants to get rid of district elections. Nancy Nelson talks about the Rose Parade and trees need to not interfere with the parade. Branislav Ketzman, Mr. Burns looking dude wants the UFAC to make the decisions and says the business people don't care about their areas or they would have fixed the sidewalks. Marilyn Buchanan says let Old Town and everybody plant their trees so people don't fall in the tree wells. She says hurry up and get the trees planted. Mark Nay says stick to the plan and plant the trees. Don't let the biddies hijack the process and plant the trees. Mr. DePeitro from South Lake says plant their trees. Joan Chen says plant the trees please and don't let biddies throw chairs at her.
Gordo gets the staff people to explain how the ginko trees meet the urban accords because 85% of public areas are covered with trees. Way more than the 50% required from the urban accords. Ginko trees don't need lots of water, either. Tyler quibbles but can't argue there are way more trees then required. Gordo's done his gionko homework but we're back to people in the areas wanting no moratorium and bitching biddies wanting it. So, who are they going with?
Tyler's ok with South Lake but not Old Town. Robinson wants to let them all plant their trees and they all need to get an exception. Hey! She got this one right, folks. Gordo wants to exempt all three districts. Tyler kicks and screams and the motion won't pass but it's back in two weeks 'cause three people are missing.
ORDINANCES: They're changing rules for preservation commission and letting me put a sign on my house to stop leaflets. Michelle White bunnies it up for preservation exempting affordable housing. Bogaard talks about second units. Great, bogus wants to increase my density. Wacko lawyer dude wants me to get leaflets. Marvin Schecter dislikes this one too. He's gonna sue it sounds like. Michelle White bunnies about this one too. Nancy Nelson hates it too. Lawyer Bonnerise says it's a good law but they should go back and make some changes to make sure they don't get sued.
HUNTINGTON HOSPITAL EXPANSION PLAN: Hospital wants to expand to meet demand. They wanna make some more changes. They do good stuff. Let 'em do it. Maybe they'll start saving trees, too, so Tyler will vote for it.
Geez!
Four hours and they still gotta finish the tree thing.
D.
CLOSED SESSION: They're not talkin' 'bout what they talked about in secret 'casue we only pay the bills and don't get to know.
Madison and Holden are gone. Library Woman leads the pledge. Get's it right.
COUNCIL BACK PATS TO: The library getting a 5 star customer service award. They give a proclamation for Pasadena being a TREE CITY and excellence for growing the trees in Pasadena. Oops. Guess the bitchin' biddies can't f*ck with this one. Tony Longo from the insurance company is happy they're gettin' trees planted.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Charlene Brown yaps about her Arbor Day fest at Victory Park. Tony Castaneda complains about Edison lots in east Pasadena and says his wife has bad allergies and I guess Edison is to blame. Affordable housing bunny Michelle White talks about the ACLU and says police shootings should have independent reviews and citizen review panels for police. Hey! I like having the gangsters afraid to f*ck around in my neighborhood. If White likes protecting the criminals, then let them hang in her 'hood, not mine. She thinks Pasadena Police should have told them they were getting a review and not got ACLU all worked up when the police were doin' it anyway. So... what's she complaining about exactly? Well, she's just there to bitch about something, even when there's nothing to bitch about. At least she's not selling more units in my neighborhood.
CONSENT CALENDAR: They're spending money on raises for firefighters and management.
WATER SHORTAGE PLAN: Hey, my rates are going up but they're calling it a water shortage plan. McAustin says it's a new way to look at water. She says they should call a water shortage so people can't water their lawns. They're also gonna "adjust" water rates so we pay more and they make more. They're saying they're changing water rates so we all pay more and somebody uses less water.
WATER RATE CHANGES: McAustin says they're gonna change the rates, too but sometime in June after they tell us all why we gotta swallow this. PWP director Currie says we have a water shortage and even if it rained more this year, we gotta deal with less water so we can save fish up north. Klinker from the department talks about adopting the conservation plan from before even if nobody knows about it and doing a water shortage plan. WHAT HAPPENED TO ASKING US WHAT WE THINK BEFORE MAKING SURE I PAY A F*CK OF A LOT OF $$$ MORE FOR WATER? THey're gonna do something about using "price signals" to encourage conservation. That means I pay through the nose for H20 without no say in it.
The water guy want us all to use less water but want us to pay the same for it. So this is about keeping water revenue up, not saving water. Commercial growers are exempt. Public parks are exempt, so they don't gotta follow their own rules they're making us do. AND THEY'RE GONNA HIRE SEVEN NEW PEOPLE TO MAKE SURE I GET FUCKED IN THE WALLET WHEN I PAY MY WATER BILL.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Bob Hutty says lets stop wasting water on cotton and sugar beets and says the city needs to stop wasting water and give people water timers. Gordo goes along. He wants to make sure residential users don't get fined more and have business people pay higher fines. Gordo wants to know if schools are exempt too? Michelle White bunnies up to the podium and wants non-profits exempt if they do affordable housing.
AND PWP is hiring a consultant to see about how to raise my rates. GEEZ! Where do these people come from?
McAustin's all over gettin' my water rates up. Tyler talks about water workshops everybody should go to. Bend over folks, we're all gettin' screwed.
They talk about how putting all this in writing is someway tellin' me what it's gonna cost me. They're talkin' about coming around an jammin' it down our throats.
BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING: Bogey talks about how they talked about it earlier and then they don't talk about it now. Tyler punts to Beck who talks about the budget for next year. Basically, we're still f*cked next year with not much different. We will pay more for trash, street sweeping, electricity and get less in return. It only works if employees don't take raises next year. Good luck on that one. Bet we're gonna have to pay more when the guys in orange jumpsuits and vests say NO to pay cuts. Tyler's happy as shit with this. Dude, what happened to lookin' out for taxpayers? This all is gonna cost me cash, when me and my neighbors are havin' to cut back ourselves.
SOME MORE COUNCIL PALS GET ON COMMISSIONS: We got contributors on preservation and northwest commissions now.
PLAYHOUSE TREES: It's back again. Bogaard offers up his take on this and keeps it to trees controlled by the city and not every one on public property. And we're gonna keep the cutting of trees at bay and they're only dealing with downtown trees. Gordo wants Playhouse to be able to plant trees they want. Gordo thinks the Playhouse was exempt anyway and oughta be able to plant the trees they want to, especially the palm trees. Tyler says Gordo is right, but he's changed his mind.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Multitudes are here for the trees. Funny, our water rates are gettin' us screwed and one guy shows up for that, and he likes it! Rhonda Bennett from South Lake wants their tree plan left alone so they can do the trees they want. She says the council needs to keep faith with the business districts. Paul Jacoy from Playhouse wants his plan back. You gotta admire these guys for coming back every week to get shit on by the Pasadena City Council. Linda Ramos from the Playhouse kisses up some and asks for help getting their trees planted. Steve Manheim from Old Town wants his trees, too. Gina Teal from South Lake wants her trees too so they can build a greater Pasadena. Bitching biddy Phoebe Wilson likes stopping the planting plans so we can stop global warming. Serious she said that trees in Pasadena will stop global warming. She says fuck the business people 'cause they won't be here for 50 years like the trees will. She disses Gordo, too. Nina Chomsky bitches about the plan that's presented and says people can arrange the trees around the streetlights. Biddies hate the staff and love the fuckus trees. She's shocked! me too, that anybody's gonna pay attention to this bitching biddy and her pals. Crystal Balvin, head biddy, says there's much to do about nothing. She's happy spending the Playhouse area's money for them. Laura Paul says the sidewalks haven't been repaired but the tree wells filled in. Armina Durachy from Pasadena Beautiful says trees aren't a preference and she likes the fuckus trees and wants to get rid of district elections. Nancy Nelson talks about the Rose Parade and trees need to not interfere with the parade. Branislav Ketzman, Mr. Burns looking dude wants the UFAC to make the decisions and says the business people don't care about their areas or they would have fixed the sidewalks. Marilyn Buchanan says let Old Town and everybody plant their trees so people don't fall in the tree wells. She says hurry up and get the trees planted. Mark Nay says stick to the plan and plant the trees. Don't let the biddies hijack the process and plant the trees. Mr. DePeitro from South Lake says plant their trees. Joan Chen says plant the trees please and don't let biddies throw chairs at her.
Gordo gets the staff people to explain how the ginko trees meet the urban accords because 85% of public areas are covered with trees. Way more than the 50% required from the urban accords. Ginko trees don't need lots of water, either. Tyler quibbles but can't argue there are way more trees then required. Gordo's done his gionko homework but we're back to people in the areas wanting no moratorium and bitching biddies wanting it. So, who are they going with?
Tyler's ok with South Lake but not Old Town. Robinson wants to let them all plant their trees and they all need to get an exception. Hey! She got this one right, folks. Gordo wants to exempt all three districts. Tyler kicks and screams and the motion won't pass but it's back in two weeks 'cause three people are missing.
ORDINANCES: They're changing rules for preservation commission and letting me put a sign on my house to stop leaflets. Michelle White bunnies it up for preservation exempting affordable housing. Bogaard talks about second units. Great, bogus wants to increase my density. Wacko lawyer dude wants me to get leaflets. Marvin Schecter dislikes this one too. He's gonna sue it sounds like. Michelle White bunnies about this one too. Nancy Nelson hates it too. Lawyer Bonnerise says it's a good law but they should go back and make some changes to make sure they don't get sued.
HUNTINGTON HOSPITAL EXPANSION PLAN: Hospital wants to expand to meet demand. They wanna make some more changes. They do good stuff. Let 'em do it. Maybe they'll start saving trees, too, so Tyler will vote for it.
Geez!
Four hours and they still gotta finish the tree thing.
D.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
It's Easter
Let's all spend Easter with family, celebrate Christ's resurrection as we choose, and worry about city things another day.
Happy Easter everyone!
D.
Happy Easter everyone!
D.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Council Blow by Blow for 4-6-09
OK. I tuned in late 'cause N.C. was stompin' Michigan State and I just hadda watch. Even though I had Memphis in my office pool and was DIF a week ago.
Catchin' up:
There's trees again! North Lake this time.
They start late according to Mayor Bill. Closed session's a secret. Huge surprise there, eh?
Everybody's there. They get the Sister City president Fred Alcanar to lead the pledge. Crowd's a rainbow tonight at the start anyhow.
SISTER CITY PRESENTATION: Fred and Kathy Way from China subcommittee intro some Beijing folks including the mayor Dong Jung Yung. The Chinese are headed back to China. They all get introduced. Happy hands all around. Fred asks the Bogus Bill to go to China when they go in the fall. Freebie Bill?
BACK PATS FOR PALS: Public Health Week certificate goes to Dr. Wada from the health dept. Good to help keep people healthy I think. Health Dept. frau pledged to keep us being healthy.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Mayor's gonna cut it off at 20 minutes.
Miriam Nakamura Kwan: She the wireless hater person and wants to make sure we're all safe from telecom attorneys and wants to focus on wireless and not worry about cable. I'm not sure what she's talking about but she's another self-apointed guardian of the public.
Raymond Kwan: The don't like the "opportunity site concept" whatever that means. They say everybody hates it, but 99.9% of us have no clue about what they're talking about anyway.
Freddie Hammond: Wants questions from the public answered and takes the council to task about not following the general plan. She's on about the telecom stuff too.
Tyler grills Bruckner about how people can find out about the terms of the telecom contract. Haderlein wants the telecom stuff on the agenda for the 23rd, so all the telecom wackos get to put on their tin foil hats and dominate that meeting.
Terry Lamocheck: Arts Council director complains about the 90 days given for a new art project pick for the civic. She wants more time to solve the problems.
Diane Cornwell: Pasadena Art Alliance person talks about their grant program that's given $30 million for modern art in the past 20 years.
POLICE IN MIDDLE SCHOOLS: They're not talking about it because the Safety Committee couldn't meet to talk about it first. Affordable housing YAK Michelle White wants to know when it's coming to PUSD.
CONSENT CALENDAR: They're paving some roads. Madison's complaining about the Central Park Committee not knowing about the architect who's gonna get to do the plans for the park. McAustin wants to know why it's gonna cost $66K to design a bathroom in Central Park and only $20 K for Memorial park. Staff guy says they have to do special plans to fit the park right. Tyler wants to know how people know they are getting the best price. As long as it's not tree consultants, Tyler's gonna be a dollar watcher. MCAustin and Tyler don't go for this one, but it passes anyway. Gotta have Rolls Royce bathrooms for Madison's District 6 homeless dudes. Mayor asks about lawn bowlers.
PUBLIC HEARING: King House is a new landmark. Preservation Commission babe wants them to do it. Mrs. King wants to do it, too. She says the place was built in 1979. They're leaving it to USC Architecture School, too. Sounds good to me.
CALL FOR REVIEW: Madison stops this one 'cause whoever's at 61 North Raymond's gotta behave better. They're keeping their eye on this place, whatever it is. I don't know 'cause nobody mentions the name of the place.
HADERLEIN'S ON THE FIRE RETIREMENT BOARD: He's replacing Tyler and will be gettin' whatever perks he gets for that.
HOUSING RECOMMENDATIONS: Ed Tech report about housing from Gordo. They talk about how to get money for housing. According to the staff dude, they're gonna be reviewing inclusionary housing elements and they're gonna look at what they wanna accomplish and see if they did that. They thought about starting a new local non-profit housing development corporation. It's gonna need a big subsidy so they think it's not a good idea and instead to work with non-profits who wanna build affordable housing. Same with a land trust for affordable housing bunnies to use to suck up public money to pay themselves when they build affordable housing. They wanna work with people who already have land trust in place. McAustin hates second units and wants to make sure they talk about parking and environmental impacts. Jill Shuck bunnies it up and says foreclosures can help with affordable housing and they should buy up those houses for a land bank.
TREES: This time it's North Lake Business people and they wanna be outta the moratorium area so they can get what they want. Gordo's hot to do this.
Public Comment: Nancy Nelson lives in the Playhouse and says they should exempt Playhouse area not just north Lake. Gina Telleal says all the business districts have invested lots of time in their plans and says they should honor the plans. South Lake wants to be exempt, too. They have a plan that's underway now and the council's screwing it up. Ken McCormick from the PDA says make up your mind and stick then stick to the plan. He says the debate's personal and it shouldn't be. Irrational anger by the bitching biddies has fucked up the level of the conversation. Marjorie Novak from the Playhouse District says go ahead with the plan. She says biddy Marcia Rude is crazy for saying start over. Novak says finish it up before they miss planting season. Mark Nay says do the original plan, too. Don't let it stay a moonscape and plant the trees. Ms. Cotton says the good news is sidewalks are fixed but they're waiting for the ginko trees. Don't punish Playhouse area for another year. Rhonda Bennett from South Lake wants their project to get finished. They got close to being done then got caught up in the moratorium. Paul Jacoy says give the Playhouse area a break and plant the trees.
Staff nerd says they put in tree wells already for the ginkos even if they're not going in. They didn't do any for palm trees.
Robinson says she won't support taking out North Lake because they're all getting screwed so screw North Lake, too. Lots of questions about the moratorium. How long it'll take to do all four districts, what's gonna happen and who decides. They say it'll get done so they can plant trees next winter. They're starting to realize they screwed up 'cause they'll never find a perfect tree. After a bunch of yakkin' they decide to bring back the Playhouse trees again. Can't have enough time spent on these trees.
PUBLIC COMMENT REDUX: Joan Chin says something about her neighborhood but I can't understand much of what she's talkin' about. I think she's talkin' about the cell phone antenna rules too.
Bogaard talks about the convention center opening. They knock themselves out raving about the new center.
POST FIGHT WRAP UP: What a waste. I'm thinkin' we need some leadership in Pasadena 'cause all we got is eight folks who wanna waste time on trees. And we get to do it some more, and some more, and some more, and some more.
Catchin' up:
There's trees again! North Lake this time.
They start late according to Mayor Bill. Closed session's a secret. Huge surprise there, eh?
Everybody's there. They get the Sister City president Fred Alcanar to lead the pledge. Crowd's a rainbow tonight at the start anyhow.
SISTER CITY PRESENTATION: Fred and Kathy Way from China subcommittee intro some Beijing folks including the mayor Dong Jung Yung. The Chinese are headed back to China. They all get introduced. Happy hands all around. Fred asks the Bogus Bill to go to China when they go in the fall. Freebie Bill?
BACK PATS FOR PALS: Public Health Week certificate goes to Dr. Wada from the health dept. Good to help keep people healthy I think. Health Dept. frau pledged to keep us being healthy.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Mayor's gonna cut it off at 20 minutes.
Miriam Nakamura Kwan: She the wireless hater person and wants to make sure we're all safe from telecom attorneys and wants to focus on wireless and not worry about cable. I'm not sure what she's talking about but she's another self-apointed guardian of the public.
Raymond Kwan: The don't like the "opportunity site concept" whatever that means. They say everybody hates it, but 99.9% of us have no clue about what they're talking about anyway.
Freddie Hammond: Wants questions from the public answered and takes the council to task about not following the general plan. She's on about the telecom stuff too.
Tyler grills Bruckner about how people can find out about the terms of the telecom contract. Haderlein wants the telecom stuff on the agenda for the 23rd, so all the telecom wackos get to put on their tin foil hats and dominate that meeting.
Terry Lamocheck: Arts Council director complains about the 90 days given for a new art project pick for the civic. She wants more time to solve the problems.
Diane Cornwell: Pasadena Art Alliance person talks about their grant program that's given $30 million for modern art in the past 20 years.
POLICE IN MIDDLE SCHOOLS: They're not talking about it because the Safety Committee couldn't meet to talk about it first. Affordable housing YAK Michelle White wants to know when it's coming to PUSD.
CONSENT CALENDAR: They're paving some roads. Madison's complaining about the Central Park Committee not knowing about the architect who's gonna get to do the plans for the park. McAustin wants to know why it's gonna cost $66K to design a bathroom in Central Park and only $20 K for Memorial park. Staff guy says they have to do special plans to fit the park right. Tyler wants to know how people know they are getting the best price. As long as it's not tree consultants, Tyler's gonna be a dollar watcher. MCAustin and Tyler don't go for this one, but it passes anyway. Gotta have Rolls Royce bathrooms for Madison's District 6 homeless dudes. Mayor asks about lawn bowlers.
PUBLIC HEARING: King House is a new landmark. Preservation Commission babe wants them to do it. Mrs. King wants to do it, too. She says the place was built in 1979. They're leaving it to USC Architecture School, too. Sounds good to me.
CALL FOR REVIEW: Madison stops this one 'cause whoever's at 61 North Raymond's gotta behave better. They're keeping their eye on this place, whatever it is. I don't know 'cause nobody mentions the name of the place.
HADERLEIN'S ON THE FIRE RETIREMENT BOARD: He's replacing Tyler and will be gettin' whatever perks he gets for that.
HOUSING RECOMMENDATIONS: Ed Tech report about housing from Gordo. They talk about how to get money for housing. According to the staff dude, they're gonna be reviewing inclusionary housing elements and they're gonna look at what they wanna accomplish and see if they did that. They thought about starting a new local non-profit housing development corporation. It's gonna need a big subsidy so they think it's not a good idea and instead to work with non-profits who wanna build affordable housing. Same with a land trust for affordable housing bunnies to use to suck up public money to pay themselves when they build affordable housing. They wanna work with people who already have land trust in place. McAustin hates second units and wants to make sure they talk about parking and environmental impacts. Jill Shuck bunnies it up and says foreclosures can help with affordable housing and they should buy up those houses for a land bank.
TREES: This time it's North Lake Business people and they wanna be outta the moratorium area so they can get what they want. Gordo's hot to do this.
Public Comment: Nancy Nelson lives in the Playhouse and says they should exempt Playhouse area not just north Lake. Gina Telleal says all the business districts have invested lots of time in their plans and says they should honor the plans. South Lake wants to be exempt, too. They have a plan that's underway now and the council's screwing it up. Ken McCormick from the PDA says make up your mind and stick then stick to the plan. He says the debate's personal and it shouldn't be. Irrational anger by the bitching biddies has fucked up the level of the conversation. Marjorie Novak from the Playhouse District says go ahead with the plan. She says biddy Marcia Rude is crazy for saying start over. Novak says finish it up before they miss planting season. Mark Nay says do the original plan, too. Don't let it stay a moonscape and plant the trees. Ms. Cotton says the good news is sidewalks are fixed but they're waiting for the ginko trees. Don't punish Playhouse area for another year. Rhonda Bennett from South Lake wants their project to get finished. They got close to being done then got caught up in the moratorium. Paul Jacoy says give the Playhouse area a break and plant the trees.
Staff nerd says they put in tree wells already for the ginkos even if they're not going in. They didn't do any for palm trees.
Robinson says she won't support taking out North Lake because they're all getting screwed so screw North Lake, too. Lots of questions about the moratorium. How long it'll take to do all four districts, what's gonna happen and who decides. They say it'll get done so they can plant trees next winter. They're starting to realize they screwed up 'cause they'll never find a perfect tree. After a bunch of yakkin' they decide to bring back the Playhouse trees again. Can't have enough time spent on these trees.
PUBLIC COMMENT REDUX: Joan Chin says something about her neighborhood but I can't understand much of what she's talkin' about. I think she's talkin' about the cell phone antenna rules too.
Bogaard talks about the convention center opening. They knock themselves out raving about the new center.
POST FIGHT WRAP UP: What a waste. I'm thinkin' we need some leadership in Pasadena 'cause all we got is eight folks who wanna waste time on trees. And we get to do it some more, and some more, and some more, and some more.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Weekly Pasadena News Reports: Ficus Tree Mistakenly Placed on April Ballot
From the Weekly Pasadena News:
FICUS TREE MISTAKENLY PLACED ON BALLOT
Immediately wins endorsement of Balvin, Rude, Wilson, Bogaard and Tyler
DATELINE PASADENA: In an apparent clerical error, the ballots for the District 7 run-off election on April 21st replaced the name of Terry Tournek with Tree Ficus. Reached for comment, City Registrar of Voters Marjorie Blumkin explained that while the error was correctable before the election, the fact that only two people called about the mistake indicated a clear lack of concern on the part of voters. "Both of the calls came from people wanting to find out how to get yard signs showing support for the tree's candidacy," Blumkin said.
Crystal Balvin, known for her slalwart support of trees everywhere and complete disregard for people who are different than herself, immediately endorsed the tree, calling it the most qualified candidate to serve on the city council. "Trees don't have ears, so there's no way it can listen to anyone, so I am reasonably assured it will support other trees," Balvin said. "Besides, it's over 128 years old, so it's almost my age."
Reached for comment while vacationing at Plato's Retreat, Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard quickly endorsed the tree. "Here in Pasadena we value trees above all else, of course I am enthusiastically endorsing it," the mayor said.
Sid Tyler was more effusive. "It's about time the fauna of Pasadena was appropriately represented. Why should only people have a vote on the city council?" Tyler queried.
Reached for comment at its East Colorado address, the Ficus Tree refused to comment.
A South Lake Avenue storefront was hastily turned into "Ficus for Council headquarters. Manning the phones for the fauna were Marcia Rude and Nina Chomsky.
An early edition of tomorrow's Pasadena Star-News reveals the local daily had switched it's endorsement. A banner front page headline declares, "Ficus is the one for Pasadena." In his column, editor Larry Wilson notes the tree has the deepest Pasadena roots and will surely welcome all Pasadena under its leafy branches. Wilson ends his endorsement: "It's the one candidate who won't be able to complain about how lame my newspaper is."
That part would be true.
Satire Wayne. Enjoy!
D.
FICUS TREE MISTAKENLY PLACED ON BALLOT
Immediately wins endorsement of Balvin, Rude, Wilson, Bogaard and Tyler
DATELINE PASADENA: In an apparent clerical error, the ballots for the District 7 run-off election on April 21st replaced the name of Terry Tournek with Tree Ficus. Reached for comment, City Registrar of Voters Marjorie Blumkin explained that while the error was correctable before the election, the fact that only two people called about the mistake indicated a clear lack of concern on the part of voters. "Both of the calls came from people wanting to find out how to get yard signs showing support for the tree's candidacy," Blumkin said.
Crystal Balvin, known for her slalwart support of trees everywhere and complete disregard for people who are different than herself, immediately endorsed the tree, calling it the most qualified candidate to serve on the city council. "Trees don't have ears, so there's no way it can listen to anyone, so I am reasonably assured it will support other trees," Balvin said. "Besides, it's over 128 years old, so it's almost my age."
Reached for comment while vacationing at Plato's Retreat, Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard quickly endorsed the tree. "Here in Pasadena we value trees above all else, of course I am enthusiastically endorsing it," the mayor said.
Sid Tyler was more effusive. "It's about time the fauna of Pasadena was appropriately represented. Why should only people have a vote on the city council?" Tyler queried.
Reached for comment at its East Colorado address, the Ficus Tree refused to comment.
A South Lake Avenue storefront was hastily turned into "Ficus for Council headquarters. Manning the phones for the fauna were Marcia Rude and Nina Chomsky.
An early edition of tomorrow's Pasadena Star-News reveals the local daily had switched it's endorsement. A banner front page headline declares, "Ficus is the one for Pasadena." In his column, editor Larry Wilson notes the tree has the deepest Pasadena roots and will surely welcome all Pasadena under its leafy branches. Wilson ends his endorsement: "It's the one candidate who won't be able to complain about how lame my newspaper is."
That part would be true.
Satire Wayne. Enjoy!
D.
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